Serious Injuries, Scars and Maimings
Axes grind and maces clash as wounded fighters fall to the ground
Severd limbs and fatal woundings, bloody corpses lay all around
Iron Maiden
“Invaders”
Want to up the ante in your game? Characters get knocked down just to get back up again? Try these optional rules for character scars and maimings.
Whether blasted in the heart with a ray of white-hot flame, shot in the liver with an arrow, or stabbed in the neck by a raving marauder, some wounds are going to leave a mark, if not result in serious and permanent disability, assuming that the victim survives at all. The maimed, the amputees, the crippled begging outside the temple of Heironious, Aries, or Hextor. All are the evidence of the price of the battlefield. Accordingly, these rules are intended to bring more life to the threats which wound the crusaders.
Optional Rule: Serious Injuries, Scars and Maimings
When a hero or important NPC takes enough damage to be reduced to negative hit points, check on the Serious Injury, Scars and Maimings chart to determine where the blow that laid the character low fell.
With the exception of destroyed organs and severed limbs, which require regeneration to regain, these effects should be reversible through the use of magic such as Restoration, Heal, or other magic or effects that heal permanent ability damage. There are also rumors of magicians and priests who have crafted magical arms and legs for those so hurt, as well.
Serious Injuries, Scars and Maimings (roll 1d20)
| Roll | Effect location | Full description of effects |
| 1-4 | Leg | -2 strength, -2 dexterity, and lose use of wounded limb: roll 1d20, on 1-11 limb is crippled and character moves at half speed, 12-20 limb is severed and character moves at 1/2 speed with a crutch but otherwise must crawl at 1/4 speed. |
| 5-6 | Guts | -4 constitution, sensitive stomach: must eat special diet or additional -1 constitution per day. |
| 5-6 | Groin | -2 strength, -2 constitution, cannot reproduce. |
| 9-12 | Chest | -2 constitution, -2 strength, after jogging or running, make a DC 10 saving throw or be dazed for 1 round. |
| 13-16 | Arm | -2 strength, -2 dexterity, and lose use of wounded limb: roll 1d20, on 1-11 limb is crippled, 12-20 severed. |
| 17-20 | Head | Roll once on Head Chart, below. |
Head Chart (roll 1d20)
| Roll | Effect location | Full description of effects |
| 1-4 | Eye | -2 on perception or spot checks, -2 on all ranged attacks. Second lost eye blinds character. |
| 5-8 | Ear | -2 on perception or listen checks. Second lost ear deafens character. |
| 9-12 | Face | -2 charisma due to serious scarring or deformation of face. |
| 13-16 | Mouth | -2 on all charisma based skills, due to difficulty understanding speech from character. |
| 17-20 | Throat | The character is unable to speak. |
As always, when introducing optional rules like this, especially rules that increase the danger for the player characters, talk it over with the group you’re playing with. Unless everyone consents to having more fun by making the game more dangerous, don’t use them. Nothing makes some players hate playing more than DMs springing new rules on them out of the blue.
These optional rules are compatible with 3.5 D&D, 4e D&D, d20 modern, and Pathfinder RPG systems.
Posted in 1st edition D&D, 3rd edition Dungeons & Dragons / d20 fantasy / Pathfinder, 4th edition Dungeons & Dragons, 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons, Variant Rules by Adam A. Thompson with no comments yet.
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