Paralyzed: Not the regular way...

[Three_Haligonians]

...but the realistic way.


I'm just wondering what people think is the best way, in D&D mechanics, to represent being paralyzed in the "real world" sense of having no motor control over some or all limbs.

For the sake of ease, let's assume we are talking about being paralyzed from the waist down instead of say, the neck down (which I figure is very close to the helpless condition). What would you say the effects of such a condition are? Here are some of my thoughts:

A speed of 5ft (they can crawl/drag with their arms)
No running, no charging
Cannot stand, so they are considered prone at all times


Let us assume we are talking about someone who was not born with this condition but rather suffered it, ie. an injury of some kind. Let us also assume that this condition is recent so the victim has not had time to adjust to their new lifestyle.

So, what else happens to a "real-paralyzed" character?


J from Three Haligonians

 

[Kahuna Burger]

So, what else happens to a "real-paralyzed" character?

Well in the real world, such a character dragging himself along could unintentionally inflict multiple minor injuries and some major ones due to lack of sensation. That lack of sensation can also contribute to infections and gangrene, but thats outside of the D&D injury and healing model.

 

[frankthedm]

That lack of sensation can also contribute to infections and gangrene, but thats outside of the D&D injury and healing model.

Not exactly.

The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections, or violence before getting to venerable age.

It is buried, but those sort of things do happen, to NPCs.

Set the speed to 0' and let locomotion be handled by...

Minimum Movement
Despite penalties to movement, you can take a full-round action to move 5 feet (1 square) in any direction, even diagonally. (This rule doesn’t allow you to move through impassable terrain or to move when all movement is prohibited.) Such movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal (despite the distance covered, this move isn’t a 5-foot step).

 

[James McMurray]

The speed would depend on how long they've been paralyzed and how much practice they've had working around it. Real Life paralyzed people can generally move a lot faster than you'd think. I'd say their speed starts at 5' and goes up by 5' per week (or day of constant practice) to a maximum of half their base land speed.

 

[frankthedm]

The speed would depend on how long they've been paralyzed and how much practice they've had working around it. Real Life paralyzed people can generally move a lot faster than you'd think. I'd say their speed starts at 5' and goes up by 5' per week (or day of constant practice) to a maximum of half their base land speed.

Land speed? or walking speed? And were these 'real life' speeds timed when they had soft mats beneath them?

Combat speed assumes a hustle. Walking in combat cuts one's speed in half. Half of that is well represented by...

Crawling
You can crawl 5 feet as a move action. Crawling incurs attacks of opportunity from any attackers who threaten you at any point of your crawl.

 

[James McMurray]

Land speed, walking speed, it's all the same for a biped on his feet.

I didn't take any measurements, merely went by what I've seen and read. What I saw was faster than a 5' per 10 second crawl. Unless the sidewalks and streets by the homeless shelters are cushioned but still look like concrete and asphalt, it didn't involve anything resembling a soft mat.

 

[frankthedm]

I didn't take any measurements, merely went by what I've seen and read. What I saw was faster than a 5' per 10 second crawl.

All of my suggestions are faster than 5' / 10sec. The slowest was 5' / 6 sec. Default crawling speed for prone condtion is 10' / 6sec provided both the turn's move action and standard action. All of which draw AoOs.

A feat to obtain a 5' crawl speed sounds reasonable to me {thus no AoOs]. That would allow running 20' / 6 seconds and a 10' charge.

 

[James McMurray]

Sorry, got my 10 and 6 second rounds confused. In either case though, what I've seen is faster than a D&D crawl.

 

[roguerouge]

And take a look at a doc called Murderball, if you're looking for what's possible with a chair and attitude. (Oh, and late 1990s technology was getting good results with low-level galvanism applied to braced legs, which permitted a certain amount of walking, although it was draining physically and financially. There's no reason you couldn't craft a wondrous item to that effect.)

 

[Three_Haligonians]

Hmm,

Well, I've got two options for movement now:

1. Crawl 5ft as a move action.
2. Speed = 0ft, move 5ft as a full-round action.

Let me give you the scenario I am envisioning so that we are all on the same page. Please forgive my campaign plug.

The villains of the current adventure are one part psionic, one part Lovecraftian, one part Far Realm. The characters are just at the climax and are about to enter the final lair, fight the final BBEGS and stop The Evil Plan (TM).

Way back towards the beginning of the game, at the start of every session I asked the player's a few questions about their characters that they had to write down and pass in. Stuff like "what did you get for your 5th birthday?" "What is the meanest thing you have ever done?" etc. It was a new group, with new characters so I thought it would help them think about their character and create some background. I would also be lying if I said I didn't use some of it to mess with their heads a little.

One of the questions asked was "What is your greatest fear?" (For the record, it was actually a player who picked this one, they all wanted a turn asking the questions one game). One player, whose character is a big wrestling/grappler type cleric of Kord said "To become an invalid"

So, doesn't take a genius to figure this out! I figure, the BBEG with his crazy psychic powers will manifest their greatest fears on them (cliche I know.. but I'm a sucker for classics). I figure for the cleric of Kord, this will involve some kind of incident that will leave his back broken and paralyzed from the waist down (until he manages to make a Disbelief Will save anyway).


So, besides a reduction in speed, what else would the recently paralyzed be faced with? Surely there would have to be some kind of Dexterity penalty right?

Hope I didn't bore you out with my campaign

J from Three Haligonians