Depth perception etc.

[Darke]

would a person with one eye have depth perception problems?

This is a thread for if anyone wants something explained in D&D, like epilepsy

[BooBooSpooki]

I asked myself this when reading up about virtual reality - off the top of my head I recall they'd have a -limited- depth perception since they can still use other objects in their view to orientate themselves by. That's confirmed in the article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_perception

[Beleriphon]

I asked myself this when reading up about virtual reality - off the top of my head I recall they'd have a -limited- depth perception since they can still use other objects in their view to orientate themselves by. That's confirmed in the article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_perception

At best I'd say a lack of any depth perception would be a -2 to ranged attack rolls. I've tried throwing a ball with one eye closed and its easy to misjudge the distance, but at the same time with a bit of practice you get used to using other objects to orientate yourself well enough to succeed.

[Swooper]

I'd houserule something like a spot penalty for a one eyed character.

I played an epileptic Asako shugenja in a d20 Rokugan game once. It was due to taint, of course. I had to roll a concentration check every time I cast a spell, failing it badly would result in spasms and frothing. My character eventually aquired enough taint (through fumbling a spell while inside a miniature version of the Shadowlands... bad idea) that he became a Maho-Tsukai, retiring from play and becoming the party's nemesis.

Ah, fun times.

[nagora]

would a person with one eye have depth perception problems?


Yes.

IMHO: Initial ranged attacks against a single target would be hard - probably -4 - with subsequent attacks reducing that penalty by 1 each, so long as the distance to the target is not changing. If the target is moving closer or further away I'd not allow the penalty to go below -2. Experianced archers will probably be able to reduce the problem in situations that they've encountered before, such as attacking defenders on a crenellated castle wall.

[Fhaolan]

Yes, you'd have depth perception problems. But you'd be surprised how well you can adapt to that kind of thing if you have years to do so.

A single eye isn't the only way to loose depth perception. I had severe astigmatism in both eyes, enough that I had lost depth perception because everything I saw was distorted depending on where in my arc of sight it was. I never realized this though, because I grew up this way. I knew I was short-sighted because I needed glasses to read the blackboard and such, but the distortion was something my brain had adapted to.

When I was at University, one of my friends (who was in Optometry), was doing an experiment. He'd put distorting lenses on people, and have them walk down a straight line and back. I'm not entirely sure what he was attempting to prove. People were stumbling and running into walls. I put the lenses on and walked the line. He was completely confused until he tested me and realized exactly how bad my astigmatism was. The lenses weren't distoring things any worse than my eyes were already doing.

Eventually, I got laser-eye surgery. It didn't fix my short-sightedness all the way to 20/20, but it did get rid of the astigmatism. It was a shock. I never realized that I was missing depth perception, because I had never had it before. Suddenly I didn't have to judge distances by sizes of objects, my brain was actually recieving steroscopic information.

Now, to bring it back on topic, my archery skill did improve after the surgery, but it took a year or two to get used to the idea. It wasn't a truely overwhelming improvement. Because I had grown up with that kind of vision, I had adapted to it. I was using other signals to determine distance.

If someone looses steroscopic vision, their ranged accuracy will suffer immediately, but over years they will gain some of that accuracy back as they adapt to the issue.

[Malachite]

Same for me, though the astigmatism's only in one eye and I also have keratoconus (even more distorted cornea) on that eye. I'm bad at throwing/catching, but close up I've learned to deal with it.

[Curmudgeon]

I've never had stereoptical depth perception. I have strabismus, which means my eyes don't align. I focus one eye at a time, and I can switch which eye I use (a strabismic alternator). I suck at tennis and baseball, but do better than average at soccer, archery, and target shooting. (I don't have to do the "close one eye" bit to be sure I've lined up the sights correctly.)

There are lots of clues that provide depth information other than stereopsis:
perceived size
shadows
relative motion
focus distance
You all use these things. Stereopsis stops working under lots of conditions:

rapid lateral movement (more than 38 degrees/second)
medium or greater distance (more than 11 meters)
eye strain
object off to the side where both eyes can't track
In D&D terms, losing stereoptical depth perception would probably have no effect other than to make Snatch Arrows slightly more difficult.