Thus Spake Zarataylor/ProstheticsPossible

izzylobo [2003-10-08 at 11:56:37]

> blackshirt5 > Alright, well as far as the "In Creation" thing, I should have said something to the effect of asking if anybody had made any and what Artifact level you put them at; I couldn't find any in the compendium, but that doesn't mean anything, ya know?

I'd imagine they are certainly possible - if you can make a Brass Legionnaire, or a Sorayama-esque metal concubine, you can make a cybernetic limb that runs on Essence.

A "cybernetic" limb that did nothing more than replace a human limb, with no special abilities, would likely be Artifact: 3 at most* - likely allows the user to do Lethal or Bashing damage, might add a -2 Health Level, with some fairly minimal committment cost - 3 Motes, maybe. There would likely be versions usable by mortals as well - maybe the mortal caps at 1 Willpower less than their Permanent Willpower so long as the arm is grafted on, and requires some funky Medicine + Wits roll (with required Lore and Occult scores) to graft to the human body.

I would be slow to make artifact limbs of higher levels all that and a bag of chips, frankly, unless you're looking for an Essencepunk style game - most of their benefits should be pretty minor - spring claws or a concealed blade, stuff like that, at least in most of them.

Now, some singular artifact of the First Age, created for some Elder Solar who got her arm gnawed off by a Yozi's Fetich, or something? Maybe that shoots coruscating bolts of solar light that do agg damage to demons, manifests a shield of orichalcum that no weapon of Malfean iron or brass can penetrate, and makes toast on alternate sundays or something - but most replacement limbs would be prosthetics, not augmentations.

*Artifact 2, if you're willing to have to do some maintenance on it every once in a while)

Scott Taylor

Comments

This issue came up in one game where a character got his fingers eaten by a hungry ghost. I figure something small and minor like replacing a few fingers wouldn't really require an artifact dot. But, what was a problem was deciding how many motes of essence had to be committed. This helps out a lot. -Darzoni

A player of mine had his arm chopped off by botching a parry and damage was severe enough that I decided that his arm left his body. Another caste mate had a high craft and decided to undertake making an artifact mechanical arm. Basically, at the time, we were all watching Full Metal Alechemist, so we called it Automail. Replacement Limbs are an artifact 2 and they will match the characters old stats. For an artifact level of 3, it gained a bonus to damage and a heartstone setting and all the perks of being a hearthstone bracer. -Savare

In Blood & Salt stats are given for Jade Hands, prosthetic arms for Dragon-Blooded that range from Artifact 1 to Artifact 5. They reduce the mote cost of in-Aspect Charms and have a hearthstone slot, and can be given various upgrades. Attunement cost is equal to Artifact rating. - Raindoll

I point out that unless it's agg damage, almost all limbs lost to exalts will eventually regenerate. It's questionable whether agg-damage severed limbs regrow, but probably not. However, there are charms that can heal agg, so you could use them and probably regrow the limb that way. Cheaper in the long-term than getting an extra limb, but probably takes a lot longer. I'd certainly consider increasing healing times for something big like an arm or a leg.
-- Darloth

Uh, no. Exalted can't regenerate body parts that are totally severed with their natural healing abilities. - Raindoll

Hmm... it is unstated, at least in the core book's healing section, but perhaps you are right.
-- Darloth

No, Exalted can recover from broken, mangled, crushed and scorched limbs, but once the limb is gone something else must be sought out. The medicine Charms in the core book also support this. -Xeriar

Yeah, I finally noticed that Shuri the Scarlet had a jade arm in Blood & Salt. Which is cool, because now I know that I could offer the players prosthetics if they need 'em in game. I'd definitely de-power it somewhat, however. I would also imagine that Autochthonians (at least the high-ranking ones) would have access to more mundane prosthetics. - Darzoni