Playing Characters With Disabilities In Roleplaying Games

[Bartmanhomer]

Have anybody ever play characters with disabilities in Roleplaying Games? You know, physically and mentally?

[Geddy2112]

I assume many people have. There are ones characters may get through adventures like permanent limps, loss of limbs/eyes, etc. Barbarians in some editions that are illiterate and likely have a learning disability. Pathfinder oracles all have some divine curse- most of which are disabilities.

But barring class/race based or injury:

I once played a Druid based on Temple Grandin, and true to character she had mild autism/Asperger syndrom. There was the merfolk wizard who was born mute, A bard who had a limp due to old age, and totally colorblind summoner. I think that's it.

[Coventry]

Pathfinder's Oracle class is built on their personal curse - "Deaf", "Lame", "Clouded Vision" are examples.

Ah well, too slow, I am.

[Vizzerdrix]

I played with a blind archer, and a legless wizard on seperate occasions. The first got chucked down a well after his second player kill. The second wanted the party to carry him around, and was left for ghoul chow when everyone got tired of his whining.


Myself, I have always wanted to play a cleric of Gond that is missing an arm. Then replace it with something mechanical.

[AMFV]

Have anybody ever play characters with disabilities in Roleplaying Games? You know, physically and mentally?

Pretty much ever character I've played in nWoD or CoD (although that's kind of silly) has had some kind of impairment psychologically speaking. Physically is less common for me, if only because if my character has a physical impairment he'd have figured out a way around it so it would need to have important characterization, and I've never had a character concept where that was the case, as of yet.

[TheThan]

I've tried to figure out how to play a blind swordsman in DnD for ages, I haven't found a solution yet.

[Comet]

We once had a one-shot where every single PC had some kind of crippling disability. My fighter couldn't use his hands, the ranger was blind, the sorcerer couldn't speak... Our task was to escape a literal dungeon, avoid the guards and gather equipment and find a way out. It was a lot of fun.

Other than that, I don't have that much personal experience with disabilities. I have heard all kinds of stories about them, though. There was, and probably still is, a widespread belief in gaming culture that a 'true' roleplayer makes suboptimal decisions and characters, which usually manifests in characters with all kinds of disabilities or impairments. This was less common in D&D, as that was considered to be less of a roleplaying game to begin with around here, but was really common in stories I heard about GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, RuneQuest, World of Darkness and so on. A lot of armless, legless, blind, mute, alcoholic, deranged and otherwise debilitated characters in those stories. I never quite bought the idea of a wheelchair instantly adding depth to your character, but I guess it can't hurt either.

[ClintACK]

I've tried to figure out how to play a blind swordsman in DnD for ages, I haven't found a solution yet.

Blindness gives you disadvantage on all your attacks and advantage to anyone attacking you. That's bad. But we can fix it.

It also makes you unable to see where you're going and unable to use a huge number of spells and abilities, which explicitly only permit targeting a creature you can see. That we can't fix, but it's less of a problem for a swordsman than for a spellslinger.

Step One: Two levels of Barbarian. And always use Reckless Attack.

Reckless attack gives you advantage on all your attacks -- canceling that aspect of blindness -- for the cost of advantage to anyone attacking you, which they had anyway.

At this point, all your attack rolls are flat rolls -- no advantage or disadvantage, no matter what else applies. You can be prone, attacking a dodging invisible target with 3/4 cover whose ally is using Protection Stance -- all while submerged in water and drowning. None of those disadvantages will have any effect at all. (Go RAW!)

Step Two: Get a Cloak of Displacement.

Now anyone attacking you has a disadvantage -- so all attack rolls against you are also flat rolls.

Step Three: Get a Rider.

Strap a seat on top of your backpack and mount one of the little folk (a halfling or gnome) there. Bonus points if its a spell caster who can buff and/or heal you as well as pointing you at the enemy.


Alternate solutions:

A) Take a two-level dip into Warlock. Argue with your DM that the text of Devil's Sight says that you can see in darkness. So your character is only blind when there's light.

B) Take a less cheesy three-level dip into Warlock. Take Pact of the Chain and Voice of the Chain Master. Let your Sprite familiar ride on your head, invisible. Enjoy.


Finally, no matter what you do, remember that alchemists pay well for Basilisk parts. :)

[goto124]

Is that DnD 5e? Step One doesn't make any sense otherwise.

Also, the GM might throw books at you for Step One and say "this isn't 3.5e, don't rules-lawyer stuff that's meant purely for ease of play".

Strep Three sounds great and funny though!

[Cluedrew]

OK first off, anyone who has played a pure wizard, should of been playing someone with Asperger's. The weird things the two groups do tend to match pretty well.

Second, this one is obvious but I feel it should be said, that how one represents and plays with a disabled character would depend on the disability in question. Social disabilities might be entirely be represented by role-playing. Learning disabilities could probably be represented by a few odd combinations of skills in games with more granular skills, in ones with broader skills you might have to break out the house rules. Physical disabilities are probably hardest, because they are so tangible they almost demand rules and yet they don't follow the normal lines that skills and tasks are usually divided along. So you are going to have to figure out where to use it on your own.

And this is what we get with these three groups, representing a character with one arm vs. without eyes is quite a different problem, classics as they are.

Third, I would say make sure the disability makes sense with the rest of your character. Do not play a blind archer, it will end in tears. On the other side take your typical partying bard, slap on ADHD and that fits quite well.

Finally, I would like to share an antidote with you:
1: "[Describes an idea with a disabled main character, think it was bipolar]"
2: "But that's not how bipolar works."
1: "Yes it is."
2: "No, I am bipolar and that is not how it works."
1: "... I have bipolar disorder too."
2: "..."
1: "..."
Now I'll let you draw your own conclusions from this, but the important one is that there are so many variations on even individual disabilities (and that is not counting things like dyslexia, which I believe is just any condition that makes it hard to read) that there is no one true form of them.

[AMFV]

I've tried to figure out how to play a blind swordsman in DnD for ages, I haven't found a solution yet.

My experience with that is that the best solution is just to roleplay it. I mean see if you can negotiate with your DM to trade your regular vision for darkvision. But I mean watch Daredevil or any of the Blind Swordsmen films, blindness doesn't really impact them, at least not in the traditional sense.

Edit:


OK first off, anyone who has played a pure wizard, should of been playing someone with Asperger's. The weird things the two groups do tend to match pretty well.

I'm pretty sure that's not true. I mean yes, you could have a wizard with Asperger's, but arguing it's mandatory is the same thing as saying that all scientists or all Engineers have that disorder, and that simply isn't true.

[hymer]

I played a veteran paladin with a hook for a left hand, once. It didn't affect him much most of the time, but climbing really wasn't his thing. He felt it was too undignified, anyway.

[goto124]

OK first off, anyone who has played a pure wizard, should of been playing someone with Asperger's. The weird things the two groups do tend to match pretty well.

Now I'll let you draw your own conclusions from this, but the important one is that there are so many variations on even individual disabilities (and that is not counting things like dyslexia, which I believe is just any condition that makes it hard to read) that there is no one true form of them.

The bolded parts fit together. I'm not an expert so I won't go into details.

[Cluedrew]

I'm pretty sure that's not true. I mean yes, you could have a wizard with Asperger's, but arguing it's mandatory is the same thing as saying that all scientists or all Engineers have that disorder, and that simply isn't true.
The bolded parts fit together. I'm not an expert so I won't go into details.Point 1 was a joke, point 4 was serious. Re-reading that kind of got lost in the editing. Sorry about that.

[Vitruviansquid]

I wish people would stop defaulting to mentally disabled when their characters are plain stupid.

[Belac93]

Well, I've always really wanted to play a blind archer. Planning on making a Warlock 3 Bard x in 5th edition D&D. Permanently use the familiars sight, have it ride on my shoulder for the best POV, and then that should work. Expertise in Perception as well.

[JAL_1138]

It's one of the selling points of cyberpunk games to deliberately replace an appendage with a high-end prosthesis, although that probably doesn't count for disability since the replacement is an improvement over what you had.

[Lord Torath]

2nd Edition Darksun had rules for Blind Gladiators. By spending two Weapon Proficiencies and two Non-WPs, your character could gain an audible "sight range"; either close (out to 5 feet), mid-range (5'-10'), or long range (10'-20' - The ranges may be off lightly, the idea is there). Against opponents within that range, you fought at full effectiveness. Outside your chosen range, you were at -4 to hit (like anyone else with a bucket over their head would be).

Shadowrun used to let you take disabilities as Flaws for extra build points (still might, I haven't kept up with the latest versions). Most flaws had variable costs, depending on what your character did, and most of them could not be solved by cyberware. If you wanted the Blindness flaw (and the extra build points it gave you), it was a problem with your brain, not your eyes, so cyber eyes couldn't help you. Paraplegic flaws gave more build points to regular characters than they did to riggers and deckers. I think they were pretty much all physical disabilities, though, rather than mental disabilities.

[Honest Tiefling]

Third, I would say make sure the disability makes sense with the rest of your character. Do not play a blind archer, it will end in tears. On the other side take your typical partying bard, slap on ADHD and that fits quite well.

Coupling a disability that often grants anxiety disorders and an inability to focus with a profession reliant on presenting oneself and learning various instruments. I don't know if this is a bad idea, or a great idea. I sorta now want to play a 'bard' that never bothered to learn an instrument properly and is just faking it with mind control magic.

[eru001]

I've played a fighter with a missing hand before. (though admittedly he had a dagger strapped to the stump for a good part of the campaign.)

[Cluedrew]

Coupling a disability that often grants anxiety disorders and an inability to focus with a profession reliant on presenting oneself and learning various instruments. I don't know if this is a bad idea, or a great idea. I sorta now want to play a 'bard' that never bothered to learn an instrument properly and is just faking it with mind control magic.A lot of (will not say all or even most) people with ADHD will really focus in when challenged, and then only really act up when idle. The most relevant example I can think of is I have heard of some stand-up comedians that have ADHD. While not quite a D&D bard there are a lot of parallels. Again, probably varies but I know that is how it works for some people at least.

[Lord Raziere]

The bolded parts fit together. I'm not an expert so I won't go into details.

true that, as the saying goes "you meet one person with Aspergers, you've met only one person with Aspergers".

accurate portrayal of such things is more about being respectful and acknowledging that its the characters specific form of disability that can be accurately described as Aspergers or whatever, rather than trying to make a checklist of Aspergers. I've been in programs for high-functionng autistics/aspergers and every single person in them has their own issues that differentiate them, despite the similarities.

with mental disability/neurodiversity stuff, you gotta remember, they are descriptions not proscriptions, just like with alignments. you find people that you can or the most part accurately describe being that thing, not say "all X's do Y" then eliminate all those who don't.

[RazorChain]

true that, as the saying goes "you meet one person with Aspergers, you've met only one person with Aspergers".

accurate portrayal of such things is more about being respectful and acknowledging that its the characters specific form of disability that can be accurately described as Aspergers or whatever, rather than trying to make a checklist of Aspergers. I've been in programs for high-functionng autistics/aspergers and every single person in them has their own issues that differentiate them, despite the similarities.

with mental disability/neurodiversity stuff, you gotta remember, they are descriptions not proscriptions, just like with alignments. you find people that you can or the most part accurately describe being that thing, not say "all X's do Y" then eliminate all those who don't.

Well Asperger Syndrome doesn't exist anymore, it has been folded into ASD, or Autism Spectrum Disorder. The things that mostly were used to differentiate Asperger from Autism was a use of language and intelligence. But as many Autists also have other developmental disabilities it was rather that made the difference.

But to liken someone with Aspergers to a wizard is nice but doesn't hold water as those with AS are just as manifold as neurotypicals

[Lord Raziere]

Well Asperger Syndrome doesn't exist anymore, it has been folded into ASD, or Autism Spectrum Disorder. The things that mostly were used to differentiate Asperger from Autism was a use of language and intelligence. But as many Autists also have other developmental disabilities it was rather that made the difference.

But to liken someone with Aspergers to a wizard is nice but doesn't hold water as those with AS are just as manifold as neurotypicals

I know all that, your literally talking to someone who has to deal with that personally all the way from elementary school to college. thats why I use the asperger/high functioning autism term interchangeably, since its basically the same thing, and people don't really stop using this or that term just because official sources decree whether its a thing or not. personally, I don't really care about the specific term as long as my condition is described accurately and I can receive help for it, though positive terms are of course preferred to negative ones, medical terms involving mental differences have a history of turning into insults to demean the victims intelligence.

Edit:
While if we're talking HF-Autistic people being Wizards, well that is an unrealistic assumption. Any Medieval Society's education will be based more on whether your nobility or not than whether you have the required Intelligence. if your not well, your a peasant, dwell in a village and if you act any way socially different like how the neurodivergent are known to, then people are going to think your possessed by a demon or are a changeling let behind by the Fae when they took the "real" child and left this one who acts "soulless" to them. the usual solution is to call the local priest to exorcise them or something similarly superstitious. sometimes its positive and people think they are oracles or seers instead.

unless you assume DnD's oddly modern morality and such that has no consistency. in which case there is still no guarantee that HFA (High Functioning Autistic( are going to be wizards. funny thing about modern society: you need to be just as good at explaining an communicating that you understand concepts as understanding the concept itself. those are much more separate and different than most people think it is. especially for complicated concepts that wizards/engineers/scientists/programmers deal with that most people don't understand, and communication is typically the HFA's weakpoint unless they take time to develop it like a skill rather a talent that most have. that and its a mistake to assume that all HF-Autistic are all programmers who understands things because they are system oriented thinkers or whatever. "likes systems" does not automatically mean "likes programming" because a lot of things can be a system, and its more about finding beauty in the order of existence than being a boring bookish know-it-all. i

In fact you could make an arguments that some HFA's are closer to Clerics, since most people in such times will assume their behavior is them being touched by something divine or non-human/spiritual and therefore if they are lucky get sorted into being a priest who learns all the weird occult stuff priests learn, which was the widest source of education in such times, and would have the mind to remember all the spirits and gods weird rules and rituals while being taught that there is a divine order to all of existence.

[hymer]

As misleading as the Rainman movie is, I think it did at least achieve that for the autism spectrum; I've never heard or seen it used as an insult directed at neurotypical people. A description of certain behaviours or abilities, yes, but not insults.

[Delusion]

One of my favourite characters was a Blind Doji Courtier in an L5R game. Because the character was a non combatant I could play her as actually blind instead of having some sort of 'totally-not-vision supersense.'

She also had a servant following her around and reading her letters for her and stuff like that.

[Honest Tiefling]

One of my favourite characters was a Blind Doji Courtier in an L5R game. Because the character was a non combatant I could play her as actually blind instead of having some sort of 'totally-not-vision supersense.'

THANK YOU. I am often very annoyed when characters try to pull this, and either use it to get more superpowers not allowed by the system or ignore the fact that blind characters would indeed face some difficulty. I had a player annoyed at me once for refusing to work with a blind archer...Who had no way to see/hear/smell her targets.

[CtelinAjira]

This happened in a MtG-themed campaign. (GM was adapting 5e's Ravnica material to Pathfinder 1e)

I once ran a Dual-Cursed Dark Tapestry Oracle (Deaf-Lich, with the latter advancing) from the Orzhov Syndicate. She was kind of cute, but she was the rarely-seen evil-aligned healer. (had to take both Cure Light Wounds AND Inflict Light Wounds to get around her personal quirk of taking positive/negative energy like an undead would - blame the Lich curse)

It was never seen as this epic disability-superpower, as all I got out of it was not having to upcast to use Silent Spell. If anything, it actually hindered her in social situations - communicating anything is lengthy when you end up writing your thoughts because no one in the party understands sign language.

EDIT: speaking of liches, I sincerely apologize for the necropost. i should have checked the dates before posting.

[truemane]

Metamagic Mod: speaking of the undead...