Ways to cure a body part that was turned to stone?

Question

During the very first session of my current campaign, my character's fist was turned to stone.

Quite a few sessions later, I'm getting a bit irritated with only having one functioning hand. What ways are there to restore my hand?

We're level 8, playing 5th edition, set in the Forgotten Realms. My fist was turned to stone by a dragon. We're playing Storm King's Thunder. What happened to my character was one of the characters provided by the module. At least I assume that. Haven't actually checked that to avoid spoilers for it.

Answer 1

This is a homebrew effect, but there are potential solutions.

As far as I know, there aren't any official effects that result in permanent petrification of a single body part; petrification effects such as the Flesh to Stone spell produce a gradual hardening of the entire body until the petrification becomes complete after three failed saves. With that said, there are a few potential solutions.

Effects that cure petrification.

There are two canonical effects that can cure whole-body petrification (which is to say, the Petrification condition): the Wish spell, and the Greater Restoration spell. The Monster Manual entry for the Basilisk also mentions that some alchemists know how to brew an oil that can transform a petrified creature back into living flesh using the gullet fluids of a Basilisk, but an official writeup for an Oil of Stone to Flesh has yet to be printed in any 5e books, though similar items existed in previous editions of DnD.

Effects that can restore a severed limb.

Alternately, you could simply refrain from restoring the petrified flesh to living flesh, and simply cut the petrified hand off so that it can be replaced. There are currently two methods of doing so: the first is the Regeneration spell, and the second is the use of magical prosthetics such as the Prosthetic Limb or Arcane Propulsion Arm magic items from the sourcebook Eberron: Rising from the Last War. Depending on your access to high-level spellcasters, this last option might be the simplest to obtain, since the Prosthetic Limb item is only a Common-rarity magic item, even if it would require you to use one of your Attunement slots on it.

Answer 2

Restoring the limb

There are a number of methods available in D&D for removing the Petrification effect. Most are only available to mid to high level spellcasters but, if you lack access to these spells personally, you might be able to find an NPC who can cast them for you, for a reasonable fee of course. Below are a number of spells which may help alleviate your condition, their spell level is also listed for your convenience:

Dispel Magic 3rd level - If the condition is being caused by a magical effect, a casting of Dispel Magic could remove it. It automatically succeeds at dispelling a spell of equal or lower level than the slot used to cast Dispel Magic. If it is a higher level, the DC is 10 + the level of the spell. This should be your first port of call as it is one of the easiest options available.

Remove Curse 3rd level- Another easy option, this will remove the effect, no questions asked - so long as the effect is being caused by a curse.

Reincarnate 5th level - An interesting choice as it requires someone to kill you, and spend 1000 gp. Effectively, someone would kill you, cast Reincarnate on you and the spell would magically create you a new body. You would be able to keep all your experience and memories, but you might change race unless the DM allows you to stay as the race you are currently.

Greater Restoration, 5th level - This spell specifically states it will remove petrification and thusly allow for the use of your hand.

Regenerate, 7th level - Cutting of your hand and then casting Regenerate would certainly solve your issue. Your hand would grow back within a couple of minutes. However, this is a 7th level spell which may be too far out of reach for your party.

Resurrection, 7th level - Similarly, Resurrection would restore your limb if it was cut off. Again though, this requires you to die and 1000 gp to be spent to cast this spell. You would also suffer some temporary side effects.

Clone, 8th level - You could create a clone of yourself, die, and then come back into your own body with your hand now working.

True Polymorph, 9th level - You could polymorph into yourself but with a functioning hand.

True Resurection, 9th level - Once more, you are required to die and have your hand chopped off, but this would work.

Wish, 9th level - Wish, the mightiest spell available. It would be a simple task for wish to restore your hand to flesh and blood, but it is not recommended. There is a 1/3 chance that you would never be able to cast the spell again after using the Wish spell in this way. It is simply not worth the risk when there are better alternatives. You could however use Wish to duplicate the effects of an 8th level or lower spell, one which would restore your limb or remove the petrification, without costing material or costly components.

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Working around the issue

Whilst the above list of spells will give you a way to resolve your problem permanently, there are other solutions which, in my opinion, are far more interesting. Notably, the cantrip Mage Hand.

I think it would be really interesting to see a character who has lost the ability to use their physical hand use magic to replace its function. Whilst everyone else is using it for manipulating objects at long range, this character is simply using it as almost a prosthetic hand, to do the things they might otherwise struggle with. You could also cast Unseen Servant to perform menial tasks for you like cooking, cleaning, repairing etc.

Prosthetics from Eberron: Rising from the Last War could also help to solve your issue, though you’d have to find a way to get your hands on one of them. They are common in the world of Eberron but you may be hard pressed to find one in the Forgotten Realms. With the DM’s discretion, you may be able to find an NPC who can craft you such a limb.

Answer 3

Using Greater Restoration would fix this for you:

Greater Restoration

5th level abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Components: V S M (Diamond dust worth at least 100 gp, which the spell consumes)

Duration: Instantaneous

Classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid

You imbue a creature you touch with positive energy to undo a debilitating effect. You can reduce the target’s exhaustion level by one, or end one of the following effects on the target:

One effect that charmed or petrified the target

One curse, including the target’s attunement to a cursed magic item

Any reduction to one of the target’s ability scores

One effect reducing the target’s hit point maximum

If you do not have a PC that is a high enough level, or the proper classes available to use this spell, you can head to a temple in a town. Temples should have healers of various things that would perform these services for a fee (GP cost).

According to the Basilisks wording of Petrification:

On a failure, the creature is petrified until freed by the greater restoration spell or other magic.