D&D 5E Fighting with non-master hand

[Unwise]

I would say that anybody who is trained in Martial Weapons has put in the practice to be effective with their off-hand. Even re-enactors and euro-martial-arts folks seem to practice with off-hand a lot. Sure I might cop a -2 penalty if I did it, but I am not a hero, a hero would be fine. The guy lost a hand, don't kick him while he is down.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

The advantage/disadvantage rule was introduced in 5E largely to provide a single easy answer for all questions of the form "What's the modifier for [advantageous/disadvantageous situation]?" You simply don't see the game laying out tables of different circumstance bonuses and penalties any more, and this is why. So to suggest that fighting off-handed might not be disadvantage strikes me as contrary to 5E philosophy. Either the effect is big enough to be worth disadvantage, or it's not big enough to bother with.

 

[marcelvdpol]

The advantage/disadvantage rule was introduced in 5E largely to provide a single easy answer for all questions of the form "What's the modifier for [advantageous/disadvantageous situation]?" You simply don't see the game laying out tables of different circumstance bonuses and penalties any more, and this is why. So to suggest that fighting off-handed might not be disadvantage strikes me as contrary to 5E philosophy. Either the effect is big enough to be worth disadvantage, or it's not big enough to bother with.

You could just take away the Proficiency Bonus on Attack Rolls for a while; this would fit thematically as Proficiency represents training and experience. Once the character has had some time to use and train with his off-hand, the DM could give the Proficiency Bonus back.

Missing a hand might not impact the use of a Shield; with special straps you could use a Shield and still be fine. It would however depend how much of the arm is missing. With just the hand (so severed at the wrist) this shouldn't be a major issue, but with for example the entire forearm missing it will be much harder to use a shield.

 

[mrpopstar]

I agree with [MENTION=23]Ancalagon[/MENTION] that Disadvantage is too drastic, and I like [MENTION=6837387]marcelvdpol[/MENTION]'s idea regarding proficiency.

With regard to shield use, as per the description of shields, a shield is carried in one hand. -- Without said hand, you cannot use a shield (at least, not a standard shield).

 

[TheCosmicKid]

You could just take away the Proficiency Bonus on Attack Rolls for a while; this would fit thematically as Proficiency represents training and experience. Once the character has had some time to use and train with his off-hand, the DM could give the Proficiency Bonus back.

Fair enough. This seems like it's within scope as well.

I will note that, mathematically, this may be more of a penalty than disadvantage, depending on the character's level.

 

[marcelvdpol]

With regard to shield use, as per the description of shields, a shield is carried in one hand. -- Without said hand, you cannot use a shield (at least, not a standard shield).

Yes, so he'd have to acquire a special shield that is "strapped" onto the arm. Could be a nice quest hook to find the blacksmith who can create such a shield. Alternative is to acquire a "magic hand" to be strapped onto the stump (like in the movie classic Army of Darkness) which could have other advantages as well. I don't recommend the Hand of Vecna though.....