St Fan
2023-08-05, 03:48 AM
Now, the “Blind Weaponmaster” archetype is a classic, and I’m sure plenty of players have tried it in their games already.
But that got me thinking... beyond the short rule given in “Condition Summary”, what are the FULL and COMPLETE in-game effects of blindness?
What class features or tactics are prevented to be used, and what are all the aside advantages/disadvantages?
Let’s start at the beginning:
Blinded
The character cannot see. He takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), moves at half speed, and takes a -4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) to the blinded character. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
Okay, first: “takes a -4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks”
The “most” imply there can be exceptions. The full list of checks with this penalty would be Search (removed by Tactile Trapsmith), Climb, Jump, Swim, and then Balance, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Tumble and Use Rope.
Escape Artist, I guess, would get a pass (it rarely involves seeing what you’re doing).
Then “All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail.”
That would include Spot checks (already mentioned) but also, I do believe, Appraise checks, most Craft checks (though exceptions are possible), Decipher Script, Disable Device (while Tactile Trapsmith makes it possible), Forgery, Heal, Knowledge checks to identify creatures (although I guess someone can give a description to help the blind character), Spellcraft to decipher magic writings or identify spell casts, and probably Survival too.
Being unable to read means no preparing spells from a spellbook, no scribing new spells to a spellbook, no using scrolls, and certainly no scribing scrolls either.
There are probably ways to counter these problems, like alternate magic items to scrolls working by touch (some sort of quipu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu), for example), or the normally terrible Eidetic Spellcaster ACF.
But either way, Wizard isn’t a great choice for a blind character.
Also, being blind seriously limits the use of targeted spells, at least at range. “You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target.”
Ranged-touch spells can be cast without seeing the target, but with low chances of hitting.
A blind spellcaster is better off restricted to personal or touch spells.
A lot of divination magics are reliant on sight, too (although I’m not too sure how it interacts exactly with detect magic, aura sight, arcane sight, and the like...)
Beyond that, a blinded character can’t use Sneak Attack (and most form of precision damage), nor any derivative of them, such as Ambush feats.
It is open to interpretation, but things like favored enemies or the Knowledge Devotion usually imply to identify properly the enemy and find weak spots, so I’ll probably rule they are useless while blind too.
No, I’m certainly forgetting plenty of other class features becoming unusable, please contribute.
On the other shoe, blindness offer several immunities.
Blind characters cannot be dazzled of fascinated, and is immune to gaze attacks, bright lights or similar attacks (such as color spray).
They’re also immune to plenty illusions or fear effects based on sight.
They, obviously, cannot be blinded and ignore darkness or invisibility (i.e. it doesn’t penalize them more than usual).
Of course, they can exploit those immunities by using sight-obscuring circumstances to their advantage.
But that got me thinking... beyond the short rule given in “Condition Summary”, what are the FULL and COMPLETE in-game effects of blindness?
What class features or tactics are prevented to be used, and what are all the aside advantages/disadvantages?
Let’s start at the beginning:
Blinded
The character cannot see. He takes a -2 penalty to Armor Class, loses his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), moves at half speed, and takes a -4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) to the blinded character. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
Okay, first: “takes a -4 penalty on Search checks and on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks”
The “most” imply there can be exceptions. The full list of checks with this penalty would be Search (removed by Tactile Trapsmith), Climb, Jump, Swim, and then Balance, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Ride, Sleight of Hand, Tumble and Use Rope.
Escape Artist, I guess, would get a pass (it rarely involves seeing what you’re doing).
Then “All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Spot checks) automatically fail.”
That would include Spot checks (already mentioned) but also, I do believe, Appraise checks, most Craft checks (though exceptions are possible), Decipher Script, Disable Device (while Tactile Trapsmith makes it possible), Forgery, Heal, Knowledge checks to identify creatures (although I guess someone can give a description to help the blind character), Spellcraft to decipher magic writings or identify spell casts, and probably Survival too.
Being unable to read means no preparing spells from a spellbook, no scribing new spells to a spellbook, no using scrolls, and certainly no scribing scrolls either.
There are probably ways to counter these problems, like alternate magic items to scrolls working by touch (some sort of quipu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu), for example), or the normally terrible Eidetic Spellcaster ACF.
But either way, Wizard isn’t a great choice for a blind character.
Also, being blind seriously limits the use of targeted spells, at least at range. “You must be able to see or touch the target, and you must specifically choose that target.”
Ranged-touch spells can be cast without seeing the target, but with low chances of hitting.
A blind spellcaster is better off restricted to personal or touch spells.
A lot of divination magics are reliant on sight, too (although I’m not too sure how it interacts exactly with detect magic, aura sight, arcane sight, and the like...)
Beyond that, a blinded character can’t use Sneak Attack (and most form of precision damage), nor any derivative of them, such as Ambush feats.
It is open to interpretation, but things like favored enemies or the Knowledge Devotion usually imply to identify properly the enemy and find weak spots, so I’ll probably rule they are useless while blind too.
No, I’m certainly forgetting plenty of other class features becoming unusable, please contribute.
On the other shoe, blindness offer several immunities.
Blind characters cannot be dazzled of fascinated, and is immune to gaze attacks, bright lights or similar attacks (such as color spray).
They’re also immune to plenty illusions or fear effects based on sight.
They, obviously, cannot be blinded and ignore darkness or invisibility (i.e. it doesn’t penalize them more than usual).
Of course, they can exploit those immunities by using sight-obscuring circumstances to their advantage.