[RPG] How to get a character’s limb regrown at 3rd level

dnd-5einjuryregeneration

I'm running a somewhat modified version of the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure.

I was DMing my second ever session, and decided to roll on the lingering injuries chart. I got a 3 and told the player, whose character was nearly killed by a group of orcs then and there, that they chopped off his leg and left him there. He made his death saves and stabilized, and another player character dragged him away to keep him safe.

I was not planning on the roll ending up being one to completely cut off his leg – but that's unimportant, as it's happened already, and I don't want to retcon it if I can help it.

I'm looking for a way he can regrow/regenerate his leg but I'm not sure how to go about it. It could be replaced with Regenerate but that is a 7th-level spell; I'm not sure how I should go about helping him to replace it, as the players are only 3rd level.

It's not important that the character necessarily recover immediately. I'm looking for options for how to go about this, as I'm new to all of this and want to do right.

In case it's relevant our party composition is a Variant (Winged) Tiefling Warlock of the Fiend and an Aarakocra Monk.

Best Answer

The What

As far as I know, there are 2 basic ways to regrow a limb:

Regenerate, a 7th level Cleric/Bard/Druid spell
Ring of Regeneration (DMG p 191) - note that in order to regrow a limb, the user must be attuned to the ring for 1d6 + 1 days and have at least 1 hp for the entire peirod (meaning that if you die, the time period restarts)

Alternatively, you could theoretically regrow a limb by dying, and then being brought back to life using any of the following spells:

Reincarnate, a 5th level Druid spell
Resurrection, a 7th level Bard/Cleric spell
Clone, an 8th level Wizard spell

The How

However, as you outlined in your question, your party is at 3rd level, and these spells are beyond what could reasonably be cast by a 3rd level party. That being said, you're the DM - you can create a narrative hook to introduce some of these spells into your modified adventure.

For example, perhaps the party encounters a necromancer on their travels, who is willing to cast one of the above spells in return for some undertaking by the party (gold, slaying a monster, retrieving an item in the mines, etc). Or perhaps a member of your party has a patron god who is willing to lend their aid given the noble quest upon which the party has embarked.

Ultimately, as DM, you can build situations where the party will come across an entity capable of casting a spell which is of a higher level than the party can cast.

Related Solutions

[RPG] Attacking to maim

There is little or no RAW for in-depth injuries in D&D 5E, neither causing them nor healing them. Characters hurt in battle from hit point loss are assumed to be "worn down" in a generic fashion. There are a couple of special states (unconscious and dying), which also avoid dealing with the nature of wounds.

I think your ruling that a lethal attack, that would ordinarily have killed a character, can be changed to something equivalent depending on attack type (e.g. a sword or axe could sever a limb), is reasonable if used occasionally. Likewise, an emergency healing action that you would have ruled saved a life if done quickly enough, although not RAW, works OK for NPCs that would normally die when hitting 0 hit points.

I'm worried that I may have unknowingly opened a can of worms with this ruling, and am wondering if there is any official guidance on this?

If these events are kept rare, and are a replacement for a result that would kill by RAW, then I don't think it is a major problem. I am not aware of any official rulings, beyond effects of high level items in other editions, such as vorpal swords.

The 7th level spell Regenerate is the official fix for severed body parts - oddly higher level than Raise Dead, because in most D&D versions, being maimed is treated as a worse and rarer effect than being killed. You can take the existence of the spell as guidance that major characters can be maimed, and for how strong an effect the game wants you to treat it as.

Additionally, I am wondering if enemies should be similarly permitted to 'attack to maim' the PCs?

Definitely not as a standard attack in combat. You might allow it to happen instead of a killing blow. My advice then would be to give the player the choice out of character, what happens to the PC. E.g. "That result would ordinarily kill your character outright, but if you want I could rule that the PC is unconscious with a serious long-term injury, which would you prefer?" - if the injury is chosen, you should work with the player to decide whether the PC will look for a cure or wear their injuries with pride. Also, pick something that can be worked around depending on the character's class (a one-armed archer character, whilst perhaps a heroically tragic figure in a story, may not be everyone's idea of "fun to play", and would definitely be sub-optimal in terms of numbers in combat).

[RPG] How strong is the tiefling’s Infernal Legacy trait, and what should I consider when homebrewing a racial trait that replaces it

In Unearthed Arcana: That Old Black Magic (2015), they playtested a Tiefling Variant with an Abyssal Tiefling subrace. The Abyssal Tiefling gets this Abyssal Arcana trait instead of the original Infernal Legacy trait:

Abyssal Arcana. Each time you finish a long rest, you gain the ability to cast cantrips and spells randomly determined from a short list. At 1st level, you can cast a cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can also cast a 1st-level spell. At 5th level, you can cast a 2nd-level spell.

You can cast a spell gained from this trait only once until you complete your next long rest. You can cast a cantrip gained from this trait at will, as normal. For 1st-level spells whose effect changes if cast using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you cast the spell as if using a 2nd-level slot. Spells of 2nd level are cast as if using a 2nd-level slot.

At the end of each long rest, you lose the cantrips and spells previously granted by this feature, even if you did not cast them. You replace those cantrips and spells by rolling for new ones on the Abyssal Arcana Spells table. Roll separately for each cantrip and spell. If you roll the same spell or cantrip you gained at the end of your previous long rest, roll again until you get a different result.

Abyssal Arcana Spells

d6 1st Level 3rd Level 5th Level

1 Dancing lights Burning hands Alter self

2 True strike Charm person Darkness

3 Light Magic missile Invisibility

4 Message Cure wounds Levitate

5 Spare the dying Tasha’s hideous laughter Mirror image

6 Prestidigitation Thunderwave Spider climb

d6	1st Level	3rd Level	5th Level
1	Dancing lights	Burning hands	Alter self
2	True strike	Charm person	Darkness
3	Light	Magic missile	Invisibility
4	Message	Cure wounds	Levitate
5	Spare the dying	Tasha’s hideous laughter	Mirror image
6	Prestidigitation	Thunderwave	Spider climb

I would assume that homebrew could trust this list to be at least somewhat balanced as possible spell replacements, since it made it to UA. However, keep in mind that UA is not strictly canon, but rather playtest material from WotC game designers.

In that regard, the Infernal Legacy trait looks a lot like a Dragonmark (from Unearthed Arcana: Eberron (v1.1)) or the Magic Initiate feat (PHB, p. 168). You could also skin one of those feats into a racial ability, as a homebrew that wouldn't deviate too much from the rules.

And completely RAW, you could always do a Feral Tiefling with the Devil's Tongue trait (SCAG, p. 118), too.