Making a Blind Fighter

[Dralnu]

Is it possible to make a warrior in 3.5 who is blind yet can "see" with non-visual methods?

[Eldariel]

Yes. Listen-checks can be used to locate people and eventually you can reach various auxillary senses, such as Hunter's Sense (Scent) or Hearing the Air (Blindsense) from Tome of Battle (there are other sources, but ToB is the simplest martial source for extra-visual detection). You obviously need Blind-Fight and frankly, you should get that for free and then some. You should also get some boosts to your Listen-checks to compensate for the lack of Spot.

[Kantolin]

Or use Synesthete (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/synesthete.htm) and be a psychic warrior.

(Or a psion or a wilder or a lurk or any psionic class with second level powers and the Expanded Knowledge feat... or dip one of those)

[Eldariel]

Or use Synesthete (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/synesthete.htm) and be a psychic warrior.

(Or a psion or a wilder or a lurk or any psionic class with second level powers and the Expanded Knowledge feat... or dip one of those)

Arcane and Divine magic obviously likewise offer easy solutions. I understood this was supposed to be a non-caster tho.

[Moonshadow]

Yes, but I think that a venetian blind would count as an improvised weapon, so you'd have to take that into account :smallbiggrin:

[Kantolin]

I don't really consider a psychic warrior nor a lurk 'casters' myself, but hey. ^_^ If those aren't allowed, tome of battle is your main choice.

I think you can actually get blindsense via the Combat Focus tree, but it's something small like a 5ft radius. On the bright side, you can determine their hit points as well.

You could also, possibly, take wild cohort and have a parrot spot for you, and direct you within 5ft of enemies so you can stab them with your combat focus, which while clearly unuseful, would be ridiculously awesome. ^_^

[veven]

Blind Fold of true darkness from the magic item compendium grants blind sight at a range of 30 feet. It's pretty cheap too, can't remember the cost off the top of my head.

Also, wearing a blindfold and fighting is probably the coolest thing a person can do.

[Ballis]

Blind Fold of true darkness from the magic item compendium grants blind sight at a range of 30 feet. It's pretty cheap too, can't remember the cost off the top of my head.

Also, wearing a blindfold and fighting is probably the coolest thing a person can do.

I believe it's 9000 gold for 60' blind sight and immunity to gaze

EDIT: never mind, MIC says 30', not 60

[Runestar]

Play a grimlock?

[true_shinken]

I don't really consider a psychic warrior nor a lurk 'casters' myself, but hey. ^_^
Caster =/= full caster

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you're going the Psionic route, make him also a paraplegic and take at least one level of Elocater. Bonus points if he's venerable.

[true_shinken]

If you're going the Psionic route, make him also a paraplegic and take at least one level of Elocater. Bonus points if he's venerable.
Charles Xavier, except blind.

[Dralnu]

Improvised Weapon? There's a PrC for that in Complete Warrior, if I recall. Also Drunken Master!

I should clarify: I want to make a "warrior" who can fight effectively while physically blind. I'm open to magic so long as it's not a full caster, aka it actually makes sense that he's hitting things with a weapon instead of just snapping realities in half by sneezing. I'd rather not do psionics just because I don't know that system, but if it's the best/easiest way then maybe I'll get around to learning it.

From what I understand, the best method is attaining Blindsight (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Blindsight_and_Blindsense). According to that, Blindsense is like Blindsight except it offers concealment, which isn't so bad if I got Blind-Fight (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Blind-Fight). Scent doesn't seem to pinpoint locations so it's nice but not too helpful.

Hearing the Air works from ToB, but I can only get that at level 11 right? That's a little too high level for me. I do love the idea of a blind samurai though.

Synesthete looks very interesting. It's like you see normally. How could I go about keeping this up all day long and how gimped will my character be to do so?

Okay, that blindfold is awesome. Wow. I'll see if my DM would allow it. That would require a level 3's WBL, right?

I'm also open to spellcasting alternatives.

Thanks for the help!

[KoboldCleric]

I have done this once before using only a stright classed fighter, the blind-fight feat, and completely mundane listen checks (no +30 item of listen), though my DM did give me a flat +8 bonus for being blind. I must say it made playing a straight fighter really fun for me. Everything I did was a challenge ... and thus every success I had was one to celebrate. This experience is one that was key in helping me learn to enjoy playing characters of all power levels by changing my expectation level accordingly; conquering the challenges I did with the aforementioned character and participating as a meaningful party member ended up being much more fun than just lazily dominating the battlefield with a stronger class.

I hope you have as much fun with your experience as I did with mine :)

[graeylin]

I understand the desire for this from the Daredevil perspective, but I always wonder "why? really, why?".

Warning: grumpy rant coming up...

1) being truly blind, even with blindsenses/sights/hearing/etc. would have to be tough, very tough... really truly try to imagine a life in a forest as a blind person. Or in a medieval city. Heck, just imagine being blind at a ren-fair, trying to avoid roots, horse manure, puddles, uneven ground, slop buckets, children, horse hooves, etc.. Can you imagine being blind, armoring up with plate mail, finding your way down castle stairs (with uneven treads, odd spacing), and then fighting in the crowded, noisy din of battle?
2) if you (like Daredevil) have completely compensated for being blind, and can see details like alleys with waiting thugs, windows and murder-holes, and can see an arrow speeding your direction from the sniper on the roof across the street, then honestly, you aren't blind. You may not have eyes, but you have sight, so it's kind of semantics. Like Steve Austin claiming to be an amputee or parapalegic, because he lost two legs, and arm and an eye. Technically, it's true, but in reality... He's not crippled.
3) I always loved the blindfold that gives you blind sight/senses... Just the irony in that alone makes me smile.
4) If it's just looks alone that makes being blind 'cool', why not just magic up a blindfold that looks opaque, but isn't.. kind of one way cloth. Wrap it around your head, you look like a blind guy, but see perfectly. Or a visor, like Cyclops/Scott Summers/Jordi LaForge.

[Dralnu]

I'm just wondering how DnD 3.5 mimics the "blind fighter" theme that you see in popular fantasy media: demon hunter in warcraft, lee sin in league of legends, that earth bender girl from Avatar, the stereotypical blind fighter who is clearly the strongest dude around in various wuxia films, etc.

It's a fun thought experiment and, if it's actually viable (this system is surprisingly flexible), then it would be something that I'd like to play.

[true_shinken]

2) if you (like Daredevil) have completely compensated for being blind, and can see details like alleys with waiting thugs, windows and murder-holes, and can see an arrow speeding your direction from the sniper on the roof across the street, then honestly, you aren't blind. You may not have eyes, but you have sight, so it's kind of semantics. Like Steve Austin claiming to be an amputee or parapalegic, because he lost two legs, and arm and an eye. Technically, it's true, but in reality... He's not crippled.

Have you ever read a Daredevil comic, dude? His blindness has been and probably will always be a crippling weakness. There was an old comic in the 90s where he couldn't catch a criminal... because he couldn't see his face on a TV. Also, his augmented senses have been a weakness for a long time as well - see Guardian Devil by Kevin Smith for some of the better uses.
Basically, even with his super-senses, Matt Murdock never really compensated for being blind.

Oh, the thing about his sonar? Real people can do that (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_echolocation).
Hm? What? No, the thing about echolocation has got nothing to do with the subject at all, it's just cool. :smallcool:

[The Rabbler]

if you make him a dragonborn and pick the mind aspect, you start with incredibly good vision and end with blindsight (I think it hits 60' by level 15).

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

if you make him a dragonborn and pick the mind aspect, you start with incredibly good vision and end with blindsight (I think it hits 60' by level 15).

Dragonborn (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060105b&page=1) gives Blindsense 30 ft. Do note however that even if the character has no eyes, he'll still get Darkvision and Low-Light vision, but he won't be able to see anything in full illumination...