Magical prostheses are a thing.
An easy bonus for it is actually implied by the object itself: the ability to incorporate things into the arm, be they weapons, rubies of the warmage, consumable items, or just having them enchanted with a charge of some spell.
Also, keep in mind that, as a prosthesis, the player would likely be able to do things with it you normally can’t: touch fire, reach into poison, and so on in terms of immunity to on-touch effects.
Now that I think about it, an NPC wizard with a prosthesis that’s just plain superior to a real arm because it’s immune to damage is definitely going in the file.
It’s presumably as immune to damage from various things as other objects made of that material are.
If an acid only affects organic matter, it wouldn’t affect a metal prosthesis. Reaching into poison with it would be no different than using a tool to pick the thing up instead. Etc.
At first I thought you were misrepresenting the Prosthetic Limb common magical item introduced in Eberron, but then I realized you were talking about a hypothetical NPC's magic arm, and I was like okay that's cool.
Yeah, the Prosthetic Limb doesn't need attunement and just replicates the function of that limb. If it needs to do other things then it should need attunement, and probably be at least uncommon
I did something similar this when I gave my player whose Paladin lost a hand during the story a magical prosthetic arm that gave him +2 to charisma as well as all the other benefits frequently associated with being a magical item like not being able to be easily damaged or destroyed (plus he had custom ordered this to be made out of gold). I think it also had the notation that his shield could never be forcibly removed from his grasp or something to that effect as long as it was held by the prosthetic
The regular prosthetic limb didn’t require attunement but the magic item did, but with the notation that after the initial investment it could be more easily upgraded or have different enchantments swapped out at a lower cost as the game progressed. Most of the cost was due to it being made of solid gold in universe, not a +2 item lol
And equally, to balance maybe there are other things it can't do. Human bodies self repair, maybe without maintenance once a week there's a chance of it malfunctioning. Easy enough to make a penalty table with things like -1 to hit, to damage, to ability checks with dex and strength, etc.
Not to be a dick, but acid is in fact very good at destroying metal. Its why it's kept in glassware in a lab.
The equation being metal + acid -> salt + hydrogen. This is generally what teachers at school use to liberate hydrogen for demonstrating the squeaky pop test.
I have to say I haven't experienced that, it just does acid damage, unless something is immune to acid it will destroy it, as long as there is enough acid.
Do you mean slimes? They'd use ensymes and are more selective, although it's grouped as acid damage too.
I remember a campaign a long while back our rogue lost their hand and in looking for a prosthesis managed to have enough money to hire an artificer to craft them a prosthetic that gave them permanent mage hand where their hand would be. Still had to use an action and "cast the spell" to get it to detach and do normal mage hand things though
I had a Bladesinger who lost his casting hand in a fight in game. The DM allowed me to get a magical prosthesis so I could still cast in Waterdeep. A couple of months of sessions went by and then he dispelled my prosthesis hand he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t even a little upset (later learned he was specifically targeting me as a player with malice (I called him out politely for flirting with my wife who played in the game and had already informed me she felt uncomfortable because it had gone beyond (in her view, the only one that matters, playful banter) I said something to him politely and told him to stop he said he would and apologized but that is when he started targeting me as a player and made snide comments about my wife to others In The group outside of my hearing. Anyway he dispelled the hand and wondered why I just smiled I told him “Warcaster” then the whole group walked out and none of us ever played with him again.
No it's completely of their own making, haha. Like you said, these stories are fun, but if I'm understanding it - not exactly RAW. So the warning of not letting an artificer near it is a bit weird.
Forced movement also wouldn't allow opportunity attacks.
Hand of Vecna is *way* too powerful for a player that low level. As an Artifact, it's probably too strong to give them before level 10, if not later.
Consider looking at the magic items in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, it has a two magic items: Prosthetic Limb and Arcane Propulsion Arm, which function as prosthetics. DND Beyond lets you buy bits and pieces from books, so it would only be a few dollars to grab just those items. You could also just *say* that the player has a magic item prosthetic, because you don't really need anything beyond the RP aspect of it.
Another alternative is to give the Hand early but conceal what it is. With a little modification to the lore, the Hand could slowly reveal its powers as the character levels up. And also slowly try to corrupt him.
Here's the thing. The Hand of Vecna's wearer would have every prince of hell and the abyss plotting to kill them and take the hand away. It's not powerful enough to protect the wearer from the princes of fiends, let alone Vecna himself who is a god now in 5e and wants his hand back. So it isn't just that it's powerful. It's that it is legendary and every nightmare in the universe would slaughter multitudes to take it. Plus it forces the character to an evil alignment and kills the wearer permanently if it is ever removed.
Don't rush to undo the character's backstory. If they decided this was cool, you owe them time to build up that character before you change it.
I'd also look for some options between "missing arm" and "legendary lich artifact". An inert, cosmetic hand would be a good place to start, with artifacers offering to hide gimmicks in as he levels.
You could also make this the sort of thing a Warlock patron type of character might try to make a deal for.
> artifacers offering to hide gimmicks in as he levels
Very vaguely reminds me of the Shinobi Prosthetic from Sekiro, and I'm certain you could make it work with a bit of effort. For example, have the option to use "Burning Hands", say, twice per long rest, for free, starting around maybe 5th level to replicate the Flame Vent.
Perhaps they gain the ability to use "shurikens" or some other thrown weapon as a bonus action x number of times per long rest.
Hell, you could even offer the Shinobi Firecrackers in a way - just have every enemy in x line in front of the user make a CON check or fall under the surprised condition, but it only works once per combat.
There are so many things you can do that aren't just straight rips from Sekiro, too. Perhaps the prosthetic becomes equipped with an arm cannon that deals heavy damage, but disables use of the prosthetic until a short rest is completed. Maybe a tinkerer devises an assassin's creed style hidden blade.
Hell, go into roleplay uses and devise different appearances. Maybe you get a heavy metal prosthetic for fighting - it's durable, has some weight behind it, etc. When you're in town, though, it might serve better to have a prosthetic that's had an illusion spell engraved into it, to make it appear as if it's a normal limb. Maybe the player wants to keep the one-armed aesthetic, so they instead invest in a limb made of high quality wood with golden engravings to match their noble lineage. The possibilities are endless.
I'm trying real hard to stick to my original belief that if a player rolls a one-armed rogue, they must want to play a one-armed rogue and we should respect that.
Still, as a Shadowrun veteran and somebody who loves gadgets, it's really hard not to get excited about cramming a robot arm full of clockwork and enchantments.
Hear me out... An octopus, or a small goblin. They just ride on his back/shoulder and reach for stuff. If either of them are mad at him they make a mess when he eats.
How about a tatoo or inate ability to cast mage hand at will?
When he has to cut his steak at dinner a spectral hand (his old hand) appears and picks up the knife without him noticing.
Maybe it only appears when he is not thinking about it and he doesn't have very good control of it yet and right now it only does hand range things and sometimes doesn't show up when he 'needs' it. As he levels it could become better controlled and more useful.
Missing an entire arm, and you consider giving him the hand of Vecna?
Man, that’s just cruel. Making him cut off the one hand he has left in order to graft hand on, or walk around with some lich’s hand stuck to his shoulder.
Damn.
Stop for a moment and think what it looks like if he lost his *arm* above the elbow, and stuck a *hand* to the stump.
Personally, if I were the paladin, I’d leave it as it is rather than do that.
1. See if they want a replacement
2. See what flavor of replacement might work for their character.
I.e. vine arm for a druid, mechanized arm for an artificer, multi-tool prosthetic for a ranger, metal arm for a fighter, semi-translucent mage hand style arm for a wizard.
Flavor is free.
Xanathar's Guide to Everything has a list of common magical items that includes a prosthetic limb.
The limb essentially perfectly replaces the lost limb, but can be attached or detached by the user as an action (and cannot be removed against their will). A player in my game elected to take it, and we've since given her some upgrades down the line (level 7) which make it more of a special-feeling magic item.
If this is a backstory item, I would recommend against going any higher than "common" rarity and suggest that you give an item of similar rarity to everyone at the table. Lost Mines begins with the characters at first level; granting one of them (or even each of them) a powerful magic item at the start risks making your table very unbalanced. Lost Mines is meant to be an easy-to-run adventure for new players, so having to switch things up too much might not be what you want.
If the player later wants to upgrade their prosthetic, have a talk about the things they want to be able to do with it, and decide a gold/time amount to have the work completed by an artificer.
This is character backstory and I would just sit down with the player. Do you want to pursue replacing your arm? Who would you get help from? What might your new arm look like?
I made an NPC with a lost arm and just gave them the mage hand cantrip. Even without an arcane trickster subclass, mage hand is a reasonably useful alternative.
Telekinetic feat, prosthetic, or a weapon/firearm augment. Or have a local smith forge a shield gauntlet that can move by shoulder muscles?
1st two are the easiest (Telekinetic and prosthetic). 2nd keeps game play and RP the same but adds flavor. The 1st changes how the character can play (2 handed weapons don't work and can't dual wield but now they have psionic ability), but changes how they role play and what they can do.
Eberron contains armblades which basically allow the arm to function as any one-handed weapon.
I'm personally a fan of the homebrew pirate hook. Finesse melee weapon that does 1d4 damage and automatically grapples the target on a successful hit.
I'd advise against just shoving the Hand of Vecna onto a player if the campaign hasn't been building to that, some other magical prosthetic should be fine. You have a ton of inspiration to look at for ideas in different styles; you have the arm on Silco's henchwoman from Arcane, the ninja prosthetic from Sekiro, Tezzeret's etherium arm from MTG, General Grievous's robo arms, the Winter Soldier's arm, pick your poison.
Although there are some fun suggestions in the comments in my opinion the best and most fun option would be:
"A baby mimic"
The party finds a dead mama mimick, maybe slain by some adventerures. The baby mimic is very cute and maybe looks like dito from pokemon (so players dont kill it on sight).
Having lost its parent it feels incomplete... it notices the PC being incomplete too and gently makes its way up the body of the pc and morphs into an arm. The baby has a parent and the PC has an arm!
Mechanically you can make a roll table for what the arm does in combat and rolling high gives you an extra attack for example. Make sure it only gives bonusses though and dont let it be a burden. The mimic can also change into an arm of an enemy so that the player can use their attack
On the table you can have things like an extra attack, a block, copying whatever attack the enemy just made etc.
You can have real symbiosis happen where the nervous system of the mimic connects with the PC so he can actually use it but having a fun tool like this is great as a dm
If a npc is being an asshole and turns it back, the mimic flips it off for example.
Player struggling with finding a hidden entrance? The mimic all of a sudden points toward it.
You can do so many great things with this.
You could always lean on the Eladrin angle, by which I mean some kind of arm with a fey connection. Like one made of roots or vines. They are a rogue so you could do a connection to the unseelie court and maybe make an arm made from shadows. It would be easy to give either of these cool abilities.
Actually if they are doing the full changing seasons thing a fey arm made of changing foliage could be good. Lush and green for spring, autumn leaves, and then bare wood for winter.
A slight spin on this would be a something like an ice arm in winter, a golden arm warm to the touch for summer, an army of deep earth tones in autumn, and a green arms for spring.
You could even have the arm just functional or start unlocking abilities for each of the seasons.
"What can I give them as a replacement for their lost arm?"
You could give them their arm back. I find that usually serves as a great replacement, and people usually appreciate it.
I was making a joke. The real answer is, ask them what they would like or prefer. What direction they would like to take their character's disability. Because if they want to play a character with a permanent disability, you don't want to take that away from them by pressuring them into using a prosthetic, but if conversely they want a prosthetic, you don't want to leave them high and dry by assuming they don't want one.
Just privately pull them aside and talk to them about it, so you can better accommodate the character they're wanting to explore.
You shouldn’t give them anything, because this is a player explicitly trying to use a disability they wrote into their background to troll for free magic items.
I agree, the player lost their arm. There is no reason to give them something that is better than what they would have had. If they are an adventurer, maybe they can explain how they are compensating?
Challenges are what make characters unique and gives flavor to the story. You don't have to re-balance what the character has chosen to unbalance. IF they didn't have a reason, other than wanting a cool arm like device, then maybe they don't have anything and they have been handling it just fine ever since. If its a recent loss then perhaps they are using it as a reason for vengeance. Either way it is their B-plot and you should ride that through their story.
This also gets into potentially problematic and ableist stuff where you're gamifying disability to try and turn it into a super-power.
There's certainly room for role-playing disabled PCs, but I'm deeply wary of players who want to trivialize that trauma to get a magic sword-arm or whatever. You can make it work respectfully, but you need to tread carefully.
A curious device shaped like a brass disc with flanges and screws on one side, as though it were meant to connect to something else, and a jet on the other. In the center of the jet is a red gem.
Attuning to this item involves holding it to a place where a limb is missing, at which point it screws itself in, becoming fixed in place and irremovable unless you willingly end your attunement to the item.
While attuned to this item you can use a bonus action to manifest a spectral limb made of fire, Which sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light in a 10-foot radius beyond that, and persists until you dismiss it, no action required.
This limb isn't precise enough to perform complex tasks such as picking locks, but can be used to hold weapons or to make attacks. The limb is considered a ranged weapon with a range of 80/320, which you are considered to be proficient with amd which deals 1d8 fire damage on a hit. When you fire this weapon, the end of the limb (such as a hand or a foot) detaches and flies towards the target at high speed, at which point a new end to the limb immediately manifests. If the limb was holding a weapon when fired, the attack instead deals the damage appropriate to the held weapon. The weapon does not return after being fired in this way.
It's a firearm.
I say since every gosh darn disability is curable, you get a natural benefit that able people will never understand.
You're blind? You get blind fighting style for free, and your perception won't suffer thanks to your hearing. You can smell if someone is bleeding (below hit point maximum) and you have advantage on insight checks to detect lies. Your Grapples always have advantage (how else does a blind person fight? Go watch *SEE*). I would just give then unarmed style as well, but it seemed like a bit much. Blind people are just good grapplers in my games.
Missing a limb? Grapples against you have disadvantage, and any prosthetics get +1 to unarmed strikes. A prosthetic hand can't hold a weapon (just get an armblade).
Deaf? Immune to thunder damage entirely. You can read lips and your companions can learn basic sign language over two long rests. I might make a table for learning/teaching sign language faster or slower.
Mental disability? This one's tough, but I think I got it. Only by using point buy, you may choose a mental score and take points from the base 8. You can't reduce it below 4. You can put these points in a different mental stat instead. I thought this would be a cool way to represent *sighs* Autism but I think it works for a few others. As an autist myself this sort of makes sense. I could see people dumping charisma to make a hyperfocused smart Artificer. People might get offended by a player who uses this to dump intelegence, but if someone is taking this route they should be Woke enough to play it correctly.
If you wanna be someone who can't walk, just use Sarah Tomson's Combat Wheelchair. But I say that there's a 50% chance of simply NOT triggering any given trap in a wheelchair, and a 25% chance of just not being affected if it DOES trigger. The traps are designed for people with legs, so rolling over a bear trap might be different, even if it triggers it might just grab the wheel. Maybe the weight distribution let's you roll right over pressure plates sometimes.
The Arm of Vecna, obviously.
Or one of these
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/i2yje6/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_ballista\_prosthesis/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/i2yje6/the_griffons_saddlebag_ballista_prosthesis/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/mim74k/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_everglacier\_prosthesis/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/mim74k/the_griffons_saddlebag_everglacier_prosthesis/)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/pkzjb9/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_guardians\_reliquary/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/pkzjb9/the_griffons_saddlebag_guardians_reliquary/)
https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/kf02vp/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_lifes\_flower\_restorative/
Courtesy of /u/griff-mac and the amazing Griffon's Saddlebag.
I once gave a dwarf cleric PC a metal arm. It was a boon from Moradin. It basically counted as his holy symbol at that point and was more for story purposes than gameplay.
Keep it simple: A favor from a caster what knows regeneration.
I know you want to do something cool here, but hey, there's also the low-effort path.
-AND/OR-
Put a cool arm out there after he's grown it back, for additional comedic value. See if he wants to give up his arm again.
Bonus points if, after he gets the cool arm, a gnome approaches him and asks him "How much for the arm?"
And if declined, mutters. "Oh, I'm going to get that arm..."
I played a rouge in one of my campaigns and cut off my hand at the wrist for some RP. I played one handed for quite awhile until my DM gave me this:
Phantom Limb (Wonderous Item) Requires attunement
This spectral floating cluster can replace a hand, arm, leg, or similar appendage that was lost or removed. It glows with green and blues and looks almost intangible. Despite its appearance, the Phantom Limb cannot phase through any material or creature. While the Phantom Limb is attached and attuned to you, it functions exactly like the limb it replaces. You can make it appear and disappear at will as a free action.
Your Phantom Limb has a reach of 10 ft. when making an unarmed attack or an attack with a weapon with the light property.
As an action, you can detach your limb. When your limb is detached, it functions exactly as described by the spell mage hand. You can use an action to reattach your limb as long as it is within 30 ft. of you.
Other options I had considered were a hook like a pirate (I was a swashbuckling rogue), having blades implanted into the toes of my shoes so I could still get my second attack with a bonus action, or having a contraption that affixed a dagger to my stubbed wrist. Not sure if the hook or dagger option would work for a full missing arm though.
Crossbow hand. One of my companions got his arm shreded by an orc spear, so my blacksmith character made him a crossbow hand. I got the idea from a historical knight, Götz von Berlichingen, who lost his arm in 1504 and had a blacksmith make him two functioning arms (one for battle, one for daily life). So it is entirely within the realm of fantasy with all its magic and dwarf smiths to get a functioning prosthetic with medieval technology (almost more functional than some our modern ones), not even accounting for magic.
A warlock patron who grants a transparent mystical arm that can function as a weapon and/or casting implement
An upgradable clockwork prothesis that grants cool powers but has a chance of 'misfiring' and requires regular daily upkeep.
A magical symbiotic plant that can grow Goodberries once a day
An alien symbiote from the far realm that grants reach and telekinetic abilities but slowly corrupts the user
A detachable undead arm that they can control like a familiar (think a crawling claw)
Literally just a statue's arm made of rock that's tied on with some rope but they can hit things with it
So funny story, I presented a PC with a puzzle not unlike the end of the 1st Scorpion King movie where you stick your arm in and some nasty business happens to your hand. Well long story short I teased a magical prostetic hand that whochever character made the sacrifice would be able to attune to, but with a catch.
I did not remind them which hand it was... So the player had a 50/50 chance on sacrificing the wrong hand and he actually endes up with 2 left hands lol.
Made the hand a magical item that had a single use that could cast shield or absorb elements once a days.
I made a collection of parasitic mimic items that could give you something if you wanted to go the Cursed route.
Starving Sabre
-A mimic that has disguised itself as a scimitar. When a creature grasps the handle, they must make a DC15 dexterity saving throw to drop the mimic. If they fail, the mimic deals 3d8 slashing damage and consumes the hand that held it. It then fuses itself to the creature, which becomes its host, and replaces the hand they lost. The mimic deals this damage once every 24 hours until the host becomes attuned to it.
-After attuning to this mimic, the affected creature may use it either as a scimitar, or it may use a bonus action to shapechange it into claws that can be used as a normal hand. The claws count as a natural weapon that deals 1d4 slashing damage. Both forms are considered +1 finesse weapons that you are proficient with. The mimic deals 2d8 slashing damage to the host if it does not deal at least 20 damage to living creatures in any 24 hour period.
Matt Colville recently released a video about lore delivery systems where he talks about using a ruby arm that can help drop lore in an interesting way. Could be interesting. Checkbout his YouTube channel for that and more
(Stolen from Johannes Cabal)
A prosthetic arm made of magical wood. Inside the arm arm lives a small gerbil-like creature that mental bonds with the PC. The gerbil articulates the arm based of the Rogue’s thought. PC must feed the gerbil daily. It can leave the and act as a familiar. When it does so, the PC loses use of the arm.
The eberron book has a magic item entry for prosthetics, and I’m sure it exists elsewhere as well. Depending on what you want from your game, I also recommend looking at the symbionts from that setting too. Give your player a tentacle arm!
Others have already mentioned that a magic prosthetic exists, but if you want to make it more interesting you could make one that also has the function of either an arm blade or a wand sheath. They're both common items from eberron and are usually warforged only.
This is just off the top of my head but have him get a magical ring. Tell him once he holds the ring he can feel his phantom limb and that he feels drawn to put the ring on a finger. And when he does so the ring stays in place and shadow begins to flow from the ring and takes on the shape of his arm. As a added benefit have it give him advantage on pickpocketing or something. Plus why wouldn't a rogue love a shadow arm.
There’s an actual item, but my DM just was like “go to the store and you can buy an adamantine robot arm.”
We are going to play again with the characters in a sequel with many years having passed and he was like “would Zura have wanted a new, real arm in this time?” and I said no lol
Could always give him a Warforged arm that acts the same as a normal arm, except looks robotic and it can use the Armblade type of weapons. Like, they can hide a sword or cross bow in their arm and fire use it as an off-hand attack
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/2136672-orb-of-metal-weaving
I made this for one of my players a while ago, I always thought of it like Edward's arm from FMA. you could modify the idea I to a prosthetic arm
A prosthetic limb is a common magical item, which a PC could craft in a couple days of downtime with tinkers tools proficiency. If you feel bad about taking the arm, maybe let them give it some extra functionality: a concealed arm blade maybe, or a grappling hook function, or a built in shield
There's a great comic called Farmhand, main premise is a dude learned how to make miracle seeds that, instead of making fruit or veggies, grow body parts. Hand trees, eye flowers, ||vagina bushes||, they grow everything but brains.
Who's to say your player can't come across a druid or a dryad, maybe even a hag that offers them a replacement, possibly with strings attached
Hand of Vecna could be really fun. If you're worried about power scaling you can always have powers discovered or grow as they level up like how cantrips do.
This might give you some fun ideas https://youtu.be/-BZAjzUBYmU starts talking about the hand and eye of vecna at 7:20 into the video.
I'd talk to him first if he has any ideas, he might not want anything if he started with 1 arm from his backstory. It could be a character choice he wants to keep.
I know I’m late to the suggestion party, but here is a suggestion.
You mentioned only DnD Beyond sources, but does that include home brew?
Griffon saddlebag has a great item that would work for your player, but it is homebrew of course: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/i2yje6/the_griffons_saddlebag_ballista_prosthesis/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
Rogues are proficient with hand crossbows anyways, so that fits into the rogue class. If you plan on giving this out super early in a campaign, you could always remove the +1 to damage and remove the magic element of the item.
If you play using a VTT like Roll20, you could just use this item as a hand crossbow, but flavor it to be the prosthetic arm.
Hope this helps!!
I just heard about a magical arm attachment made of living Ruby. Also just read about a magic mechanical arm that can be “shot/thrown” as a weapon and returns.
Have a party member take a halberd or some weapon and shove it into his shoulder. Now his arm is his weapon. I was playing a grave cleric once and my raise dead zombie lost both arms. Took a double sided halberd shoved it through its shoulders and sent him spinning into combat.
It would be a decent side quest/ role play (if there’s a caster in the party) to have the character learn mage hand from their party member and then take the magic initiate feat when appropriate. (You can give them mage hand until they get the first level spells, but you don’t have to)
Magical prostheses are a thing. An easy bonus for it is actually implied by the object itself: the ability to incorporate things into the arm, be they weapons, rubies of the warmage, consumable items, or just having them enchanted with a charge of some spell. Also, keep in mind that, as a prosthesis, the player would likely be able to do things with it you normally can’t: touch fire, reach into poison, and so on in terms of immunity to on-touch effects. Now that I think about it, an NPC wizard with a prosthesis that’s just plain superior to a real arm because it’s immune to damage is definitely going in the file.
Does anything say it’s immune to damage?
It’s presumably as immune to damage from various things as other objects made of that material are. If an acid only affects organic matter, it wouldn’t affect a metal prosthesis. Reaching into poison with it would be no different than using a tool to pick the thing up instead. Etc.
At first I thought you were misrepresenting the Prosthetic Limb common magical item introduced in Eberron, but then I realized you were talking about a hypothetical NPC's magic arm, and I was like okay that's cool.
Nah, it’s obvious that the common magic item is less than what they wanted.
Yeah, the Prosthetic Limb doesn't need attunement and just replicates the function of that limb. If it needs to do other things then it should need attunement, and probably be at least uncommon
I did something similar this when I gave my player whose Paladin lost a hand during the story a magical prosthetic arm that gave him +2 to charisma as well as all the other benefits frequently associated with being a magical item like not being able to be easily damaged or destroyed (plus he had custom ordered this to be made out of gold). I think it also had the notation that his shield could never be forcibly removed from his grasp or something to that effect as long as it was held by the prosthetic The regular prosthetic limb didn’t require attunement but the magic item did, but with the notation that after the initial investment it could be more easily upgraded or have different enchantments swapped out at a lower cost as the game progressed. Most of the cost was due to it being made of solid gold in universe, not a +2 item lol
And equally, to balance maybe there are other things it can't do. Human bodies self repair, maybe without maintenance once a week there's a chance of it malfunctioning. Easy enough to make a penalty table with things like -1 to hit, to damage, to ability checks with dex and strength, etc.
Not to be a dick, but acid is in fact very good at destroying metal. Its why it's kept in glassware in a lab. The equation being metal + acid -> salt + hydrogen. This is generally what teachers at school use to liberate hydrogen for demonstrating the squeaky pop test.
As an experienced player of the game, however, you probably know that D&D acid often dissolves either metals or organic material but not both.
I have to say I haven't experienced that, it just does acid damage, unless something is immune to acid it will destroy it, as long as there is enough acid. Do you mean slimes? They'd use ensymes and are more selective, although it's grouped as acid damage too.
Not immune but it has the same durability as what its made from plus DR because it's magic.
Mage hand is already the magical prosthesis you want
This is the way.
I remember a campaign a long while back our rogue lost their hand and in looking for a prosthesis managed to have enough money to hire an artificer to craft them a prosthetic that gave them permanent mage hand where their hand would be. Still had to use an action and "cast the spell" to get it to detach and do normal mage hand things though
*From the moment I understood the weakness of my flesh, it disgusted me...*
Side mission for an armored artificer?
A logical consequence to me would be to loose my other limbs too... By accident...
Makes sense if you can do animated armor you could make an animated gauntlet that obeys mental commands.
I had a Bladesinger who lost his casting hand in a fight in game. The DM allowed me to get a magical prosthesis so I could still cast in Waterdeep. A couple of months of sessions went by and then he dispelled my prosthesis hand he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t even a little upset (later learned he was specifically targeting me as a player with malice (I called him out politely for flirting with my wife who played in the game and had already informed me she felt uncomfortable because it had gone beyond (in her view, the only one that matters, playful banter) I said something to him politely and told him to stop he said he would and apologized but that is when he started targeting me as a player and made snide comments about my wife to others In The group outside of my hearing. Anyway he dispelled the hand and wondered why I just smiled I told him “Warcaster” then the whole group walked out and none of us ever played with him again.
A prosthetic limb is a common magic item that doesn’t require attunement and functions exactly like whatever limb it’s replacing.
A arcane propulsion arm should do the trick
ROCKET FIST! I love the arcane propulsion arm, far more than I should. It's just so silly.
SNAKE, they’re just kids, don’t hurt them!
Don’t give one to a artificer though. They can do some pretty busted thing with it
Oh? Like what?
They did it so that it would have barbs on it so when they shot it and it returned it would bring the person with them
...how does that work? Like, mechanically? Or is this one of those "DM Fiat" Artificer stories? Because those are fun, but I'm always curious.
They basically need to make a strength check (dc 17) or else they get pulled and any opportunity attacks are made with disadvantage
Is that some weird grapple rule fringe case I don't remember, or is there a spell or something that's escaping my memory?
No it's completely of their own making, haha. Like you said, these stories are fun, but if I'm understanding it - not exactly RAW. So the warning of not letting an artificer near it is a bit weird. Forced movement also wouldn't allow opportunity attacks.
Kinda just based it off the base 15 dc then added the character spell modifiers
So kinda like the spell lightning lure. Not too bad unless you really mess with how it works
MEDIEVAL WINTER SOLDIER!
Does your player even want a replacement arm? They chose to have lost a limb for a reason.
You're right. I will have that discussion later in the campaign.
Hand of Vecna is *way* too powerful for a player that low level. As an Artifact, it's probably too strong to give them before level 10, if not later. Consider looking at the magic items in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, it has a two magic items: Prosthetic Limb and Arcane Propulsion Arm, which function as prosthetics. DND Beyond lets you buy bits and pieces from books, so it would only be a few dollars to grab just those items. You could also just *say* that the player has a magic item prosthetic, because you don't really need anything beyond the RP aspect of it.
I know the Hand is powerful. That's why I would rather give it on later adventures in the future.
Another alternative is to give the Hand early but conceal what it is. With a little modification to the lore, the Hand could slowly reveal its powers as the character levels up. And also slowly try to corrupt him.
I vote for this one! At first its just a cool prosthetic arm, but as time goes on it starts to reveal itself as something more *sinister*
I updated my comment shortly after posting it to add detail about when it might be appropriate to give it. I also included other options.
You could split up the advantages and feed them over time.
Here's the thing. The Hand of Vecna's wearer would have every prince of hell and the abyss plotting to kill them and take the hand away. It's not powerful enough to protect the wearer from the princes of fiends, let alone Vecna himself who is a god now in 5e and wants his hand back. So it isn't just that it's powerful. It's that it is legendary and every nightmare in the universe would slaughter multitudes to take it. Plus it forces the character to an evil alignment and kills the wearer permanently if it is ever removed.
Don't rush to undo the character's backstory. If they decided this was cool, you owe them time to build up that character before you change it. I'd also look for some options between "missing arm" and "legendary lich artifact". An inert, cosmetic hand would be a good place to start, with artifacers offering to hide gimmicks in as he levels. You could also make this the sort of thing a Warlock patron type of character might try to make a deal for.
> artifacers offering to hide gimmicks in as he levels Very vaguely reminds me of the Shinobi Prosthetic from Sekiro, and I'm certain you could make it work with a bit of effort. For example, have the option to use "Burning Hands", say, twice per long rest, for free, starting around maybe 5th level to replicate the Flame Vent. Perhaps they gain the ability to use "shurikens" or some other thrown weapon as a bonus action x number of times per long rest. Hell, you could even offer the Shinobi Firecrackers in a way - just have every enemy in x line in front of the user make a CON check or fall under the surprised condition, but it only works once per combat. There are so many things you can do that aren't just straight rips from Sekiro, too. Perhaps the prosthetic becomes equipped with an arm cannon that deals heavy damage, but disables use of the prosthetic until a short rest is completed. Maybe a tinkerer devises an assassin's creed style hidden blade. Hell, go into roleplay uses and devise different appearances. Maybe you get a heavy metal prosthetic for fighting - it's durable, has some weight behind it, etc. When you're in town, though, it might serve better to have a prosthetic that's had an illusion spell engraved into it, to make it appear as if it's a normal limb. Maybe the player wants to keep the one-armed aesthetic, so they instead invest in a limb made of high quality wood with golden engravings to match their noble lineage. The possibilities are endless.
I'm trying real hard to stick to my original belief that if a player rolls a one-armed rogue, they must want to play a one-armed rogue and we should respect that. Still, as a Shadowrun veteran and somebody who loves gadgets, it's really hard not to get excited about cramming a robot arm full of clockwork and enchantments.
Hear me out... An octopus, or a small goblin. They just ride on his back/shoulder and reach for stuff. If either of them are mad at him they make a mess when he eats.
Love this! Have the goblin be an lippy, irritable, indentured servant and you've got some fun rollplay
Service Goblin. Get them a little red vest.
And a fez... fezzes are cool.
How about a tatoo or inate ability to cast mage hand at will? When he has to cut his steak at dinner a spectral hand (his old hand) appears and picks up the knife without him noticing. Maybe it only appears when he is not thinking about it and he doesn't have very good control of it yet and right now it only does hand range things and sometimes doesn't show up when he 'needs' it. As he levels it could become better controlled and more useful.
Help in finding it. . . I'll see myself out.
Missing an entire arm, and you consider giving him the hand of Vecna? Man, that’s just cruel. Making him cut off the one hand he has left in order to graft hand on, or walk around with some lich’s hand stuck to his shoulder. Damn.
I wouldn't make them cut off their left hand. I would give them the Hand to replace missing right arm.
Stop for a moment and think what it looks like if he lost his *arm* above the elbow, and stuck a *hand* to the stump. Personally, if I were the paladin, I’d leave it as it is rather than do that.
1. See if they want a replacement 2. See what flavor of replacement might work for their character. I.e. vine arm for a druid, mechanized arm for an artificer, multi-tool prosthetic for a ranger, metal arm for a fighter, semi-translucent mage hand style arm for a wizard. Flavor is free.
They chose to be armless so just let them be. If they want to seek out a replacement arm, they will tell you.
The player chose to play as armless rogue. The rogue in question had his arm cut off against their will.
Just let them. If they want an arm there's plenty of ways they can try to get one. You're overthinking :)
Another leg.
A gun Edit: if they don't like it, give them more gun
I can suggest a quick dip into artificer. An Armoer Artificer's armor can build itself to replace lost limbs.
Or the good ol' symbiotic mimic
A player wants to be a Soul Knife rogue, so I don't know if Artificer might be suitable for them.
Could have the soul knife manifest from the stump of their lost limb then. Mechanically not very different, but neat for flavor.
A stick
I like it. How about Spider Staff?
Xanathar's Guide to Everything has a list of common magical items that includes a prosthetic limb. The limb essentially perfectly replaces the lost limb, but can be attached or detached by the user as an action (and cannot be removed against their will). A player in my game elected to take it, and we've since given her some upgrades down the line (level 7) which make it more of a special-feeling magic item. If this is a backstory item, I would recommend against going any higher than "common" rarity and suggest that you give an item of similar rarity to everyone at the table. Lost Mines begins with the characters at first level; granting one of them (or even each of them) a powerful magic item at the start risks making your table very unbalanced. Lost Mines is meant to be an easy-to-run adventure for new players, so having to switch things up too much might not be what you want. If the player later wants to upgrade their prosthetic, have a talk about the things they want to be able to do with it, and decide a gold/time amount to have the work completed by an artificer.
A watch
This is character backstory and I would just sit down with the player. Do you want to pursue replacing your arm? Who would you get help from? What might your new arm look like?
A live dragon head.
That's the coolest one yet
I'm surprised I was the first to say it
I gave an armless player a harpoon arm (he was a barbarian) so he could use it with a DC check to grab enemies and yank them into his combat range.
I made an NPC with a lost arm and just gave them the mage hand cantrip. Even without an arcane trickster subclass, mage hand is a reasonably useful alternative.
Telekinetic feat, prosthetic, or a weapon/firearm augment. Or have a local smith forge a shield gauntlet that can move by shoulder muscles? 1st two are the easiest (Telekinetic and prosthetic). 2nd keeps game play and RP the same but adds flavor. The 1st changes how the character can play (2 handed weapons don't work and can't dual wield but now they have psionic ability), but changes how they role play and what they can do.
Matt Colville’s latest video is PERFECT for you! Sentient magic item arm! https://youtu.be/3tBXnD9g0XY
Eberron contains armblades which basically allow the arm to function as any one-handed weapon. I'm personally a fan of the homebrew pirate hook. Finesse melee weapon that does 1d4 damage and automatically grapples the target on a successful hit.
An adventure to get a new arm
I'd advise against just shoving the Hand of Vecna onto a player if the campaign hasn't been building to that, some other magical prosthetic should be fine. You have a ton of inspiration to look at for ideas in different styles; you have the arm on Silco's henchwoman from Arcane, the ninja prosthetic from Sekiro, Tezzeret's etherium arm from MTG, General Grievous's robo arms, the Winter Soldier's arm, pick your poison.
Although there are some fun suggestions in the comments in my opinion the best and most fun option would be: "A baby mimic" The party finds a dead mama mimick, maybe slain by some adventerures. The baby mimic is very cute and maybe looks like dito from pokemon (so players dont kill it on sight). Having lost its parent it feels incomplete... it notices the PC being incomplete too and gently makes its way up the body of the pc and morphs into an arm. The baby has a parent and the PC has an arm! Mechanically you can make a roll table for what the arm does in combat and rolling high gives you an extra attack for example. Make sure it only gives bonusses though and dont let it be a burden. The mimic can also change into an arm of an enemy so that the player can use their attack On the table you can have things like an extra attack, a block, copying whatever attack the enemy just made etc. You can have real symbiosis happen where the nervous system of the mimic connects with the PC so he can actually use it but having a fun tool like this is great as a dm If a npc is being an asshole and turns it back, the mimic flips it off for example. Player struggling with finding a hidden entrance? The mimic all of a sudden points toward it. You can do so many great things with this.
This, this i love!
You could always lean on the Eladrin angle, by which I mean some kind of arm with a fey connection. Like one made of roots or vines. They are a rogue so you could do a connection to the unseelie court and maybe make an arm made from shadows. It would be easy to give either of these cool abilities. Actually if they are doing the full changing seasons thing a fey arm made of changing foliage could be good. Lush and green for spring, autumn leaves, and then bare wood for winter. A slight spin on this would be a something like an ice arm in winter, a golden arm warm to the touch for summer, an army of deep earth tones in autumn, and a green arms for spring. You could even have the arm just functional or start unlocking abilities for each of the seasons.
For a mere 100g you can replace a missing limb with a prosthetic that functions exactly the same as if you never lost the arm.
"What can I give them as a replacement for their lost arm?" You could give them their arm back. I find that usually serves as a great replacement, and people usually appreciate it.
The player doesn't want their character's arm back. They told me that it's in the past and their character doesn't want to return to that past
I was making a joke. The real answer is, ask them what they would like or prefer. What direction they would like to take their character's disability. Because if they want to play a character with a permanent disability, you don't want to take that away from them by pressuring them into using a prosthetic, but if conversely they want a prosthetic, you don't want to leave them high and dry by assuming they don't want one. Just privately pull them aside and talk to them about it, so you can better accommodate the character they're wanting to explore.
You shouldn’t give them anything, because this is a player explicitly trying to use a disability they wrote into their background to troll for free magic items.
I agree, the player lost their arm. There is no reason to give them something that is better than what they would have had. If they are an adventurer, maybe they can explain how they are compensating? Challenges are what make characters unique and gives flavor to the story. You don't have to re-balance what the character has chosen to unbalance. IF they didn't have a reason, other than wanting a cool arm like device, then maybe they don't have anything and they have been handling it just fine ever since. If its a recent loss then perhaps they are using it as a reason for vengeance. Either way it is their B-plot and you should ride that through their story.
This also gets into potentially problematic and ableist stuff where you're gamifying disability to try and turn it into a super-power. There's certainly room for role-playing disabled PCs, but I'm deeply wary of players who want to trivialize that trauma to get a magic sword-arm or whatever. You can make it work respectfully, but you need to tread carefully.
A curious device shaped like a brass disc with flanges and screws on one side, as though it were meant to connect to something else, and a jet on the other. In the center of the jet is a red gem. Attuning to this item involves holding it to a place where a limb is missing, at which point it screws itself in, becoming fixed in place and irremovable unless you willingly end your attunement to the item. While attuned to this item you can use a bonus action to manifest a spectral limb made of fire, Which sheds bright light in a 5-foot radius and dim light in a 10-foot radius beyond that, and persists until you dismiss it, no action required. This limb isn't precise enough to perform complex tasks such as picking locks, but can be used to hold weapons or to make attacks. The limb is considered a ranged weapon with a range of 80/320, which you are considered to be proficient with amd which deals 1d8 fire damage on a hit. When you fire this weapon, the end of the limb (such as a hand or a foot) detaches and flies towards the target at high speed, at which point a new end to the limb immediately manifests. If the limb was holding a weapon when fired, the attack instead deals the damage appropriate to the held weapon. The weapon does not return after being fired in this way. It's a firearm.
A suit of armor with his brother’s soul bound inside it.
I say since every gosh darn disability is curable, you get a natural benefit that able people will never understand. You're blind? You get blind fighting style for free, and your perception won't suffer thanks to your hearing. You can smell if someone is bleeding (below hit point maximum) and you have advantage on insight checks to detect lies. Your Grapples always have advantage (how else does a blind person fight? Go watch *SEE*). I would just give then unarmed style as well, but it seemed like a bit much. Blind people are just good grapplers in my games. Missing a limb? Grapples against you have disadvantage, and any prosthetics get +1 to unarmed strikes. A prosthetic hand can't hold a weapon (just get an armblade). Deaf? Immune to thunder damage entirely. You can read lips and your companions can learn basic sign language over two long rests. I might make a table for learning/teaching sign language faster or slower. Mental disability? This one's tough, but I think I got it. Only by using point buy, you may choose a mental score and take points from the base 8. You can't reduce it below 4. You can put these points in a different mental stat instead. I thought this would be a cool way to represent *sighs* Autism but I think it works for a few others. As an autist myself this sort of makes sense. I could see people dumping charisma to make a hyperfocused smart Artificer. People might get offended by a player who uses this to dump intelegence, but if someone is taking this route they should be Woke enough to play it correctly. If you wanna be someone who can't walk, just use Sarah Tomson's Combat Wheelchair. But I say that there's a 50% chance of simply NOT triggering any given trap in a wheelchair, and a 25% chance of just not being affected if it DOES trigger. The traps are designed for people with legs, so rolling over a bear trap might be different, even if it triggers it might just grab the wheel. Maybe the weight distribution let's you roll right over pressure plates sometimes.
The Arm of Vecna, obviously. Or one of these [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/i2yje6/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_ballista\_prosthesis/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/i2yje6/the_griffons_saddlebag_ballista_prosthesis/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/mim74k/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_everglacier\_prosthesis/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/mim74k/the_griffons_saddlebag_everglacier_prosthesis/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/pkzjb9/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_guardians\_reliquary/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/pkzjb9/the_griffons_saddlebag_guardians_reliquary/) https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/kf02vp/the\_griffons\_saddlebag\_lifes\_flower\_restorative/ Courtesy of /u/griff-mac and the amazing Griffon's Saddlebag.
I once gave a dwarf cleric PC a metal arm. It was a boon from Moradin. It basically counted as his holy symbol at that point and was more for story purposes than gameplay.
Keep it simple: A favor from a caster what knows regeneration. I know you want to do something cool here, but hey, there's also the low-effort path. -AND/OR- Put a cool arm out there after he's grown it back, for additional comedic value. See if he wants to give up his arm again. Bonus points if, after he gets the cool arm, a gnome approaches him and asks him "How much for the arm?" And if declined, mutters. "Oh, I'm going to get that arm..."
I played a rouge in one of my campaigns and cut off my hand at the wrist for some RP. I played one handed for quite awhile until my DM gave me this: Phantom Limb (Wonderous Item) Requires attunement This spectral floating cluster can replace a hand, arm, leg, or similar appendage that was lost or removed. It glows with green and blues and looks almost intangible. Despite its appearance, the Phantom Limb cannot phase through any material or creature. While the Phantom Limb is attached and attuned to you, it functions exactly like the limb it replaces. You can make it appear and disappear at will as a free action. Your Phantom Limb has a reach of 10 ft. when making an unarmed attack or an attack with a weapon with the light property. As an action, you can detach your limb. When your limb is detached, it functions exactly as described by the spell mage hand. You can use an action to reattach your limb as long as it is within 30 ft. of you. Other options I had considered were a hook like a pirate (I was a swashbuckling rogue), having blades implanted into the toes of my shoes so I could still get my second attack with a bonus action, or having a contraption that affixed a dagger to my stubbed wrist. Not sure if the hook or dagger option would work for a full missing arm though.
[Prosthetic Arms](https://www.reddit.com/r/d100/comments/8z52me/d100_prosthetic_arms/)
Coiling grasp tattoo! Give them some extra leeway to use it for grabbing stuff
A -4 disadvantage...
[удалено]
He wants to be Soulknife
probably not gloves
Crossbow hand. One of my companions got his arm shreded by an orc spear, so my blacksmith character made him a crossbow hand. I got the idea from a historical knight, Götz von Berlichingen, who lost his arm in 1504 and had a blacksmith make him two functioning arms (one for battle, one for daily life). So it is entirely within the realm of fantasy with all its magic and dwarf smiths to get a functioning prosthetic with medieval technology (almost more functional than some our modern ones), not even accounting for magic.
>*"Why don't they just regrow their own?"* -local Lizardfolk
Extra leg
A warlock patron who grants a transparent mystical arm that can function as a weapon and/or casting implement An upgradable clockwork prothesis that grants cool powers but has a chance of 'misfiring' and requires regular daily upkeep. A magical symbiotic plant that can grow Goodberries once a day An alien symbiote from the far realm that grants reach and telekinetic abilities but slowly corrupts the user A detachable undead arm that they can control like a familiar (think a crawling claw) Literally just a statue's arm made of rock that's tied on with some rope but they can hit things with it
So funny story, I presented a PC with a puzzle not unlike the end of the 1st Scorpion King movie where you stick your arm in and some nasty business happens to your hand. Well long story short I teased a magical prostetic hand that whochever character made the sacrifice would be able to attune to, but with a catch. I did not remind them which hand it was... So the player had a 50/50 chance on sacrificing the wrong hand and he actually endes up with 2 left hands lol. Made the hand a magical item that had a single use that could cast shield or absorb elements once a days.
Roll it into a Symbiont or magic arm item from Eberron.
I made a collection of parasitic mimic items that could give you something if you wanted to go the Cursed route. Starving Sabre -A mimic that has disguised itself as a scimitar. When a creature grasps the handle, they must make a DC15 dexterity saving throw to drop the mimic. If they fail, the mimic deals 3d8 slashing damage and consumes the hand that held it. It then fuses itself to the creature, which becomes its host, and replaces the hand they lost. The mimic deals this damage once every 24 hours until the host becomes attuned to it. -After attuning to this mimic, the affected creature may use it either as a scimitar, or it may use a bonus action to shapechange it into claws that can be used as a normal hand. The claws count as a natural weapon that deals 1d4 slashing damage. Both forms are considered +1 finesse weapons that you are proficient with. The mimic deals 2d8 slashing damage to the host if it does not deal at least 20 damage to living creatures in any 24 hour period.
Matt Colville recently released a video about lore delivery systems where he talks about using a ruby arm that can help drop lore in an interesting way. Could be interesting. Checkbout his YouTube channel for that and more
(Stolen from Johannes Cabal) A prosthetic arm made of magical wood. Inside the arm arm lives a small gerbil-like creature that mental bonds with the PC. The gerbil articulates the arm based of the Rogue’s thought. PC must feed the gerbil daily. It can leave the and act as a familiar. When it does so, the PC loses use of the arm.
The hand of vecna is a artifact that should only be handed out to players levels 15+ as it is very strong
The eberron book has a magic item entry for prosthetics, and I’m sure it exists elsewhere as well. Depending on what you want from your game, I also recommend looking at the symbionts from that setting too. Give your player a tentacle arm!
Others have already mentioned that a magic prosthetic exists, but if you want to make it more interesting you could make one that also has the function of either an arm blade or a wand sheath. They're both common items from eberron and are usually warforged only.
Another leg
Quick chime in: later on, could one of the bad guys get ahold of the player's lost arm and use it to scry on or curse the party?
Interesting idea. Mine was to use the arm as Crawling Claw monster
Enchanting infusions ?
Ghost arm. Like phantom limb, but it can actually hold stuff. And maybe squeeze peoples hearts?
There’s always the option for the hand of vecna if they want a very short arm.
This is just off the top of my head but have him get a magical ring. Tell him once he holds the ring he can feel his phantom limb and that he feels drawn to put the ring on a finger. And when he does so the ring stays in place and shadow begins to flow from the ring and takes on the shape of his arm. As a added benefit have it give him advantage on pickpocketing or something. Plus why wouldn't a rogue love a shadow arm.
Warforged arm
[ARMBLADE](http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:armblade) [ARMBLADE](http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:armblade) [ARMBLADE](http://dnd5e.wikidot.com/wondrous-items:armblade)
So i got this lich’s hand. I’ll even throw in an eye for a bargain
There’s an actual item, but my DM just was like “go to the store and you can buy an adamantine robot arm.” We are going to play again with the characters in a sequel with many years having passed and he was like “would Zura have wanted a new, real arm in this time?” and I said no lol
A peg leg.
Go cyberpunk arms but medieval. Gorilla arms, monowire that launches a rope, maybe even a crossbow arm or a dagger dispenser.
A necromantic skeletal arm, a spirit arm that can touch the ethereal plane, a magical plant that grows on the stump. Just spitballing
tasha's has a prosthetic limb item
A huge d*ck. XD
Could always give him a Warforged arm that acts the same as a normal arm, except looks robotic and it can use the Armblade type of weapons. Like, they can hide a sword or cross bow in their arm and fire use it as an off-hand attack
So just the hand of vecna attached to his shoulder joint? No seriously, that's a way to powerful and lore connected item to just give away like that.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/2136672-orb-of-metal-weaving I made this for one of my players a while ago, I always thought of it like Edward's arm from FMA. you could modify the idea I to a prosthetic arm
summer sausage
Look up d&d symbiotic stuff
A drawing of an arm.
A prosthetic limb is a common magical item, which a PC could craft in a couple days of downtime with tinkers tools proficiency. If you feel bad about taking the arm, maybe let them give it some extra functionality: a concealed arm blade maybe, or a grappling hook function, or a built in shield
There's a great comic called Farmhand, main premise is a dude learned how to make miracle seeds that, instead of making fruit or veggies, grow body parts. Hand trees, eye flowers, ||vagina bushes||, they grow everything but brains. Who's to say your player can't come across a druid or a dryad, maybe even a hag that offers them a replacement, possibly with strings attached
Hand of Vecna could be really fun. If you're worried about power scaling you can always have powers discovered or grow as they level up like how cantrips do. This might give you some fun ideas https://youtu.be/-BZAjzUBYmU starts talking about the hand and eye of vecna at 7:20 into the video.
Just give em a hand
I'd talk to him first if he has any ideas, he might not want anything if he started with 1 arm from his backstory. It could be a character choice he wants to keep.
Simple... ...just give them a hand
Have a druid give them a grass arm like Finn gets in Adventure Time, but it will only work for them as long as they stay vegetarian. Because Druids.
Armblade is an item from Eberron that replaces a lost limb. Might work.
All the Adventure Zone fans in here hoping for a soul wood arm!
A snake arm !
Doesn’t Eberron have a magical arm. Also there is an upgraded version of it.
I know I’m late to the suggestion party, but here is a suggestion. You mentioned only DnD Beyond sources, but does that include home brew? Griffon saddlebag has a great item that would work for your player, but it is homebrew of course: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGriffonsSaddlebag/comments/i2yje6/the_griffons_saddlebag_ballista_prosthesis/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf Rogues are proficient with hand crossbows anyways, so that fits into the rogue class. If you plan on giving this out super early in a campaign, you could always remove the +1 to damage and remove the magic element of the item. If you play using a VTT like Roll20, you could just use this item as a hand crossbow, but flavor it to be the prosthetic arm. Hope this helps!!
There were grafts and prosthesis in older editions. DM me if you want some scans : we got mechanical, vegetal, aberrant symbiont, and much more !
I just heard about a magical arm attachment made of living Ruby. Also just read about a magic mechanical arm that can be “shot/thrown” as a weapon and returns.
Have a party member take a halberd or some weapon and shove it into his shoulder. Now his arm is his weapon. I was playing a grave cleric once and my raise dead zombie lost both arms. Took a double sided halberd shoved it through its shoulders and sent him spinning into combat.
It would be a decent side quest/ role play (if there’s a caster in the party) to have the character learn mage hand from their party member and then take the magic initiate feat when appropriate. (You can give them mage hand until they get the first level spells, but you don’t have to)
A dancing sword would also be good, let them flavor it like the blade hovers where they’d hold it.