Broken leg

Sometimes everything goes horribly wrong and you get left somewhere with broken leg(s).

Getting your legs broken

There are a several different ways you can get broken legs:

• Not having enough fuel in a broomstick when taking off will result in a crash that breaks both legs.
• If you perform the Hedgehog song in Ankh-Morpork, the Musicians' Guild heavies will break your legs on the second and subsequent offenses.
• Werewolves, including Angua, can break your leg in combat. (No matter how many times human Angua kicks you, she can never break both legs.) A floater prevents leg breaking until it falls.
• If you ask for healing from Franklin Giovinn in his shrine to Squimble on the Isle of Gods in Ankh-Morpork, he may inflict broken legs upon you (although this is only one possible result).
• Swearing in front of Pin and Tulip can make them break your legs, although it can be avoided if you leave the room quickly enough.
• Failing to balance while sliding on the banister in the Thieves' Guild can result in a broken leg. This also applies to the banister in the post office.
• If you climb high enough on the Five Ways bell tower and fall, you can break a leg.
• Falling from high places will usually break your legs if it does not kill you.
• Using the shoe-shine machine in The Actors' Guild bar will break both your legs.
• Jumping from the window at the Dysk breaks your legs.
• Standing too close to the Alchemists' Guild when it explodes. This includes the Street of Alchemists right in front of the guild.
• Jumping from the top of the monolith with the shrivelled tramp will break a leg.
• Attacking the shopkeeper in the Travelling Shop during flight causes you to land with a broken leg somewhere around the Widdershins sea, compounding an even worse situation.
• A witch who has learned the splint command can ask nicely Nanny to break her leg, in order to practice using splint.

Effects

Having one or both legs broken results in several negative consequences:

• Witches are unable to ride a broomstick with one leg broken or more.
• Spells that require dancing, like Jogloran's Portal of Cheaper Travel, cannot be completed.
• You also get a line added to your description indicating which leg(s) are broken.
• Trying to walk is a bad idea, draining your strength, constitution, and/or dexterity and causing some damage, making it more difficult for you to move around. You can avoid both of these effects by crawling instead of walking, although this is slower. Having broken legs also gives you a -3 penalty to dexterity or -6 if both legs are broken (which increases if you walk around).
  • If you are affected by Finneblaugh's Thaumic Float, you will only suffer slight damage every time you walk.
  • If someone else is passaging you, you'll need to stand up (not be set to crawl) in addition to following the priest, otherwise you'll be left behind.
  • If your stats get drained too much (having 3 constitution, or possibly 3 strength or a -5 penalty to it), you'll become "too weak to move". This will stop you from walking, crawling, and, oddly, passaging.
  • If you wait, your constitution and strength will return, and your dexterity will return to only having a -3 penalty or -6 if both legs are broken. The Restore ritual will also return your constitution and strength to that normal penalty.
  • Restore will also fix any lingering stat effects after getting your legs set.
• Fighting with broken legs is a bad idea and due to your lack of mobility will most likely get yourself killed even by things you can normally easily beat.

Getting them fixed

• You can get your legs set by many doctors if you can get to one, speak his language and give him about A$5 per broken leg in the local currency.
  • To get the doctor to help you say something like "please set my legs" in the local language.
  • Doctors that fix broken legs include the ones in Ankh-Morpork, Bes Pelargic and Djelibeybi.
  • The doctor in the thieves' guild can fix legs even for non-thieves, but further healing is denied to non-thieves.
  • The doctor in Ohulan Cutash does not help with... anything.
• Dying and subsequently returning to a more solid form will restore your body, including your legs.
• A witch can splint your broken leg(s). Then you can walk without much health loss while you wait for the leg(s) to mend. The time it takes is proportional to the witch's magic.methods.mental.charming bonus.

To sum up, crawling about won't get you anywhere fast, with the stat loss and the need to take regular breaks.

It is best to politely ask some players about helping you fix your legs. Most players who can will readily portal polite players with broken legs and if necessary lend them the fee because it happened to them too at some point.