Topic: How to regrow a limb

[munchy]

Right, that character lost an arm in battle. It was ripped off by a zombie and could not be retrieved after the battle. Ergo he is without an arm and the healer without something he could "merely" reattach to the body of his comrade. The question now it how you regrow an arm (or limb to make it more general).
We do not use the "heal all" scaling option so that does not solve the problem.
It has been established earlier on the forums that the "heal organ" scaling option can be used to not only heal but also to reattach and even regrow an organ, an ear was the example used. While an organ does not contain any bones a limb usually does.
Thus the idea that has grown over the time pondering this problem is that the healer has to use his Major Healing spell with the following scaling options simultaneously:
1) Increase Healing (heal broken & shattered bones) +6 PP
2) Increase Healing (heal nerve damage)                 +8 PP
3) Increase Healing (heal organ damage)                +10 PP

and maybe even
4) Increase Healing ( heal 3 options) +4 PP to allow all three things to work together with one spell.
The last option, however, is not clear at the moment as it is meant to refer to the standard spell's healing abilities to be combined and as that is not necessary for the spell this option does not seem to be necessary.

Further questions arise:
a) Is one bone scaling option enough as there are more than one bone in the limb. The scaling option however does not speak of "one ... bone" as the option in the base spells says. So, is it enough to include it once or should there be one for each bone in the arm? Or one, to make it doable, for each section, i.e. one for the upper arm, one for the lower arm, one for the hand?
b) If the organ healing scaling option can regrow an ear is the nerve healing option really required? Every part of the body includes nerves but you do not require a healer to cast it with every healing spell he casts just to make people realise that if not their body part will be healed but also be numb afterwards as no nerves have been regenerated. Not to speak of the myrades of medical condition that would follow a situation like this, with a body part being without functioning nerves.
c) On the other hand, one could use this one to say it is needed mainly for the muscles to be regrown. Then again there is the question is once enough or if the scaling option needed more than once?

I am eagerly awaiting your thoughts.

[Puin]

Nasty zombie !!! Had his snack at last 

IMHO regrowing body parts it's quite powerful and should be quite difficult. Just a step below of Livekeeping and Livegiving which, in our RPG sessions has never occurred.
Once we were almost on the brink, meaning we had to persuade a bishop (at least) and use the cathedral's altar and pray in dispair until running out of tears , repent of all our sins, and offer all of our goods and resources to the church as well as swearing an oath to fulfill the bishop's orders.  (But at the end the player declined since it would destroy all the campaign that was to thigh schedule designed. I didn't like it since as PC I wanted to resurrect our dead friend but the player wasn't especially fond of his PC so at the end I withdraw).

Being so IMFU, I'll go for:

1) First use all healing until the wound is stabilized. U have to heal the wound first prior to try regrowing it.

2) I'll go for 1+2+3 (that's a +24PP scaling) but on a special environment. (Sacred places, nexus of holy powers, old temples ...... and if out of reach from anything similar the healer/cleric must set up an altar o similar as much proper as possible to pray both, PC and cleric/healer, for the regrowing gift)

3) I'll Dismiss 4 (since the wounds must be stabilized previously) and "Heal All" (since I don't like it either)

4) The healer/cleric can cast the spell until it's successfully cast. He can achieve only one success for God prayed, meaning that the gift will be granted only once per God/organ. And even if successful I, as GM, will had the last word upon if it has been granted keeping the PCs in suspense for several days until the PC can feel the regrowing or the healer/cleric decided that this time the God didn't wanted to grant that “miracle”.

5) So, if all went OK I’ll give a period of ….. lets say 25 days to regrow upon until the arm is useless, except for very simple or desperate tasks. During those 25 days the arm will regrow slowly from stump to arm, the player will be somewhat tired, thirsty, hungry, slightly feverish (meaning a -10 to -20 penalty max). [The 25 days cames up from: Having 4 limbs, one out will roughly mean a -25, so 25 days to compensate that hypothetical malus]

6) As a GM I´ll like a special oath/swear from the healed PC to the God granting the miracle.

a) Will rule only one succesful cast needed for limb.
b) Yes, sure nerve healing scaling option is a must. This is a very special “healing”.
c) Muscles have nerves, so refer to my b) must heal nerves. And my a) also, only once.

Hope helps that looong post 

[Winterknight]

New spell!  Limbgiving.

[Maelstrom]

Or regeneration. 

[munchy]

Did not say thank you yet. So, thanks a lot, good thoughts, very helpful ideas.

[Puin]

Thank you for the compliments. 

Anyway, as always it's just my two cents and IMFU (In My Fantasy Universe) 

[munchy]

We, by the way, now use the discussed version to regrow a limb and for the reattachment of a limb that has been torn off but is still "fresh" and present the caster also has to use all three scaling options but can use them one after the other and not all at once. Seems to be a working and neither too weak nor too powerful solution.

[ZuS]

Become a vampire -> regrow limb -> cure vampirism.

[munchy]

Question would be why should your body regenerate an arm that has not been there when your body was transformed?

[ZuS]

That is up to interpretation, but have you ever heard of a one-legged vampire? or a vampire wearing an eye-patch? or a vampire with a hook instead of a hand? what I'm saying is that vampires are not pirates.

[munchy]

Right. Did not want to say you are completely wrong, just that in my world that would not work. I always imagined the vampire stuff like the Highlander thing ... you wait until someone is in his prime and THEN you turn him, keeping that perferct condition.

The hooked vampire ... cool idea ... "as everything's better with pirates" ... maybe even vampires become playable in that sort of setting.

[Fidoric]

A problem may arise with experienced mariners (pirates) who may have lost most of their teeth due to lack of vitamins after long years at sea... A toothless vampire ! That's a monster.

[ZuS]

A problem may arise with experienced mariners (pirates) who may have lost most of their teeth due to lack of vitamins after long years at sea... A toothless vampire ! That's a monster.

Ah, those are the vampires that feed only on women and only at that time of the month...