StreamOfTheSky
Adventurer
Issue came up in game last night and at the time I said it'd need a Regenerate spell to fix, but I'm not sure if that's fair (party is only level 6, he may not be able to get such a spell for a while). The exact details don't bother me to discuss, but the squeamish may not want to read on...
The party had been captured previously, and were being tortured for their crimes and religious beliefs, the NPCs trying to force them to convert under duress. Very much like the Inquisition, that was what I was going for.
One particular character had a Pear of Anguish in his mouth.
Medieval torture devices - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While there aren't rules for this exact scenario, I kind of ruled on the fly: The character decided to make a rather spectacular resistance, and chose to use his Mountain Hammer maneuver (ignore all object hardness) to try and destroy the implement... with his teeth! For the record, the players agreed it should be treated as an unarmed strike for damage (d3) for medium. He has no Imp. Unarmed Strike and thus can only do non-lethal and probably has no way of damaging an object, maneuver or not. I said I'd allow it, and just subtract some damage from the result. I also tried to act as his character's common sense, flatly stating, "I think that's a REALLY bad idea, and whether you succeed to destroy it or not, you'll suffer pretty severe damage."
He said he wanted to regardless. So, I told him he didn't need to roll to hit (I mean, really!) and he rolled fairly low damage. I described the device (made of mostly metal and some wood on the interior) as getting some dents and holes punctured through it, but still functional. My description of the incredible, horrific pain he experienced took about three paragraphs worth of text. Basically, I said he chipped and broke many of his teeth, forced them deep into his gums, broke and dislocated his jaw... the pain being so severe it instantly floored him and gave him a tremendous headache. I told him he wouldn't be speaking for a while (the torture room had a permanent mind link effect on it to hear the victims' mental anguish anyway, so he could still RP) and once he could, he'd basically be sounding like someone whose tongue had gone numb.
He said, out of character, it wasn't a big deal. He'd just get a cure spell later. I corrected him, no, that wasn't something a mere cure spell will fix. I thought that was clear in my warning before he did it, and the fact I never actually rolled hp damage. Guess it wasn't. I told him it seemed like something you'd need Regenerate to fix.
Regenerate :: d20srd.org
For what it's worth, he wasn't angry about it and accepted my ruling. But I do feel kind of bad. Is requiring a level 7 spell too harsh? I can't think of a better spell to model it. Am I interpreting what happened right? I see it as him biting down into the mostly metal object full force with no care for self harm. Perhaps by ignoring object hardness, it should cause the object to buckle like rubber against his teeth? What do you guys think?
The party had been captured previously, and were being tortured for their crimes and religious beliefs, the NPCs trying to force them to convert under duress. Very much like the Inquisition, that was what I was going for.
One particular character had a Pear of Anguish in his mouth.
Medieval torture devices - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While there aren't rules for this exact scenario, I kind of ruled on the fly: The character decided to make a rather spectacular resistance, and chose to use his Mountain Hammer maneuver (ignore all object hardness) to try and destroy the implement... with his teeth! For the record, the players agreed it should be treated as an unarmed strike for damage (d3) for medium. He has no Imp. Unarmed Strike and thus can only do non-lethal and probably has no way of damaging an object, maneuver or not. I said I'd allow it, and just subtract some damage from the result. I also tried to act as his character's common sense, flatly stating, "I think that's a REALLY bad idea, and whether you succeed to destroy it or not, you'll suffer pretty severe damage."
He said he wanted to regardless. So, I told him he didn't need to roll to hit (I mean, really!) and he rolled fairly low damage. I described the device (made of mostly metal and some wood on the interior) as getting some dents and holes punctured through it, but still functional. My description of the incredible, horrific pain he experienced took about three paragraphs worth of text. Basically, I said he chipped and broke many of his teeth, forced them deep into his gums, broke and dislocated his jaw... the pain being so severe it instantly floored him and gave him a tremendous headache. I told him he wouldn't be speaking for a while (the torture room had a permanent mind link effect on it to hear the victims' mental anguish anyway, so he could still RP) and once he could, he'd basically be sounding like someone whose tongue had gone numb.
He said, out of character, it wasn't a big deal. He'd just get a cure spell later. I corrected him, no, that wasn't something a mere cure spell will fix. I thought that was clear in my warning before he did it, and the fact I never actually rolled hp damage. Guess it wasn't. I told him it seemed like something you'd need Regenerate to fix.
Regenerate :: d20srd.org
For what it's worth, he wasn't angry about it and accepted my ruling. But I do feel kind of bad. Is requiring a level 7 spell too harsh? I can't think of a better spell to model it. Am I interpreting what happened right? I see it as him biting down into the mostly metal object full force with no care for self harm. Perhaps by ignoring object hardness, it should cause the object to buckle like rubber against his teeth? What do you guys think?