D&D 5E In our last session... some bits and bobs.

[DND_Reborn]

I don't really get into torture other than some generic "They torture you trying to get information." but no specifics. Some of the players go a bit more but we try to keep things PG13.

I also tend to give outs when things go bad or place things that may solve problems. I might place a potion of flying or climbing in a place they could find that will help them later or a scroll of regeneration/ raise dead at some point in the dungeon if the PCs are likely to die. It goes to the point of havine a player sitting for a night while the rest of the players bring his body back to town or such.

I did have an elf with one arm in a game but he also had a metal arm I stole from Dragonlance. I gave him some powers that went with it. I could see me giving something like this to a PC.

Sure, every DM and table is different. I don't mind how our DM handled things in that respect because I don't give things to help out the PCs when things go bad. If things go bad, it was probably because players took a risk they should have realized was beyond them. I like it when PCs RUN from monsters in my game. Our DM is similar.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

The rulings seem sound, especially given the added context of the time constraints, etc.
And the moral of this story is:
Always keep a spare one of these in your handy haversack:

Ersatz Eye
Wondrous item, common (requires attunement)
This artificial eye replaces a real one that was lost or removed. While the ersatz eye is embedded in your eye
socket, it can't be removed by anyone other than you, and you can see through the tiny orb as though it were a
normal eye.

 

[DEFCON 1]

This is one of those situations where I'd go with narrative fulfillment, rather than a mechanical one. If there's a cleric in the party (or someone else whose narrative abilities are healing the injured or infirmed) and they have someone who has been blinded and without eyes... I personally wouldn't just look at all the various healing spell descriptions, find the one that "applies", and then say "Well, sorry, this is the only way to do it, so you can't until you have mechanically reached the proper XP to finally "receive" this spell." That seems much too beholden to the "game" rather than the story and is not something I actually like doing.

If you have healing abilities throughout all 9 spell levels... narratively-speaking there should be a progression of what a person could accomplish. So to me... the idea that at a "2nd level spell slot" a healer could restore the sight of a blinded person (who had their eyes), but that same person couldn't fix the eyes themselves until using a "7th level spell slot" is just narratively wayyyyyyy too big of a jump. Especially considering that in that time, these healers can not only restore life to a dead person, but also completely reincarnate someone by creating a whole body for them? They can do all that... but they can't somehow just fix a person's broken eyes.

To me... that's just another point where being beholden to game mechanics for the sake of game mechanics results in incoherent story and gameplay. And a much less satisfying... and dare I say it... to me, a stupid game.

"Yeah, I know you had your ear burned off by that acid... but I can't replace that ear. So instead I'm going to create a whole new body for you, kill you, and then put your soul into it. Because that's easier."

Nah. Forget that ridiculousness. If a 2nd level slot can restore blindness, then a spell a couple level slots higher can give someone their eyes back-- either straight away if you don't want to roleplay the story, or by sending the group on an adventure to get the items necessary to create the invented ritual that would allow it. Make the eye restoration part of the story, not just a hurdle that the group has to play through over months just to earn "XP" so they eventually "get" a fix for it.

 

[DND_Reborn]

This is one of those situations where I'd go with narrative fulfillment, rather than a mechanical one. If there's a cleric in the party (or someone else whose narrative abilities are healing the injured or infirmed) and they have someone who has been blinded and without eyes... I personally wouldn't just look at all the various healing spell descriptions, find the one that "applies", and then say "Well, sorry, this is the only way to do it, so you can't until you have mechanically reached the proper XP to finally "receive" this spell." That seems much too beholden to the "game" rather than the story and is not something I actually like doing.

If you have healing abilities throughout all 9 spell levels... narratively-speaking there should be a progression of what a person could accomplish. So to me... the idea that at a "2nd level spell slot" a healer could restore the sight of a blinded person (who had their eyes), but that same person couldn't fix the eyes themselves until using a "7th level spell slot" is just narratively wayyyyyyy too big of a jump. Especially considering that in that time, these healers can not only restore life to a dead person, but also completely reincarnate someone by creating a whole body for them? They can do all that... but they can't somehow just fix a person's broken eyes.

To me... that's just another point where being beholden to game mechanics for the sake of game mechanics results in incoherent story and gameplay. And a much less satisfying... and dare I say it... to me, a stupid game.

"Yeah, I know you had your ear burned off by that acid... but I can't replace that ear. So instead I'm going to create a whole new body for you, kill you, and then put your soul into it. Because that's easier."

Nah. Forget that ridiculousness. If a 2nd level slot can restore blindness, then a spell a couple level slots higher can give someone their eyes back-- either straight away if you don't want to roleplay the story, or by sending the group on an adventure to get the items necessary to create the invented ritual that would allow it. Make the eye restoration part of the story, not just a hurdle that the group has to play through over months just to earn "XP" so they eventually "get" a fix for it.

Yeah, disregarding mechanics at this point would have been nice. Since something like Greater Restoration is 5th level (which we do have access to), even that would have been preferable IMO (as @Stormonu suggested). Allowing it to restore ears, eyes, etc. maybe no more than a hand (but not an arm) would have been fine.

Maybe a 4th level spell, Lesser Regeneration, would be a nice addition to the game. We're playing soon so I'll have to ask the DM.

I think that fits the bill pretty well for power, level, etc. Does it look reasonable to others?

 

[Richards]

What's that "Duration: 1 minute" all about? I don't play 5E and am unfamiliar with whether or not any terminology has changed from earlier editions, but I would have expected "Duration: Permanent," as once cast it was a permanent effect that couldn't be dispelled. "Duration: 1 minute" to me means that the regenerated eyes (in this case) only last for one minute. Am I missing something?

Johnathan

 

[generic]

Sure, every DM and table is different. I don't mind how our DM handled things in that respect because I don't give things to help out the PCs when things go bad. If things go bad, it was probably because players took a risk they should have realized was beyond them. I like it when PCs RUN from monsters in my game. Our DM is similar.

I realize more, every day that I read these forums, that I am a very gory DM in terms of my descriptions.

 

[Henry]

All this sounds positively Gygaxian to me.

 

[Shiroiken]

I'd probably try to find a high level caster to cast Regenerate before resorting to such extreme measures like suicide/reincarnation. This could be an interesting adventure for the DM, because depending on the type of character the now blinded character (spellcasters are worst affected, because most spells require you to see your target).

 

[DND_Reborn]

What's that "Duration: 1 minute" all about? I don't play 5E and am unfamiliar with whether or not any terminology has changed from earlier editions, but I would have expected "Duration: Permanent," as once cast it was a permanent effect that couldn't be dispelled. "Duration: 1 minute" to me means that the regenerated eyes (in this case) only last for one minute. Am I missing something?

Johnathan

I was thinking more in terms of the 1 minute it took to restore the body part, but changed it over all to be Permanent to avoid confusion.

I'd probably try to find a high level caster to cast Regenerate before resorting to such extreme measures like suicide/reincarnation. This could be an interesting adventure for the DM, because depending on the type of character the now blinded character (spellcasters are worst affected, because most spells require you to see your target).

If we had time we would have, but time was of the essence and we had to do what we could since we didn't have access to a capable caster in time.

Yeah, that was why the drow removes the wizard's eyes and the sorcerer's tongue. It really hurt the wizard but the sorcerer had Subtle Spell metamagic to overcome the lack of vocal component.

 

[Arvok]

My only issue with all this would be that players might try to use reincarnate as a cheap and easy way to overcome poor decisions/bad luck. If the players role played it well--making it obvious how much of a dangerous and frightening ordeal reincarnation is--I don't see it as much of a problem.

As far as ability scores for the reincarnated form, I like the idea of taking existing ability scores (before racial adjustments) and letting the player assign them as he sees fit to the new form. Also, for anyone except an elf (because they naturally reincarnate to a new elven or fey form when they die--at least in my world) being in a new body would be terribly unsettling. The human might be more or less OK as an elf (or maybe not, depending on the human viewed elves before hand), but the half-orc would probably have a lot of problems being trapped in an elf (even a drow) body.

This is all based on my concept of the races of the world and how they view each other. Your world might be different. If there were issues with the new forms, it creates great incentive for a new quest to get their old bodies back--possibly seeking out someone who can cast wish. Simply finding out what spells need to be cast might be a quest in itself.