Skeletal Limbs

[Mephistophelian 972]

13 hours ago, Bogrin said:

Alright I will preface this by saying I do not mean to offend in the slightest when I criticize aspects of the lore, I am just trying to flesh things out (no pun intended).

First of all, the concept seems to be essentially a reskin (more unavoidable puns) of other magically attached replacement limbs. I don't know what you really mean by "tethering" the muscles, because if the limb is skeletal, it has no muscles on it. Perhaps you mean to muscles further up the limb? That would not be feasible as it is not the same muscles that run (for example), from the shoulder to the fingertips. The only way this would be feasible in terms of pairing with anatomy is if the limb was simply magically controlled in the regular manner but it is an organic replacement.

Now onto the strength. In no possible way would this be anywhere near as strong as a regular limb. Lets begin with the lack of muscles, tendons and fat. Those are huge cushions against force, which is desperately needed because bone is brittle. To expand on this: if it is dry bone it is incredibly brittle and prone to chipping. The arm would be easily shattered by the force of even a normal human. Moreover, it could be easily worn by most materials, even harsh leather surfaces. 

In summation, I think it is an interesting idea, but the execution is inconsistent and the practicality is low.

For your first point, I do not deny it. Just as with druidic wooden arms, dwarven runic arms and paladin glowing arms, this is 'just another arm' thing.

For the second point, I did mention in the lore that a limb that has been largely removed cannot be gained back in the form of a skeletal limb simply because the muscles needed are not present. You gave a beautiful example of that, so I thank you. If, however, part of the lower arm is chopped off (below the elbow somewhere), then it would be possible, since many of the muscles and tendons that control that hand are found in the arm. Don't believe me? Presuming you are lacking in an extra layer of chub, move your fingers up and down. Do you see your muscles/tendons lumping up and about? That's the stuff at work! For further experimenting, press on the region that lumped up. If you press right, your fingers will twitch up! Pressure points are real! I digress, though. Thank you again for pointing out the piece of lore I did not explain as well.

Yep, for your third part I totally agree. Heck, there are bits in the red lines and 'Overview' that specify this. Though the arm could, ostensibly, lift the same weight as a normal arm, it would probably snap (as mentioned). As for all your other points: Look to the part that says  The bone is still dry bone. It is not any stronger or weaker.
I hope I didn't confuse you any further.

Overall, thank you for your criticism! I do ask that you read through the lore again to see if it suits your satisfaction, but do note that I have changed none of it; you will simply be reading over the same stuff I am absolutely certain you read before. 

 

[Bogrin 120]

2 hours ago, Mephistophelian said:

For your first point, I do not deny it. Just as with druidic wooden arms, dwarven runic arms and paladin glowing arms, this is 'just another arm' thing.

For the second point, I did mention in the lore that a limb that has been largely removed cannot be gained back in the form of a skeletal limb simply because the muscles needed are not present. You gave a beautiful example of that, so I thank you. If, however, part of the lower arm is chopped off (below the elbow somewhere), then it would be possible, since many of the muscles and tendons that control that hand are found in the arm. Don't believe me? Presuming you are lacking in an extra layer of chub, move your fingers up and down. Do you see your muscles/tendons lumping up and about? That's the stuff at work! For further experimenting, press on the region that lumped up. If you press right, your fingers will twitch up! Pressure points are real! I digress, though. Thank you again for pointing out the piece of lore I did not explain as well.

Yep, for your third part I totally agree. Heck, there are bits in the red lines and 'Overview' that specify this. Though the arm could, ostensibly, lift the same weight as a normal arm, it would probably snap (as mentioned). As for all your other points: Look to the part that says  The bone is still dry bone. It is not any stronger or weaker.
I hope I didn't confuse you any further.

Overall, thank you for your criticism! I do ask that you read through the lore again to see if it suits your satisfaction, but do note that I have changed none of it; you will simply be reading over the same stuff I am absolutely certain you read before. 

 

I did read it, and in entirety, but the problems I posed I still hold to be problems. I do not think "tethering" the muscles to be anatomically viable. I am quite aware of separate muscle groups react to one another, but that does not make them able to control one another. In spite of this, this is still a fantasy server so really anything can happen. And as for the "cons" which you mention, I did notice how there is the dry bone clause, but the clause which jumped out at me is the one specifying how it cannot be stronger than a normal limb. To me, this seems very likely that people would be roleplaying it in a manner in which it would be equal to a normal limb. While this is of course speculative, at the very least that first clause is unnecessary if you are to later specify that it is as weak as dried bone. I would simply not like to see people incorrectly RPing skeletal arms.

 

In addition to this, would the arm be able to wear armor? Could you coat the bone in metal? What are these arms really capable of due to their structural weakness?

 

EDIT:

To further this, I think it has serious potential for powergaming. I can see someone reading a factlet like "weight for weight bone is five times stronger than steel", and misunderstanding it as their dry, brittle, and lightweight arm can stop a steel sword.

[Swgrclan 2635]

I don't think it would be hard to understand, and therein retain the understanding, that an arm made of bones would be weaker and less sturdy than that of a regular, living limb. Powergaming is only a possibility for those who use these things while being uninformed of them, of which I doubt will be the case since the necromancers able to gift these skeleton limbs would have to outline what the limbs can and cannot do.

[Ardor 59]

I like the idea of such a thing to occur, but I wanted some clarification on one aspect of it. As you stated in your lovely report, the user cannot move the aspect of the limb unless a muscle is reattached to it? So, would the user of said limb not be able to use the respective part of their body?

Beyond that little clarification for me, I like the idea a lot.

 

+1

[Mephistophelian 972]

I can't quote on my phone, but Swgr/Cameron basically said what I wanted to say. It's not hard to understand what I mean. If you want, I can always link a medical page discussing the weaknesses of dry bone, or something. Your question about the armour, too, can be solved with the same common sense Swgr mentioned; yes you can wear armour around the limb, but it would be like wearing armour around a bone. Nothing fancy. If you whack the armour hard enough, it could cause the bone underneath to crack.

 

Ardor, I saw your question don't worry :). The limb that the skeletal limb is attached to would stilk function as normal, though it would fuel the skeletal limb when it is used.

[Wretched 2041]

Lore under review.

[Mephistophelian 972]

Thank you for putting it under review. Please note I added a little section on how bone melding does not work to attach limbs to the host. Credit to Tsuyose for telling me.

[Tsuyose 3283]

Unfortunately the LT has decided to deny this lore.

 

Contact myself via PMs if you have any questions.