So I've run into an issue interpreting the abilities of the Healing Potion. The book says that it's capable of healing any crit 3 or lower wound, but is not capable of regrowing lost limbs. Does this mean that the ONLY thing it is not capable of doing is regrowing limbs specifically, or does it mean that the potion is not capable of growing back ANY completely lost and removed body part?

My group had an overly long argument about how to interpret this to no avail, and I'm uncomfortable with allowing any body part that isn't a limb to be regrown by the party alchemist like it's nothing any and every single time it might happen, especially considering the inventiveness of my party. Any help on the matter would be highly appreciated.

My take would be that it can't regrow anything be it a limb, a finger, an ear, or a nose. It calls out limbs specifically because that's a critical effect on the chart and likely the most often lost parts of the body.

On 8/12/2019 at 3:29 PM, kmanweiss said:

My take would be that it can't regrow anything be it a limb, a finger, an ear, or a nose. It calls out limbs specifically because that's a critical effect on the chart and likely the most often lost parts of the body.

See, that's what I ruled on the table, and the party alchemist argued that because it only says limbs, that's the only thing it can't fix.

I'm pretty heavily inclined to stick with my ruling regardless of protest, anyone else have anything to weigh in on the matter?

Edit: Also, the thought occurred to me to provide some context. The alchemist is attempting to regrow an NPC's surgically removed vocal chords with the potion, and argues that he should also be able to regrow missing organs (pretty much anything, like entire eyeballs that have been removed from the head somehow) with it as well.

Is there any compelling reason why a magical potion created with a bunch of Advantages or Triumphs wouldn't be able to regrow or reattach a finger or an ear or whatnot, while conventional medicine can?

How are they even losing all of those appandages? There's no mechanical way to do it in the game except via the that one crit result, and that's only for entire limbs, not random bits and pieces.

3 minutes ago, micheldebruyn said:

Is there any compelling reason why a magical potion created with a bunch of Advantages or Triumphs wouldn't be able to regrow or reattach a finger or an ear or whatnot, while conventional medicine can?

How are they even losing all of those appandages? There's no mechanical way to do it in the game except via the that one crit result, and that's only for entire limbs, not random bits and pieces.

I would allow reattachment no issue. The problem is specifically in regrowth of lost parts, which I feel logically isn't possible if the potion cannot regrow lost limbs. If it can't regrow limbs, why could it regrow ANYTHING else?

10 minutes ago, micheldebruyn said:

Is there any compelling reason why a magical potion created with a bunch of Advantages or Triumphs wouldn't be able to regrow or reattach a finger or an ear or whatnot, while conventional medicine can?

How are they even losing all of those appandages? There's no mechanical way to do it in the game except via the that one crit result, and that's only for entire limbs, not random bits and pieces.

"Conventional" medicine can't regenerate lost organs or limbs. It can regenerate tissue to a certain degree, but not a full organ or limb. That means, while "conventional" medicine could help in reattaching a severed limb, it wouldn't completely regrow one, not unless the species in question (Trandoshans, for example) has regenerative capabilities already.

1 minute ago, Kriegdachs said:

I would allow reattachment no issue. The problem is specifically in regrowth of lost parts, which I feel logically isn't possible if the potion cannot regrow lost limbs. If it can't regrow limbs, why could it regrow ANYTHING else?

One reason would be that a limb is a fairly large amount of biomass whereas a nose or an ear is not. We're talking about a potion that can instantly heal the effects of some fairly grisly criticals, including the gaping woulds left by torn off limbs. Regrowing a finger seems trivial compared to that.

Again, how are they even losing all of these body parts anwyay?

4 minutes ago, micheldebruyn said:

One reason would be that a limb is a fairly large amount of biomass whereas a nose or an ear is not. We're talking about a potion that can instantly heal the effects of some fairly grisly criticals, including the gaping woulds left by torn off limbs. Regrowing a finger seems trivial compared to that.

Again, how are they even losing all of these body parts anwyay?

Regardless, such body parts are rather complex , regardless of their size. I would not allow the regeneration of anything more than basic critical wounds , not full organs. Even those "gaping wounds" you refer too would require the wound to be closed up and bandaged first, in order to bring the ends of the tissues close enough together to allow the wound to knit back together.

1 minute ago, micheldebruyn said:

One reason would be that a limb is a fairly large amount of biomass whereas a nose or an ear is not. We're talking about a potion that can instantly heal the effects of some fairly grisly criticals, including the gaping woulds left by torn off limbs. Regrowing a finger seems trivial compared to that.

Again, how are they even losing all of these body parts anwyay?

To reiterate:

13 minutes ago, Kriegdachs said:

Edit: Also, the thought occurred to me to provide some context. The alchemist is attempting to regrow an NPC's surgically removed vocal chords with the potion, and argues that he should also be able to regrow missing organs (pretty much anything, like entire eyeballs that have been removed from the head somehow) with it as well.

If it can't regrow the limb but can heal the wound, that really only means that it's causing the the flayed stump to sow itself back shut, repairing tissue that's already there in order to do so. My thinking is that if the tissue is no longer there to be repaired, it cannot be affected by the potion.

22 hours ago, micheldebruyn said:

One reason would be that a limb is a fairly large amount of biomass whereas a nose or an ear is not. We're talking about a potion that can instantly heal the effects of some fairly grisly criticals, including the gaping woulds left by torn off limbs. Regrowing a finger seems trivial compared to that.

Again, how are they even losing all of these body parts anwyay?

A finger is not trivial. Joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, bone, fat, skin, nails, nerves, vascular tissues, etc. An arm may contain more mass, but the degree of complication is still just as great. Sure, an ear or the tip of your nose are rather simple in comparison, but there is still a lot going on there. I wouldn't put it past Star Wars tech levels to be able to regrow some fairly complicated tissues in order to replace body parts...in a lab, which the proper tech at hand. The healing potion however can't just craft matter out of nothing. It can heal tissue that exists, but it can't create new tissue beyond what the body can regenerate.

Cleanly cut off arm, crudely stuck back in place and then drink the potion...I could see some fairly miraculous healing where the body regrafts the limb to itself. Cut that ear, finger, nose, wingus off and throw it away. Sorry, the body can't regenerate that much complicated mass. The healing potion can stop the bleeding, create some scar tissue covering, and make sure you don't die, but that's about it because that is all the body can do on it's own. The healing potion just expedites the healing process.