Playing a blind character.

[Dankus Memakus]

So i want to play a blind character but I have no idea how I should do this. I had a few thoughts.

1. A cleric whos god grants him sight when in combat (regular sight so all spells that would hinder that sight still work)
2. A divination wizard who can see possible futures mere seconds ahead.
3. A warlock who made a pact to gain their sight back and now they have all these extra abilities that they didn't want. Kinda a reluctant adventure type.

Any thoughts

[Trampaige]

So i want to play a blind character but I have no idea how I should do this. I had a few thoughts.

1. A cleric whos god grants him sight when in combat (regular sight so all spells that would hinder that sight still work)
2. A divination wizard who can see possible futures mere seconds ahead.
3. A warlock who made a pact to gain their sight back and now they have all these extra abilities that they didn't want. Kinda a reluctant adventure type.

Any thoughts

A chainlock or wizard whose familiar provides their eyesight, either through telepathic bond or possession. The best option is probably Unearthed Arcana Raven Queen patron warlock for the raven that can't be killed and provides you vision automatically.

Mechanically, being permanently blind means disadvantage on all attack rolls, advantage on rolls against you, auto failure of anything requiring eyesight, and no ability to take actions that require a point or creature that you can see. So if you aren't going the raven queen route, you're pretty SOL in combat unless it's all fluffed.

Keep in mind RP wise that you shouldn't be able to make most out of combat skill checks, or at best make them at disadvantage. It would be kind of cheesy if your blind character constantly gets the ability to see because of divine power or wild magic fluff...

[Unoriginal]

Do you want to play a blind character, or do you want to play a character that should be blind but can still see or "see" thanks to X thing?

[smcmike]

Much respect for coming up with this sort of question about a new character idea every day.

It sounds like you want a "blind" character, with some DM-granted trick to make them work anyways. That's probably a good idea, since actually being blind is pretty hard.

I like the seeing eye familiar trick. If I were your DM, I'd allow you to use your familiar' senses permanently, without any action or penalty.

[90sMusic]

As long as you aren't one of those people that wants to trade sight for Blindsight. Oy... Way too many of those around.

Technically, even if you were blind, Devil's Sight invocation should still allow you to see in darkness and magical darkness, so you could get around it by doing that. As long as you aren't in combat, you could keep to the shadows so you can see and in combat, assuming you have allies in the party who need a light source or there are lightsources around, you could just cast darkness on yourself. It would give you a little bubble you'd be able to see in and also give you advantage on attacks to those who couldnt see you back.

Normally the Darkness + Devil's Sight thing is looked poorly on by DMs because DMs like to screw players and dont like the idea of you having almost permanent advantage with them having almost permanent disadvantage, but since you couldn't see at all outside of that bubble, I think they'd probably let it ride. Either way, it's within the rules.

It might be interesting. You might could even convince your DM into letting you see in dim light as if it were dim light, since you'd be seeing the half-darkness of it whereas everyone else sees the half-light of it, but that tidbit would be in homebrew territory. Still, the concept could be interesting.

[Dankus Memakus]

Do you want to play a blind character, or do you want to play a character that should be blind but can still see or "see" thanks to X thing?

Blind but able to attack

[Dankus Memakus]

Much respect for coming up with this sort of question about a new character idea every day.

It sounds like you want a "blind" character, with some DM-granted trick to make them work anyways. That's probably a good idea, since actually being blind is pretty hard.

I like the seeing eye familiar trick. If I were your DM, I'd allow you to use your familiar' senses permanently, without any action or penalty.

I play with alot of groups and I change characters frequently

I have 4 groups I frequently play with and two more I rarely play with and with my tenancy to dive into horrible situations I change characters alot

I also like speculation lol

[smcmike]

Blind but able to attack

If all you want to do is attack in melee, two levels of barbarian gets you reckless attack, which cancels out disadvantage at the cost of redundantly providing advantage to attackers. It's probably the best way to fight in melee blind without using some trick to actually see. It's still a major inconvenience.

[Chugger]

If all you want to do is attack in melee, two levels of barbarian gets you reckless attack, which cancels out disadvantage at the cost of redundantly providing advantage to attackers. It's probably the best way to fight in melee blind without using some trick to actually see. It's still a major inconvenience.

I kind of like this. He uses a primitive sort of echolocation maybe to get near the target and just wildly swings away!

[Unoriginal]

Maybe convince the DM to let a caster PC have an Homonculus?

[Cl0001]

A monk who's so in tune with people's ki he can sense beings around him.

[Dankus Memakus]

A monk who's so in tune with people's ki he can sense beings around him.

I like that idea

[TripleD]

How about the revised UA beast master ranger?

You don't need sight for any of the rangers tracking or divination abilities. Nor to activate "pack tactics" if you go with a wolf companion and have it attack for you. And although your unlikely to get that high, level 18 grants you ability that is literally about fighting enemies you can't see.

[Joe the Rat]

The biggest wrinkle with fighting blind is making sure there's a target where you are swinging.


Technically, even if you were blind, Devil's Sight invocation should still allow you to see in darkness and magical darkness, so you could get around it by doing that. As long as you aren't in combat, you could keep to the shadows so you can see and in combat, assuming you have allies in the party who need a light source or there are lightsources around, you could just cast darkness on yourself. It would give you a little bubble you'd be able to see in and also give you advantage on attacks to those who couldnt see you back.
So be Doctor Mid-Nite. I like it.

Getting the "goggles of dayvision" might be cheesy.

[Dr. Cliché]

I'd lean towards the 'seeing-eye-familiar' idea. Perhaps ask your DM if you can use your familiar's sight indefinitely (it'll probably have to spend a lot of time on your shoulder :smallwink:).

[Koren]

All I can think of is Toph from Avatar. Making blind jokes, sometimes having trouble because of the general environment, and overall still an excellent addition to the party.

That Ki fluffed Monk idea would probably work best for Toph specifically. Having a Warlock who is granted sight through his Patron is kind of a copout as far as trying to be blind goes (unless maybe you pick a patron who likes to make your general life difficult but doesn't want you to die or something like that?). The Divine sense thing is kind of pushing your character to be the "all-knowing Seer" character archetype which could be fun but not a lot of room for personal touches on it.

That's all my opinion at least. You kind of made me want to make Toph now though.

[smcmike]

All I can think of is Toph from Avatar. Making blind jokes, sometimes having trouble because of the general environment, and overall still an excellent addition to the party.

That Ki fluffed Monk idea would probably work best for Toph specifically. Having a Warlock who is granted sight through his Patron is kind of a copout as far as trying to be blind goes (unless maybe you pick a patron who likes to make your general life difficult but doesn't want you to die or something like that?). The Divine sense thing is kind of pushing your character to be the "all-knowing Seer" character archetype which could be fun but not a lot of room for personal touches on it.

That's all my opinion at least. You kind of made me want to make Toph now though.

Toph has Tremorsense, which seems like a very powerful substitution for sight. To really make her you'd need to fix Elements Monk with homebrew.

[Dr. Cliché]

Toph has Tremorsense, which seems like a very powerful substitution for sight.

Well, it's good against certain enemies but bad against others (incorporeal, flying, levitating etc.). Also, if monsters are anything to go by, you'll have a lot less range with Tremorsense than you would with regular sight.

If I was a DM I'd definitely allow it.