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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 9103963" data-attributes="member: 57383">Updating <a href="https://enworld.org/index.php?posts/8363207" target="_blank">The Keeper of the Key Working Draft</a>.Hold on a sec, I'll post the relevant spells and items for comparison purposes.Here's the withering palm Wu Jen spell……the 1E staff of withering……and the 3E equivalent of the <a href="https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rods.htm#withering" target="_blank">rod of withering</a>…Hmm…There's not much commonality between Incapacitator and the withering powers.The primary effect of withering is permanent damage (aging or limb shrivelling in 1E, ability damage or ability drain in 3E),Incapacitator is only temporary. The incapacitated limb or digit recovers naturally after 24 hours.To me it's pretty clear the text for Incapacitator only refers to withering palm for the effects of a limb being rendered useless, i.e.:If an arm is withered, the character can still fight, though he cannot use two-handed weapons. Spells requiring somatic components can be cast 75% of the time. If a leg is withered, the character's movement rate is reduced to 1/4 its normal. Armor Class decreases by 3 and the character suffers a -4 on his chance to hit. A withered limb can be restored by the use of heal, limited wish, and wish spells.If we made Incapacitator do ability damage/drain, the target would only become incapacitated if they took so much Strength or Dexterity damage their ability score dropped to 0 and they became helpless or paralyzed, which would render then completely unable to act rather than being able to act with a reduced capacity because they don't have full use of their limbs.Also, if we used ability damage the effects would not vanish entirely after 24 hours like the OA version, but the target would heal the ability damage at 1 or two points per day, meaning they'd be helpless or paralyzed for the first day (or 12 hours) then be able to act again with Strength or Dexterity 1.I could see it imposing an Ability Penalty though, since "<a href="https://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionSummary.htm#abilityDamaged" target="_blank">Ability damage</a> is different from penalties to ability scores, which go away when the conditions causing them go away."Oh, and I wouldn't use Constitution damage/drain like 3E withering since Incapacitator isn't a lethal ability. A target hit by an Incapacitator attack could die from the normal damage of its unarmed strike, but not from the Incapacitating effect. They don't become unable to breathe or suffer heart failure or other forms of fatal paralysis, they are just partially immobilized in one or more extremity which explicitly excludes their head.</blockquote>

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