(Self-?) Mutilation of your own characters

[BVB]

Two hours into the game session, the player running the dwarven druid mentions rather nonchalantly, "I'll bet you're all wondering what happened to my character's leg..." The right leg, below the knee, is now missing and replaced with a wooden prosthetic, he declares -- no one had actually noticed, of course, because there had been no discussion earlier about what passed between adventure nights.

"It was a lettuce cutting accident," he states. No further explanation is offered. After a pause, he adds, "I've given my character the appropriate dex' penalty."

I guess he thought it would be cool because a week earlier another player had decided that his character had lost an eye and was now wearing a wicked-looking black patch to hide the scarred socket. ... With the appropriate attribute penalty, of course. All in the name of macho angsty roleplaying.

I expect in a week or so someone will announce that his character's spleen has been removed.

Have you ever mutilated your own character, or seen someone else do it to theirs?

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I guess he thought it would be cool because a week earlier another player had decided that his character had lost an eye and was now wearing a cool-looking black patch to hide the scarred socket. ... With the appropriate attribute penalty, of course. All in the name of macho angsty roleplaying.

Actually, it makes sense in a game where growing an arm back is more difficult than restoring life to a rotting corpse.

Have you ever mutilated your own character, or seen someone else do it to theirs?

Yes, but never for the heck of it. I had one character that lost a hand to a slicer-trap, and I decided to go with the interchanging pirate-hook/meat cleaver accessory.

I also played a female LN Necromancer once that, in a game that featured Ritual Maiming for Spellcasters, removed two fingers and an eye (for a few bonus casting points on the fingers and a bonus 3rd Level spell memorization on the eye).

 

[Arthur Tealeaf]

In my game, all self-mutilation would require difficult will saves/and or constitution saves. YOu need some serious willpower to do something like that! Of course, drugs help, but still!

 

[dave_o]

Since I use the old 2E Critical Hit charts, characters/NPCs losing limbs and eyes is a pretty high risk.

As such, I think it can be very rad.

But I've never had a character self-mutilate themselves, other than the occasional heroic art of sacrifice that ends up with some missing bits.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I guess he thought it would be cool because a week earlier another player had decided that his character had lost an eye and was now wearing a wicked-looking black patch to hide the scarred socket. ... With the appropriate attribute penalty, of course. All in the name of macho angsty roleplaying.

um, you were there and all, but are you sure he wasn't making fun of ol' one eye? I mean, a lettuce cutting accident? comeon, this is not serious...

Kahuna burger

 

[BVB]

I think there might be some misunderstanding of the "self-" prefix here. The characters are not mutilating themselves (as far as I can tell); rather, the players are mutilating their characters. Same effect, different perspective.

Like if you decided, "A jagged scar across his chest would be an interesting origin story hook," so *POOF* the character becomes scarred through some mishap not of his own making.

 

[Paragon]

I started a char without one eye once as part of a plot line. and we had a guy take his eye out one time to atone for misdeeds and gain use of a magic item to replace the eye. other than that, no peg legs or anything

 

[hunter1828]

I had a ranger character lose two fingers on his right hand to a half-ogre once. He found it very hard to hold a bow or sword for some time afterwards.

In the games I run I use a modification of the old MERP fumble tables. PCs and NPCs have lost ears to accidents as a result. Another PC once took a critical hit to the face and lost an eye as a result.

hunter1828

 

[Arthur Tealeaf]

I think there might be some misunderstanding of the "self-" prefix here. The characters are not mutilating themselves (as far as I can tell); rather, the players are mutilating their characters. Same effect, different perspective.

Like if you decided, "A jagged scar across his chest would be an interesting origin story hook," so *POOF* the character becomes scarred through some mishap not of his own making.

Of course! But my players tried to do it in-game, and that wouldn't be so easy...

 

[Mark]

Two hours into the game session, the player running the dwarven druid mentions rather nonchalantly, "I'll bet you're all wondering what happened to my character's leg..." The right leg, below the knee, is now missing and replaced with a wooden prosthetic...

I guess he thought it would be cool because a week earlier another player had decided that his character had lost an eye and was now wearing a wicked-looking black patch to hide the scarred socket. ...

I expect in a week or so someone will announce that his character's spleen has been removed.

I suspect he'll be contacting you about adding a parrot familiar first...