Wheelchair-bound character

[takyris]

Maybe this belongs in House Rules -- I dunno. But it's pretty d20 Modern-specific.

If you had a character who wanted to play a wheelchair-bound PC, what would you have him do? What rules would change?

Offhand, I'm thinking:

1) No fundamental changes to ability scores. A paraplegic can still swim DARN well or do a buttload of pull-ups, and his fine manipulation skills could well be excellent. While Strength is a likely dump stat, it shouldn't HAVE to be one -- if the player wants to make a difficult character, he could certainly do a high-Strength wheelchair-bound character who runs the wheelchair-basketball and marathon circuit... A wheelchair-bound person with a low Strength and Dex is partially paralyzed and weak all over, while a wheelchair-bound person with a high Strength and Dex could be a former marine who took a shot to the spine or something...

2) Movement speed of 15? Maybe 20. 20 would be easier for a D&D player to translate -- "Oh, right, I move like a dwarf."

3) Can't move (beyond 5' reposition) unless at least one hand is free? Or can people who know more about wheelchair stuff counteract this? I know that >I< couldn't work a wheelchair well with both hands filled (say, firing a pistol and holding a grenade), but maybe someone who uses a wheelchair for several years can functionally handle it with just elbows, like an experienced driver who can steer while holding his cell phone, coffee, and PDA all at the same time.

4) Penalty to defense against melee attacks (although not to Dexterity itself, since a wheelchair-user is perfectly capable of firing a gun with the best of them). Possible cover against ranged attacks, which I'd make small but all-around in order to not have to deal with Shield-spell facing crap?

5) Probable penalty on Reflex saves. Fort and Will ought to be fine.

6) -2 penalty to melee attacks -- about halfway to being prone.

7) Some kind of bonuses, but not many, since this IS a voluntary disadvantage. Balance checks aren't likely to be a problem, although you still can't go up stairs terribly easily. I'd be tempted to give him Shot on the Run or Driveby Shot or something, but that might be too generous.

8) Hit points... I dunno. Perhaps it depends on whether the player wants his character to have no legs beyond the knees, or whether the character is paraplegic, or what.

Anyway, thanks in advance for thoughts and help.

 

[JPL]

That's a great question.

Permanently prone, maybe? Plus the other DMG disadvantages associated with having two injured legs?

I'd leave the reflex save...that's as much a measure of overall heroic mettle as it is "reflexes" per se.

I'd also leave hit points, since they are such an abstract measure to begin with.

Do you have a character in mind?

 

[takyris]

See, prone is lying down. Someone who's sitting down isn't fully prone. I usually just plunk a -2 onto someone if they're sitting.

Reflex and Hit Points should stay? Okay. Sounds good to me.

What about:

Characters in wheelchairs:

Move: 20 feet

+2 cover bonus all around -- wheelchair has something like a Hardness 5 and a good number of hit points -- but not as many as, say, a car.

-4 to melee attacks, and to Defense against melee attacks (this cancels out the wheelchair's cover bonus and still gives the attacker a +2 to hit).

Requires one hand free to move. This has to be declared at the beginning of the round -- you can't use both hands to do something and THEN free up your hand to move the wheelchair.

If a character spends most of his time in a wheelchair, he becomes eligible for the following feats. These special feats may be purchased at any level that offers feats or bonus feats, and are considered "on the list" for every class and advanced class.

Fast Acceleration
Pre-req: Wheelchair user
Benefit: The wheelchair user is good at maneuvering quickly and easily, and can keep up with his allies in combat. His speed returns to the normal 30 feet.

Glide
Pre-req: Wheelchair user, Fast Acceleration
Benefit: The wheelchair user is adept at letting the wheelchair do the work for him while still maintaining control. In the round following a round in which the character moved, he has the option of continuing to move a distance equal to the distance moved in the previous turn. While doing this "free" movement, the character can still take a full-round action, provided that the action does not rely on being in close proximity to something.

Example: In round one, Steven wheels forward 20 feet. In round two, he has the option of continuing to move 20 feet while taking a full-attack action with his gun, instead of just taking one attack.

Normal: Characters must maintain control of their wheelchairs by continuing to actively move them -- just as a character can't "maintain momentum" from a charge by having it be free, they can't "continue rolling" without it counting as their move action for that turn.

Note: This only works for one turn. You can't glide forever.

Superb Control
Pre-req: Wheelchair User, Dex 13+
Benefit: The hero has been in the chair long enough to make it work for her almost by instinct. She can make a normal move while still leaving her hands free, steering with her elbows or making quick motions that don't compromise her hold on other objects.

Improved Cover
Pre-req: Wheelchair User
Benefit: The hero has adapted to life in the wheelchair, and can use her wheelchair to stop incoming attacks through improved defensive positioning. Her cover bonus improves to +4. Note that the cover bonus to defense does not, for the wheelchair user, provide a bonus to Reflex saves.

Seated Defense
Pre-req: Wheelchair User, Defensive Martial Arts
Benefit: The hero has adapted fully to his new existence, and can fight in his chair as effectively as he could on his feet. He no longer suffers a -4 penalty to Defense for being in the wheelchair.

Seated Combat
Pre-req: Wheelchair User, Base Attack Bonus +3
Benefit: The hero has learned how to use her wheelchair to check her opponents, run over the occasional foot, and even slam targets into parts of the chair. She no longer takes a -4 penalty to hit on melee attacks.

Improved Seated Combat
Pre-req: Wheelchair User, Seated Combat, Base Attack Bonus +6
Benefit: The hero is now actually more dangerous with his chair than he would be with another weapon. He can lock hands in the wheels, break elbows across the arms, and even give some nasty raspberries as he goes by. When attacking with a light melee weapon, the hero now adds an extra +1d4 damage to one hit per round. When attacking unarmed, the character is treated as armed, using a Large weapon that does 1d6 (crit20) damage on a hit.

Dunno. What do you think? A truly tricked-out character with all these feats would be something, but if her wheelchair got destroyed, she'd be even more helpless than the Soldier whose favored weapon just got sundered. And I like the idea of giving heroes the OPTION to not be hampered while fighting in the wheelchair, provided that they're willing to give up some of their precious feats to do so.

 

[psychognome]

Not surprisingly maybe, the thought of Professor Charles Xavier pops in to mind.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I once played a Rigger in Shadowrun who was wired into his wheelchair. His extremely souped-up wheelchair with pop-up turrets, etc. That was his vehicle of choice, and he was far from helpless in it.

I think you are on the right track, but I would give the character a couple of those wheelchair only feats for free-- he is, after all, significantly disadvantaged. A wheelchair is a very visible and easily exploited weakness.

I don't believe I would offer COVER, per se, from the wheelchair. There isn't a lot of material there to deflect attacks-- certainly not Ballistic ones. Maybe give him a bit of DR against melee and a +1 bonus against ranged attacks (cause he has a Small profile).


Wulf

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

I'm assuming that most of these rules take into account that the character is using a manual wheelchair.
What would the speed be for an electric one?

Hehe, I could see a gadget oriented player making a "voice activated chair" for totally hands free operation...

 

[takyris]

I once played a Rigger in Shadowrun who was wired into his wheelchair. His extremely souped-up wheelchair with pop-up turrets, etc. That was his vehicle of choice, and he was far from helpless in it.

Cool! Glad to hear I'm not the only person to think of this.

I think you are on the right track, but I would give the character a couple of those wheelchair only feats for free-- he is, after all, significantly disadvantaged. A wheelchair is a very visible and easily exploited weakness.

Well, I want there to be NO chance of powergaming, and the general concensus in the other thread seemed to be that it was a better idea to give XP for times when someone's voluntarily chosen disadvantage (like being in a wheelchair) made things harder for them than it was to give them free feats.

This also allows for an interesting character choice -- does a character who's just been shot and paralyzed from the waist down accept his condition and start taking wheelchair feats, or does he hold out for a cure, fighting his wheelchair for all he's worth?

Dunno, though. It would be really unfortunate for someone to spend all their feats on wheelchair things and then get cured and have these useless feats.

If I didn't give them for free, I'd allow them to transfer to something else (at a rate of one feat per month, game-time) if the guy ever got out of his wheelchair.

If I did give them for free, it'd be something like a "free" wheelchair feat at levels 1,5,9,14, and 19. They could purchase any others as normal every-third-level feats if they wanted.

I don't believe I would offer COVER, per se, from the wheelchair. There isn't a lot of material there to deflect attacks-- certainly not Ballistic ones.

There's not much cover in the front, no, but what about in the back? If you're behind someone in a wheelchair, how do you punch anything except the very top of their head? That's like three-quarters cover right there. On the sides, it's probably about half cover, and in the front, a quarter, if that, just from presenting a smaller profile. I averaged it out because I didn't want to start worrying about facing -- I'm assuming that everyone TRIES to attack the wheelchair guy on the front, and he tries to spin around and take that claw-attack on the arms of his chair...

Maybe we're thinking about different chairs....

Bran, neat thought! I'd probably make a voice-activated or electric chair easier to use in terms of keeping your hands free, but I'm not sure it'd be as maneuverable -- and it's top speed would be lower than that of an athletic person going with both hands, so maybe "No Running" or something like that...

As it is, I wouldn't allow a run unless the user had both hands free to work the wheels on a normal chair.

 

[Bran Blackbyrd]

Sounds about right. These days they have all kinds of chairs; the ancient kind, new lightweight "athletic" types, electric models, and even one that climbs stairs.

No chairs with 426 Hemi engines though.

 

[nobodez]

I'm resurrecting this thread, since I think it's still important.

I'd say that, in regards to Defense, they're just sitting, and considered paralyzed (which puts them at a -2 vs. melee, a +2 vs. ranged, and they lose any Dexterity bonus to Defense).

As for attacks, I don't think a penalty is in order, as you don't take an attack penalty for riding a mount, a motorcycle, or a bicycle.

For speed, I think it's best to treat it like a bicycle as well, with a speed of 5 squares.

 

[Urizen]

I once played a Rigger in Shadowrun who was wired into his wheelchair. His extremely souped-up wheelchair with pop-up turrets, etc. That was his vehicle of choice, and he was far from helpless in it.

I think you are on the right track, but I would give the character a couple of those wheelchair only feats for free-- he is, after all, significantly disadvantaged. A wheelchair is a very visible and easily exploited weakness.

I don't believe I would offer COVER, per se, from the wheelchair. There isn't a lot of material there to deflect attacks-- certainly not Ballistic ones. Maybe give him a bit of DR against melee and a +1 bonus against ranged attacks (cause he has a Small profile).


Wulf

A rigger in a wheelchair, hmm, now that is a concept I've seen before. I knew a guy who played that concept on an online chat called the Seattle Sprawl at darkrelic.net.

Very cool stuff. He definately wasn't disadvantaged either. I wish I could remember the character's name.