Prothsetic limbs, magic and monk abilities

[Thurbane]

Stupid question # 4527: if a monk lost, say, a hand in a battle, and for whatever reason was unable to get a new one regenerated, could he get a magical prosthesis attached, and then use that as part of his unarmed attack routine? I would assume yes, so the second part of the question is this - could the prosthesis be enchanted as a weapon, and have abilities like Flaming, Shocking etc. placed upon it?

...and just to muddy the waters even more, if a goliath character lost a hand, would powerful build allow it to have an overised replacement attached?

 

[Nifft]

IMHO, you could certainly get a graft or other prosthetic attached, and you could use it in your attack routine (as a secondary natural attack) -- but it would do nothing special in your flurry routine, because it would count as a natural weapon.

Not really familiar with Goliaths -- are they Large or Medium?

Cheers, -- N

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

I would treat a prosthetic similar to a gauntlet for damage capacity..as that is essentially what you are wearing.

As to the Goliath question, Powerful Build clearly delinates what it can and cannot do. I would allow a character to get an oversized prostetic and wield it as a larger gauntlet...

Of course, there woudl be some social implications for wandering around with a huge gauntlet deal on your hand...

And to answer the inevitable follow up question, no..a larger prosthetic hand would not allow the character to wield a larger weapon than they normally could.

 

[Thurbane]

Goliaths have the Powerful Build ability, the same as the Half-Giant from the expanded SRD does:

Powerful Build: The physical stature of half-giants lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger.
Whenever a half-giant is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the half-giant is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.
A half-giant is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A half-giant can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.