character scars

[GreenMonster]

An interesting topic came up at our last session - Character scars, and the healing of things such as missing eyes, ears, etc (I'll leave the long story out of the thread other than to say damn slavers in dead magic zones) Our campaign takes place in the F- Realms and I'm wondering if there are specific rules about healing scars etc. Regeneration for instance heals limbs but says nothing about eyes, ears, etc. Healing spells say nothing about scars (even the HEAL spell) On the flip side if you want to play a character with a nasty scar how do you prevent it from being healed. Maybe this is a rules forum topic but I thought it was a pretty broad issue so I posted here...

Thoughts?

 

[Jdvn1]

On the flip side if you want to play a character with a nasty scar how do you prevent it from being healed.

Cure spells cure hit point damage. You can have scars and still be at fully healed.

 

[Goblyn]

A friend of mine brought up exactly that train of thought once as well as: which wounds would leave scars on adventurers?

So his house rule became: Anytime one is dropped to 0 HP or below and live through it they have a scar to show for it.

 

[Frida]

If a wound is treated right away with healing magic I dont think it would leave a scar. Old scars would not be healed with anything lesser than regeneration, resurrection or a wish spell perhaps. If a wound is treated but healed naturally it would leave a scar if it was a particulary severe wound. (a critical hit or something like that) A wound left untreated would almost always leave a scar.

However usually I just decide if I want my character to have scars or not. Depending on the character consept or if the event is so important that it seems fitting that it leaves a scar to be remembered with.

You cant find any rules on healing scars because there are no rules on how they are made, So I guess you just have to make something up that your group is comfortable with. But I would suggest that you leave it up to the players to decide if the want their characters to have scars or not, Because some character concepts just doesnt work with hideous scars.

 

[Darklone]

I had a houserule similar to this:
- Chars die at -(Con) hitpoints.
- Every time they dropped below -5 hitpoints, they had to roll on a table... if they dropped below -10, they had to roll twice.

The table had a list of permanent scars, wounds... crippled legs, lost ears/eyes/fingers/bigger limbs (arms/legs)...

The more you got into the negatives, the higher your chance to get hurt significantly.

Most minor wounds were just some small things like scars without a huge penalty.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

My characters suffer emotional scars. Deprived childhoods, sniff ...

 

[delericho]

I leave it entirely in the hands of my players - if they want their PC to have scars, then so be it. If they don't, then that's cool too. I've divorced the Charisma attribute from physical appearance entirely, so there are no game effects either way.

I don't have specific rules in place for the loss of limbs, eyes, ears, or anything else. IMC there is simply no way to inflict these wounds - damage is abstract and cure effects will heal all injuries. My players know this is a bit of a dodge, but they also know not to press me on this matter - the moment they cut limbs off a captured prisoner is the moment it becomes fair game for my BBEG to do the exact same things to them.

If it became necessary to have rules for missing limbs/eyes/whatever, I would deal with it at that time. In general, a -2 penalty would apply, although some actions would be impossible and some others would be unaffected.

 

[Ghostwind]

Torn Asunder: Critical Hits (Bastion Press) has a section on scarring, complete with rules.

 

[LostSoul]

I leave it entirely in the hands of my players - if they want their PC to have scars, then so be it. If they don't, then that's cool too. I've divorced the Charisma attribute from physical appearance entirely, so there are no game effects either way.

Chicks dig scars, anyways.

 

[Piratecat]

In Sagiro's campaign, clerics of the Healing God always leave scars when they magically heal a wound. There is a church sect known as the Scarbearers who believe that these scars are a sign of divine favor, and that the more scars a person has the purer his spirit. Some of these priests deliberately try to save peoples' souls by hurting them and then healing them. They often perform self-mutilation as well (followed by rapid healing), in the firm belief that this will reveal to them more of the God's divine will.