The Single-Handed Swordsman

A group of boasters and braggarts are down at the inn, and their claims are swelling along with the number of drinks they've downed. Then, one man cuts through the chatter, and says three words that make the tap room fall silent.

"You're a liar."

All eyes fall to the speaker. A lanky man with a salt and pepper beard, he has a tankard in his left hand, and a short sword on his hip. His right hand is nothing more than an iron hook, fitting on a leather cover to the stump of his wrist. The toughs start sniggering, spreading out around the old naysayer, but if he's concerned about the aggressive crowd he gives no sign. Then, without a word, one of the tale-tellers jerks a knife, and goes to plant it in the old man's back. He half turns, catching the knife in the curve of his hook, and parries it away. Then he swings back in riposte, burying the sharp point in his attacker's throat. As the dying man gurgles his last, the one-handed swordsman stands, and takes a sip of his brew. There's a look in his eyes that says you don't want to make him draw that sword.

Don't roll that initiative unless you're sure, boy.

Single-Handedly Destroying Your Enemies

When it comes to warriors who should be feared, everyone worries about the great weapon wielders. Warriors who wield a shield in their off-hand are treated with care, because they have both offensive and defensive capabilities. When a swordsman has one hand, or worse just one arm, foes often discount them as a threat. What they forget is that when a swordsman only has one hand, they've often trained that hand to perfection in the craft of combat.

If you want to bring that sort of concept across in your Pathfinder game, you've got some options available.

For example, let's say your character lost a hand as a young man. So when he took up the sword, he focused on speed, skill, and technique over defending with a shield, or using an over-sized weapon. You could represent this unique fighter as a swashbuckler, who is equally skilled with his stump knife as he is with the rapier on his belt. Or, if you'd prefer to pay homage to the great blackguards of the high seas, you could take Slashing Grace to make a hook hand count as a piercing weapon, giving your swashbuckler a visceral, awful weapon that cannot be disarmed. If you add Piranha Strike into the mix, then you've got a serious damage dealer on your hands... well, hand.

Of course, that's just the most obvious interpretation of the one-handed swordsman we can use.

Alternatively, you might want to put together a fighter, or even a fighter/rogue combination who uses short blades to cut his enemies down to size. A one-handed Knife Master/Brawler archetype could do some serious damage, combining weapon training with feats like Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization, and gaining increased damage from sneak attack. Or, if you're a hand-on sort of fighter, it would be possible for you to play a Brawler (the base class, instead of the fighter archetype) to make up for it. You might strap a spiked lock-gauntlet to your stump, using that as your primary weapon. Or, because your whole body can be used in the fight, you might choose to give your character only one arm, adopting an unusual fighting style that incorporates greater use of your legs, knees, and headbutts instead of relying on pure fisticuffs.

Imagine the embarrassment of being choked out by a one-armed monk.

Add A Touch of Magic

Another nice touch for the one-handed swordsman is to use a weapon enchantment that's fairly uncommon; the Transformative weapon.

So, for example, you might have someone with a hook hand, a stump knife, or even a spiked gauntlet. Then, when combat starts, all it takes is a flick of the wrist to alter that weapon into a rapier, a short sword, or another combat-worthy weapon. It could, in a real sense, act as a kind of Swiss army hand, allowing your swordsman to use whatever weapon is most appropriate for the situation, and for his or her personal combat style.

They called him... the Iron Fist!

 

It should be mentioned at this point that there are very few rules in Pathfinder that make you lose a hand, or an arm. While your DM might rule that taking a lot of damage in a single shot, the effects of being left unconscious in a troll's lair, or a firearm exploding in your hand should cause mutilation, there are no core rules to that effect. So remember, this is less of a back-up strategy for when your adventurer eventually comes out on the wrong end of a fight, and more of a concept that you can use to play a unique character without sacrificing efficacy in-game.

Also, if you liked this post, why not check out Replacing Lost Limbs With Magical Prosthetics in Pathfinder? It's full of all sorts of tasty treats, from the infamous Demon Hand, to clockwork limbs, to other augmentations you can use to help a character overcome a physical disability in the field.

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That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

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Replacing Lost Limbs With Magical Prosthetics in Pathfinder

Being an adventurer is dangerous. Between ravenous undead, hack-happy goblins, exploding evocation, and easily-tripped traps, no one gets out without a few scars. Not all adventurers get off so lightly, though. Some of them lose fingers, hands, legs, or eyes. Sometimes they decide to take the hint, and get cushy jobs as town guards or militia captains. Sometimes, though, they grin, and head right back into the storm, looking for riches, renown, and revenge, in no particular order.

Is what's in that chest really worth your life?

Some adventurers will gladly trade their gold, or their services, for powerful spellcasters to regrow their missing limbs. Others, though, will seek out alternative replacements. Replacements which, in many cases, are far deadlier than the limb that was lost in the first place.

How Do You Lose A Limb in Pathfinder?

Well there are a few ways, actually.

The most common way to lose a limb, mechanically, is to be the unfortunate victim of a debilitating blow on a Called Shot (assuming, of course, that these variant rules are in play), or under the Scars and Wounds rules (which are also optional). Most of the common ways people lose limbs, though, are due entirely to judgment calls on the DM, and obscure, extremely powerful, abilities. For example, if a character is turned to stone, and falls over, the DM might rule that a hand broke off, or an arm shattered. If someone was dragged away by a troll and not rescued soon enough, then perhaps they lost a leg to their captor's appetite. And, in rare circumstances, the PC might sever the limb on their own as a way to escape a trap.

What I'm saying is, if your character loses a limb, it's typically because your table agreed to play in Hardcore mode, rather than because of any rules found in the Core Rulebook.

A Normal Prosthesis (For The Low-Level Adventurer)

High-level adventurers are made of stern stuff, hardened by years of battle and trials, and possessing abilities far beyond those of average men and women. Low-level adventurers, by contrast, tend to be made of wet tissue paper, apt to get knocked unconscious if an owlbear so much as sneezes in their general direction. While your DM, and the dice, may be kind, chances are good you'll need a prosthetic limb long before you can afford the good stuff.

Masterwork stuff ain't bad, though.

You see that image? That's the iron hand of Gotz Von Berlichingen, a German sellsword and all-around badass who needed something to punch people with after he lost his right arm to a cannonball. The hand allowed him to wield a sword, hold his reins, grasp a goblet, and probably gave him a slam attack, too. Given the ratchet and spring mechanics of the hand, it would probably be considered a masterwork item.

So what options do you have as an adventurer who lacks a castle, and a small fortune made from fighting other people's battles? Well, you have the option of the hook hand (Pirates of the Inner Sea), or the peg leg trait (Skull and Shackles), which are both functional, though the latter is a creation requirement. You could get masterwork items, and enchant them, if you so desire. A transformative hook hand that could alter itself into other weapons might seem like an unnecessary expense, but ask yourself just how great it would be in the right circumstances.

Also, if you're a wizard, you might want to invest in a wizard hook, which can fulfill somatic components, and bolster the power of your touch spells.

Magical Prosthetics (For The Discerning/Crazy Badass)

In a world of magic, it's completely possible to regrow a lost limb, if you have the gold, and you can seek out a powerful practitioner of the mystical arts. You could even preemptively invest in a Trollblood Elixir, which allows you to re-attach severed limbs which are still relatively intact. No word on if you could use this to steal other people's limbs or not, though. Of course, if you're already missing something, you could find a replacement that is superior to your former limb. Stronger, tougher, and better able to hold up to the rigors of your adventuring life.

I have always wanted to crush a man's skull with one hand...

If you're that kind of adventurer, then you have a couple of options available to you.

The two most common, found in Dark Markets, are the clockwork prosthesis, and necrografts. Both of these options are permanent additions to a character's body, and both of them will do Con damage, and require a DC 18 Fortitude save in order to make sure the graft takes. Once the limb is in place, you have a handy piece of enchanted augmentation. Clockwork limbs can be enchanted with additional powers, and it's been rumored that many of them have the capacity to transform into weapons, should the owner need them to. Necrografts grant powers of their own, but they also make it more difficult for you to benefit from morale bonuses, and they reduce magical healing for the host. This makes them a difficult option, but it should be noted that not all necrograft recipients are willing ones.

If you want something that's functional, but not overly ostentatious, you could even invest in a Demon Talon, which simply replaces your hand with a demon's hand. Of course, just how under your command the scaly, gnarled limb is remains to be seen.

There is another option, as well. Something less permanent, and a little more customizable for heroes who want something very special. Page 115 of Ultimate Magic lists a modification that can be put on Small or Tiny constructs called Construct Limb. This allows you to pull the construct over your arm, and control its actions as part of your own. A construct limb uses all the special attacks of the construct, so if you make it out of something like an Iron Cobra, you could put a poison attack into it. What isn't said, however, is whether a construct limb can be used to replace missing pieces of an adventurer. However, if you're missing a hand and a lower arm, wouldn't you take the opportunity to replace it with a steel cobra, sectioned off into shimmering fingers, that provides you the bonuses of a heavy steel shield? Especially since you can, technically, use any sort of animated item or construct of the proper size, modified in this way.

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