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Long term injury, is it plausible?


Averlin

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Hello everyone, I've been scrounging the lore forums and things for some time now. I'm fairly new to the game and trying to create my first character I have a particular idea I want to run with but I'm unsure of how to do it plausibly in the FFXIV universe as well as how I can implement it or if the plot device really isn't worth my time. 

 

So my situation here is I'm wanting to play a knight from the Dragonsong war, laid off dragoon situation all that good noise. I want her to have sustained an injury along the later half of the war and been on the mend for the remainder of it. I was hoping I could plausibly give her an injury in an arm or a leg that at times causes her pain or even gives her a slight limp. She's stubborn and still fights because it's what she knows she is skilled at and the like but I want this to actually be an injury that has the capability of hindering her but still allowing her to do things? Perhaps it could be a constant pain of sorts that she requires frequent healing for or certain conditions that will allow the pain to subside for a time being but still hinders her combat skill (aka; limited jumping, sprinting).

 

I know aether/magic healing takes time no matter what, but essentially what are some things I can do to make it permanent/at least a hindrance for a while?

 

I guess my overall question is: Is this plausible, playable as a device to eventually give her an ultimatum down the line? Is there anything I can do to explain it better (nerve damage? Aether damage?) whatever that I can give to healers for a better idea of what they're dealing with. 

 

 

I appreciate any and all feedback, thank you : D

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Sure. After all, it's not as though there are Conjurers coming out of the walls or anything. It's entirely possible for someone to be grievously injured in combat and not see a Conjurer until much later - if at all. And if you wait long enough, healing may have already begun naturally, making it difficult to repair any healing that's gone awry.

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My character personally distrusts magic healing, though understands it is needed from time to time. I use to know someone who would fall gravely ill if they had too much magic used on them as well. I'd assume a long term or life lasting wound could be possible. I played as a hire guard for a blind man once. Honestly that was rather enjoyable. I've also seen others act out or detail out having to lay up for a while or bring mention they can't follow their fellows out into th fray due to whatever wound still needing to heal more. 

 

My character had a rather nasty leg wound for a long time. Where she normally wears heavy armor and throws around a two handed weapon she had to take it easy for a bit and even switch how she would handle fights she could not get out of. Shoot I injured my foot to the point I nearly broke the ankle when I was younger. Even with the proper brace and rest it never healed right and to this day it acts up from time to time with a sharp sudden pain and forcing me to sit or find something to support myself with unless I want to end up on the floor heh. Now I know that real life isnt the game world but it is an example that even with proper care something can still go wrong and leave that lasting mark.

 

Pretty much due to the lack of real solid limitations on almost anything in the FFXIV lore.. let your mind run wild and just write out ideas till you figure something you really like. Everything can be explained if you take some time to look into it or figure out some basic means behind it.

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Recent cutscenes show that even world-reknowned conjurers struggle to insta-heal severe injuries. An NPC is told by two such spellcasters that they're amazed she survived her injuries, and that while their magic has stabilised her, she won't be back to full health any time soon.

 

--

 

Separate from the lore, here are some fancy-sounding reasonings I've used, as a healer (on my alt Telluric Medic), to explain why my character hasn't been able to magically heal a character (belonging to a player who wants them to stay injured):

 

• "I've already healed some more severe/life-threatening injuries of yours, and you've exceeded your aether quotient; you need to rest before I can use any more aether on you, or you'll get sick."

• "The aether is not flowing correctly, going to the healthy parts of your body before the injured part; pouring more aether into you will just make you sick."

• "The spell just isn't taking; the tissue is resisting it, or I didn't apply it correctly. I exhausted myself before the injury was healed."

• "The injury itself also caused damage to your aether, and that must be fixed before any magical healing can take place."

• "I know you're hurt, and I'm sorry, but this injury isn't life-threatening and if I use conjury to heal it, the Elementals won't lend me any aether to heal anything else this week. You have to do it the long way around."

 

~Coincidentally~, the solutions my character tends to suggest to these problems all look pretty much like regular healing process would do. First aid, surgery, bedrest, physio, medication (potions), etc etc etc.

 

I'm of the strong belief that my job as a healing RPer is to facilitate the kind of plotline that the other player wants for their injured character. I think that anyone who can't comprehend why someone would want their character to stay injured needs to take a look at what it is they want to achieve with playing a healer. If it's to be powerful and appreciated and to fix everything and make it so there are no more problems, they're in it for the wrong reasons. It should be to help facilitate the progression of the plot - even if that plot is about being injured long-term, and having to deal with treatments and disability.

 

If a healer tries to heal you without your OOC consent, that's still power-emoting, just the same as if someone tried to injure you without your OOC consent.

 

If anything, healers should encourage this kind of plot, because it gives us a way to turn healing into a source of steady RP partners... why have a one-shot wonder healing session when you can have several sessions over a longer period of time? IDGI...

 

--

 

I think chronic pain, stiffness, or maybe even losing a limb altogether could allow your character to still be up and about while still not be fit for service in the military (especially elite military). You could also have the limb simply be unreliable - good days and bad days, but some days it just locks up completely and won't move... which is fine for civilian life and not so fine for a military career where something like that can mean the difference between the success or failure of an endeavour.

 

Any of these things would lend themselves well to constant contact with a healer, either an off-screen NPC of your own or another player character. You can allow your character and others to explore possible solutions, even if none of them work out in the end - then make accepting the disability the resolution of the storyline. You can let them try different things to lessen the symptoms without making them go away (some maybe successful, some maybe not).

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Hello everyone, I've been scrounging the lore forums and things for some time now. I'm fairly new to the game and trying to create my first character I have a particular idea I want to run with but I'm unsure of how to do it plausibly in the FFXIV universe as well as how I can implement it or if the plot device really isn't worth my time. 

 

So my situation here is I'm wanting to play a knight from the Dragonsong war, laid off dragoon situation all that good noise. I want her to have sustained an injury along the later half of the war and been on the mend for the remainder of it. I was hoping I could plausibly give her an injury in an arm or a leg that at times causes her pain or even gives her a slight limp. She's stubborn and still fights because it's what she knows she is skilled at and the like but I want this to actually be an injury that has the capability of hindering her but still allowing her to do things? Perhaps it could be a constant pain of sorts that she requires frequent healing for or certain conditions that will allow the pain to subside for a time being but still hinders her combat skill (aka; limited jumping, sprinting).

 

I know aether/magic healing takes time no matter what, but essentially what are some things I can do to make it permanent/at least a hindrance for a while?

 

I guess my overall question is: Is this plausible, playable as a device to eventually give her an ultimatum down the line? Is there anything I can do to explain it better (nerve damage? Aether damage?) whatever that I can give to healers for a better idea of what they're dealing with. 

 

 

I appreciate any and all feedback, thank you : D

 

As a preface, I only read the OP, so might repeat some stuff:

 

There are character's roaming Eorzea with missing limbs, and limps, so however you wish to play it off can work. Nerve damage is a good one, or you can go with the it just mended incorrectly. Nerve damage itself can't be fixed by Eorzean technology as it's not advance enough to have an electron microscpoe and such. The incorrect mending is easier to explain though to a healer, some of which will want to 'rebreak' said problem to properly mend but hey... That can lead to even more problems if not rebroken correctly.

 

As it's your character, it's ultimately up to you how to play it off, and if it can be healed or not. The longer you've had said injury, the less likely some healer will be able to magic up a cure for it as the injury, in itself, has healed even if incorrectly etc.

 

 

An important note: Don't make your character the injury. It's always important to not make the injury their sole focus, while maintaining the injury. Even people with injuries or disabilities have a personality and shouldn't be define by the injury themselves.

 

I could go on a healer rant and the 'poof, you're fixed' however there's enough threads on that and I hope this helped, even if only slightly. If you want a description on how I did X'sylvia's vocal injury, I'd be willing to mention it in private as it can not be healed by healers.

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You most certainly can have a permanently injured character! Magical Healing in a roleplay setting is its own mixed bag, but in the world's lore there exists many many injuries beyond even a magical scope of healing practice. Missing limbs, arthritis, various diseases, nerve damage, infections, and all manner of injuries exist and are evidenced in this world's lore. Warmwine Sanatorium in La Noscea is a hospital that rehabilitates injured Maelstrom soldiers. It took Frondale's Phrontistery nearly five years to come up with a cure for the Creeping Death, a plague which wiped out a third of Gridania's Hyuran population, and many diseases across Eorzea are still untreated. As for a retired dragoon, I even have a lore tidbit about a dragoon in training who breaks both their legs learning to dragoon jump.

 

 

Long-term Injuries and Healing:

Even with magical healing, in lore, anything beyond a very recent or very minor injury requires time to heal and recover. Magical healing seems to close wounds and stabilize. Esuna and Leeches remove ailments and bad humours. And while healing magic makes NPCs feel better, dialogue from them says they are still on the road to recovery, even if healing spells helped quicken their recovery.

 

We use mulled wine from Wineport to treat the war wounded. It restores the bodily humours and gives vigor to hearts made weary by fever. They are so young' date=' most of them, and so hurt in spirit and body. Most will return to the front, and some will not even survive to come under my care again.[/quote']

Well met' date=' adventurer. I serve with the Maelstrom Black Sails─or did, until I suffered grievous wounds in a battle with the kobolds. I was invalided and sent here. Will you take this to my commanding officer in Camp Overlook? It's a request for reinstatement. It ill suits my nature to lie abed. I was told my duty was to recover, and I have been dutiful. But surely they do not mean for me to wait until every last bit of flesh has knitted together. I can hold an axe─that should be enough.[/quote']

Damn...I can barely remember a time when everything didn't hurt. I feel like I've always been here.

Look at that' date=' I do believe I can move that foot a little more! Sure helps with the hurt, too.[/quote']

Greetings' date=' and welcome to Frondale's Phrontistery. How may I direct you? A donation of toys for the children's ward? I see. That is most generous of you. The Oak Atrium has done us many kindnesses over the years. Our children's ward cares for patients with everything from simple maladies to terminal conditions. I think these beautiful toys will bring a smile to everyone's face.[/quote']

They didn't take ye? What godsforsaken unit did ye cast yer lot in with? I thought I told ye' date=' stick with the 8th. They ain't turned no one down since that ol' swab wi' two bum legs an' a missin' glass eye— Oh wait, I tell a lie, they took 'im, too![/quote']

These men and women have chosen a horrendously dangerous profession. A chocobo's talons can rip open flesh to the bone' date=' and a single kick can knock an otherwise hale hunter out for a sennight...if he survives it.[/quote']

Yet take much more time now' date=' it will. Wait until Bozol's arm is healed, we must. Draft technical designs for Dezul Qualan, no one else can...[/quote']

The chirurgeon has instructed me to refrain from taking the stage until I am fully healed. But I intend to stay limber with some light rehearsing' date=' and I certainly intend to watch your next appearance![/quote']

Among the aspiring Knights Dragoon are a talented few who practice jumping attacks in equipment crafted from adamantite' date=' the weight of which will help them to crush a dragon's skull as an eggshell. Alas, one such youth misstepped during his training and landed among the crags, breaking both his legs and armor in the impact. Though his injuries will heal, he requires a new pair of leg guards, and I would entrust none other but a skilled craftsman with the task.[/quote']

For generations' date=' hamlet healers have applied the sticky leaves of various landtrap creatures to burns and cuts to help quicken their mending. Unfortunately, ever more frequent confrontations with neighboring beast tribes have seen demand for the leaves overtake supply. To see that those injured are not left to suffer, good coin will be paid for freshly harvested specimens.[/quote']

I used t' sail the five seas with the League o' Lost Bastards' date=' but I packed it all in when me ma came down with the Green Rot. I now gather herbs for local medicine women, hopin' that while I'm at it, I might find a cure...[/quote']

My counterpart in House Haillenarte has sent me a curious report' date=' noting that the barbarian Vanu Vanu prize the tendrils of the mahu wai in repairing damaged nerves and paralyzed limbs. I know not of this fish or where it can be found, but it may be a rumor worth testing if you are successful in catching a handful of the creatures.[/quote']

Those hapless enough to breathe in dragon fire are left with seared throats and are unable to consume ordinary food for moons. In order to provide them with sustenance while easing their hurts' date=' we typically prescribe a mixture of frozen mashed fruits, glasses of which we require posthaste.[/quote']

 

 

Limitations of Healing Magicks:

I think Coultenet sums it up best. A healer can only do so much, and much of what a healer can do depends on the healer.

 

Now' date=' we've staunched the bleeding, but it may be a while before you can move about again. Though, having seen your wounds, I'm surprised you were still moving at all...[/quote']

Tataru' date=' Krile - I leave the care of our injured messenger to you. See that she remains quiescent and her wounds closed.[/quote']

Even when casting the same incantation' date=' the mastery of each practitioner greatly affects the efficacy of the spell - a principle that was aptly demonstrated to our two young mages here.[/quote']

The chirurgeons are doing what they can for her' date=' but she may not live through the night.[/quote']

 

- Drugs in Eorzea Lore

 

 

Cutters and Loss of Limb:

I've seen far more evidence for loss of limb and amputation than I have for permanently damaged limbs or completely severed ones being fixed or re-attached with magic.

 

The leeches at Camp Bronze Lake have urgent need for several bottles of my best wine. It seems the fighting with the kobolds of O'Ghomoro has hit a fever pitch' date=' and not a day goes by when a poor man doesn't come back from the front lines needing an arm or leg removed. It's at these times my wine is most sought after, not only for dulling the senses of the amputee, but for cleaning the wound once the deed has been done. I can see that the bottles make it to the camp unscathed, but I need someone to see that I stay unscathed in the process.[/quote']

An outrider! And his wounds look deep! Is there a cutter nearby!? This one won't make it without a cutter to tend to his wounds. He's already lost too much blood as it is.

The Brugaire Consortium has received a commission as exclusive as it is unusual: the illustrious client bids us make a barber-surgeon's saw' date=' "wolfish of teeth and swanlike in form," to take his gout-afflicted foot off with. A plump purse awaits a crafter who delivers this chimera.[/quote']

Mark me' date=' then: if you do put it down, and worse, lose the bloody thing, I shall use mine own saw to demonstrate to you the pain of losing a limb. Ah, but I jest. One-armed carpenters are scarcely half as useful, in my experience.[/quote']

They say the healers at Frondale's Phrontistery can cure any disease and reattach any severed limb. Knowing those Ul'dahns' date=' though, I wouldn't be surprised if they were paying to have the rumors circulated.[/quote']

I've been meanin' to buy a new peg leg for me hobbled mate' date=' and this bounty ye speak of will let me do just that.[/quote']

Baderon's nickname' date=' "Tenfingers," is a mark of respect for his skill as a mercenary, for only a few of those who walk that path will leave it with all their digits whole.[/quote']

 

 

A Lack of Healers:

While Gridania may have the Conjurers, Ul'dah and Limsa the phrontists, and Ishgard the hospitaliers and chirurgeons - this doesn't always mean they'll be on-hand, close by, or not busy with other patients.

 

Many of them seemed surprised─grateful' date=' of course, but surprised─that we were here helping them. Does the hamlet not have its own healers? Do the Temple Knights not dispatch their hospitaliers this far from Ishgard?[/quote']

I ain't a healer' date=' but I'd say you've broken your arm, a couple of ribs, and bruised half your innards. We need to get you some splints and bandages...[/quote']

A dragon claw or chocobo's talon to a soft stomach will speed a man towards his congregation with Halone unless a remedy known as Mother's Mercy is ingested in time. The medicine swiftly coats the inside of the stomach with a thick mucus' date=' allowing the blood to clot and the wound to close. Due to the value in curing such grave wounds, Mother's Mercy is a staple of every chirurgeon's field kit. A knowledgeable botanist should be able to procure large quantities of gentian, the main ingredient which allows for clotting—though they will need to brave the Chocobo Forest to do so, as the plant no longer grows in Coerthas.[/quote']

 

 

Hope this helps! ^^

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Think of all the war wounded recovering at Bronze Lake. You'd expect the Maelstrom to have some conjurers, so it looks like not everything can be healed, either due to the strength of the injury or the power of the conjurer.

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Think of all the war wounded recovering at Bronze Lake. You'd expect the Maelstrom to have some conjurers, so it looks like not everything can be healed, either due to the strength of the injury or the power of the conjurer.

To call this out specifically - one of the SCH quests has you go around and heal those people, and you actually do miracle many of them back to health in a single spell. They recover instantly, despite their ailments having plagued them for months (even complicated illnesses like alcoholism and PTSD).

 

That would seem to refute the idea that magical healing can't heal old wounds, but I chalk this up to the WoL being special. The "average magical healer" wouldn't have been able to heal those people, or else they would have been tended to a long time ago.

 

My opinion's changed over the years, but I think it's totally valid to say the WoL (and to a lesser extent, the other Scions) are leagues ahead of the rest of Eorzea. If M'naagho stumbled in with those same wounds to Maelstrom Command (or even the Conjurers' Guild) instead of to the Rising Stones, she would have been lucky if they managed to keep her alive long enough to deliver her message.

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Think of all the war wounded recovering at Bronze Lake. You'd expect the Maelstrom to have some conjurers, so it looks like not everything can be healed, either due to the strength of the injury or the power of the conjurer.

To call this out specifically - one of the SCH quests has you go around and heal those people, and you actually do miracle many of them back to health in a single spell. They recover instantly, despite their ailments having plagued them for months (even complicated illnesses like alcoholism and PTSD).

 

That would seem to refute the idea that magical healing can't heal old wounds, but I chalk this up to the WoL being special. The "average magical healer" wouldn't have been able to heal those people, or else they would have been tended to a long time ago.

 

My opinion's changed over the years, but I think it's totally valid to say the WoL (and to a lesser extent, the other Scions) are leagues ahead of the rest of Eorzea. If M'naagho stumbled in with those same wounds to Maelstrom Command (or even the Conjurers' Guild) instead of to the Rising Stones, she would have been lucky if they managed to keep her alive long enough to deliver her message.

 

You're also using an ancient lost art of healing in those quests, taught to you directly by a fabled master of healing from Nym - the city that had to be taken down with underhanded subterfuge because Mhach (the fabled masters of destruction) just couldn't beat them on the open battlefield.

 

I think even people with a SCH soul crystal but no direct Nymian tutelage would struggle to recreate the feat... which is actually a breath of relief for most healer roleplayers.

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which is actually a breath of relief for most healer roleplayers.

 

Actually (and this is what I meant about my opinions having changed over the years), I find that as a healer, I have very little investment or control over what my character is actually capable of. If someone loses a finger and they want to play a nine-fingered character, obviously we can't heal it - but it goes the other way, too!

 

If someone calls to my character on a linkpearl, begging for her to come quick, she gets there, and they have their arm ripped off. If I say, "I'm sorry, I can try to stop the bleeding, but I won't be able to give you your arm back," when they were hoping to be magicked back to perfect health with a few days bedrest, that's in many ways worse than healing someone who didn't want it.

 

We healers are exactly as powerful as people tell us to be, no matter what the lore says.

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which is actually a breath of relief for most healer roleplayers.

 

Actually (and this is what I meant about my opinions having changed over the years), I find that as a healer, I have very little investment or control over what my character is actually capable of. If someone loses a finger and they want to play a nine-fingered character, obviously we can't heal it - but it goes the other way, too!

 

If someone calls to my character on a linkpearl, begging for her to come quick, she gets there, and they have their arm ripped off. If I say, "I'm sorry, I can try to stop the bleeding, but I won't be able to give you your arm back," when they were hoping to be magicked back to perfect health with a few days bedrest, that's in many ways worse than healing someone who didn't want it.

 

We healers are exactly as powerful as people tell us to be, no matter what the lore says.

 

I mean that most healer roleplayers:

a) want their characters' ability level to reflect their training and experience, and

b) want their scenes to last longer than "boop, you're done"

 

If the SCH quest in question was baseline for healers in the setting, then anyone that couldn't do "boop you're done" would look incompetent. Anyone who wanted to RP longer scenes would have to RP a trainee.

 

As it is, there are a lot of wonderful, impossible-seeming things that are possible with healing magic. But being unable to recreate them consistently doesn't mean your character is bad at their job, because these impossible-seeming things usually rely on outside circumstances (which may or may not be present for the given RP scene, depending on the desires of the injured character's player).

 

Which means our healer characters can heal extraordinary injuries to full health, if that's what the player of the injured character wants. But because the lore leaves room for a variety of outcomes regardless of the healer's skill, it means our healer characters also don't have to take the fall ICly when someone OOCly wants their character's injury to be not-healed. ICly it becomes a "that just happens sometimes" thing, not a "OH NO AM I LOSING MY POWERS I HAVE TO GO BACK TO HEALER SCHOOL EVEN THOUGH I'VE BEEN DOING THIS FOR 10 YEARS" thing.

 

That's why I think the fact that level of healing is extraordinary is a breath of relief.

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