D&D 5E Cure Wounds: does it heal amputees?

Paraxis · Aug 9, 2014

Hopefully though very little need of the spell will exist. The days of Grimtooth's Traps is over, things don't cut off hands, arms, and legs much anymore.

Nothing pissed me off more than level drain back in the day than when a DM decided you lost a limb.

Tony Vargas · Aug 9, 2014

Wolfskin said:
Honest question: a Cleric finds a traveler down the road who has just escaped from a goblin cave, where he's been kept alive while the monsters slowly ate small pieces of him. Can the Cleric just cast Cure Wounds and make his fingers and/or hand magically reappear?

I'm leaning towards "no", but I don't know if this was addressed somewhere in old editions.

One of the oddities of D&D has always been that you can't, just using the systems provided, lop off limbs without resorting to some sort of magic (like a sword of sharpness) or DM fiat. All you can do is inflict hps and kill (or, in some cases, KO). So, just restoring hps doesn't restore limbs, and there are specific abilities (like regeneration or the regenerate spell) that do.

But, by DM fiat you can remove the victim's fingers - so, by DM fiat, you could let a Cure..Wounds spell (perhaps cast in a high-enough level slot) restore them. Or not. It's up to you. But the Regenerate spell exists, so you might want to emphasize that his fingers are just seriously mangled, not completely gone or something like that, if you want to guard against the remote chance that the ruling to come back and haunt you....

Results Manabadi · Apr 6, 2019

Mass cure wounds 5E is a special power which gives and capability for the player to cure all the wounds in the body in a quick span of time. It is highly recommended for people to know and understand the characteristics of the power before using because it has some to stay away from unwanted powers on a regular basis.

jgsugden · Apr 6, 2019

Saying that regenerate can grow back the body parts over time does not mean that other spells can't regrow missing body parts. The spell descriptions are silent. As such, it is up to the DM to decide, although not allowing it except for with regenrtion certainly makes sense.

Blue · Apr 6, 2019

jgsugden said:
Saying that regenerate can grow back the body parts over time does not mean that other spells can't regrow missing body parts. The spell descriptions are silent. As such, it is up to the DM to decide, although not allowing it except for with regenrtion certainly makes sense.

I think it's safe to say that, as a general rule of thumb, a power that needs to be explicitly listed in one place and is absent in another is likely intentional. A Cure Wounds spell doesn't remove levels of exhaustion, either.

Elderbrain · Apr 6, 2019

What about a case where the person was born without a certain limb, say, an arm? Does the fact that the spells mentioned "SEVERED" limbs mean it won't grow such a person an arm?

MNblockhead · Apr 7, 2019

Elderbrain said:
What about a case where the person was born without a certain limb, say, an arm? Does the fact that the spells mentioned "SEVERED" limbs mean it won't grow such a person an arm?

If it was never there, there is nothing to regenerate or heal. In my campaign you would need wish to generate a limb you never had. No, maybe I could see there being a home-brew generate spell, which could be fun. You could use it to "cure" a congenital missing or underdeveloped limb...or give your self horns or an extra arm. Even wings, though I might rule that while it gives you wings, it doesn't change your entire body sufficiently to allow flight.

Leatherhead · Apr 8, 2019

Welp, while we are necroing threads, might as well link to one I made a while back when I've noticed the problem of only Regeneration being able to fix lost limbs:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?522894-Artificial-Limbs-for-your-Adventuring-Woes

D&D 5E Cure Wounds: does it heal amputees?

Paraxis

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Tony Vargas

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jgsugden

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MNblockhead

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Leatherhead

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