Need an injury that serious but not deadly for a trapped character

[iamastick]

Setting: Urban (? It’s see in essentially our world) Fantasy -> there’s magically healing via potions but they’re not super effective I’m mostly using it as a way to avoid writing hospitals every time a character gets injured

Relevant Character: Male, Late 20s in good shape.

The Plot Point: What I need to happen is that one of my main characters (

Comments

[beesandbrews]

A bad fall that results in a leg injury can do the trick. Sprains can be incapacitating, if they are severe enough. Add bone bruising and nerve damage, and your protag would be a real liability if he tried to carry on.

[rhiannon_s]

I agree with this, I was thinking a broken ankle would pretty much be exactly what was needed; but even a bad sprain would do it. And it doesn't even take that much. I slipped on a step once, just a regular flight of stairs I was going down a little too fast, and rolled my ankle and I was on crutches for a couple of weeks. I genuinely thought it was broken it hurt so much and it took some x-rays before they decided it was just a bad sprain.

[seizansha]

since you've mentioned magic, arm/hand injuries would definitely hinder things especially if there's some sort of wand/focus involved. a stab wound in the forearm would make the hand useless and cause enough bloodloss to necessitate leaving the MC behind.

as for starvation, you said the pocket demension the MC is in was used for storage so you could have food in there. if you want to you could have it raw/spoiled/rotten but he'd still be forced to eat it at some point.

i tore a ligament in my hand a few years ago and it took six weeks recovery time post-surgery.