Blind PCs in Pathfinder

[Guildenstern]

Hey folks, I'm going to be trying my hand at running a Pathfinder game for the first time within the next week or so, and one of my players is rolling a Monk who, for the purposes of making him stand out a bit, is blind. While I think this is a pretty cool idea and would love to see it in action, I'm having a bit of trouble justifying it within the game rules. I've looked around to see how others have handled it (or not, as the case often seems to be) and hashed out a few possibilities, such as having him dip Oracle for the poor vision curse (though this isn't really true blindness), having him take Blind-Fight to offset that 50% miss chance (and possibly downgrading that miss chance a bit through some kind of bonus from the listen skill or something), or just hand-waving the negative aspects and considering his blindness to be mere fluff.

Not entirely sure which of these options if any would be the best to proceed with, so if any of you guys have ever played a blind character before or simply have some cool ideas for how we could do this then let me know, we'd appreciate it.

[Ravenica]

I'd give him Blindsight 10 (not blindsense) and treat him as Blinded for anything beyond that range

[Ailowynn]

Heck, give him the Oracle's blindness curse. Trust me, it won't break the game :D

[Artillery]

What level is the monk?

If he had something like permanent Listening Lorecall? Its from Spell Compendium, with 5 ranks in Listen you gain blindsense 30ft. At 10 ranks you gain Blindsight 15 ft.

There is also the Blindfold of True Darkness from Magic Item Compendium. Its 9000GP for 30ft Blindsight.

[Psyren]

Psionics (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/s/synesthete) can (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/t/touchsight) help. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/equipment/psicrystals#TOC-Sighted-Ex-) It goes great with monks (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-prestige-classes/psychic-fist) too.

[Ravenica]

Why Psyren, is there anything Psionics CAN'T do? :smalltongue:

[Psyren]

Why Psyren, is there anything Psionics CAN'T do? :smalltongue:

{insert Cinnamon Toast Crunch reference}

[Guildenstern]

What level is the monk?

If he had something like permanent Listening Lorecall? Its from Spell Compendium, with 5 ranks in Listen you gain blindsense 30ft. At 10 ranks you gain Blindsight 15 ft.

There is also the Blindfold of True Darkness from Magic Item Compendium. Its 9000GP for 30ft Blindsight.

Yeah, he's starting at level 3. I never like to start at level 1 (mortality rate is a bit too high and everybody's too weak to fight anything more than giant rats) but anything too high and you lose some of that sense of progression. Anyway, that's out and I promise he doesn't have 9000 gp lying around.


Psionics (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/s/synesthete) can (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/t/touchsight) help. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/equipment/psicrystals#TOC-Sighted-Ex-) It goes great with monks (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-prestige-classes/psychic-fist) too.

I have no idea if he wants to dip into psionics or not but that's just cool.