Having One Eye

[Reptilius]

Do you receive any penalties for being blind in one eye? Affliction, curse, sweet battle-scar...I can't find any mention of half-blindness in the SRD. Should I houserule it? Look again at the huge paragraph on it that I boneheadedly missed? Does anyone have any suggestions?

[de-trick]

we have a -4 penalty to everything no depth persecution till 2 weeks of having 1 eye when you get used to it

[PsyBlade]

I doubt there is any penalty associated in RAW. I believe it should be house-ruled.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

Do you receive any penalties for being blind in one eye? Affliction, curse, sweet battle-scar...I can't find any mention of half-blindness in the SRD. Should I houserule it? Look again at the huge paragraph on it that I boneheadedly missed? Does anyone have any suggestions?

I don't know of any, but I wrote up a creature called a Dullahan that can blind you in one eye.

Here is how I did it...

They take a -4 penalty to appraise, craft, search, and spot checks and those flanking them gain a +4 bonus instead of the normal +2.

[Lord Tataraus]

Well the cyclopses both have "Single Eye – receives a –2 penalty on ranged attacks, Search checks & Spot checks." So since their an official source, I would say that is the official penalty for having only one functional eye.

[Wraithy]

just make the character with a low wisdom and treat spot as allways a cross class skill, keep it simple.

[Lolzords]

Do you receive any penalties for being blind in one eye? Affliction, curse, sweet battle-scar...I can't find any mention of half-blindness in the SRD. Should I houserule it? Look again at the huge paragraph on it that I boneheadedly missed? Does anyone have any suggestions?

In the DMs guide there's a list of penalties due to damage to body parts. (Page 27)

I believe it's a -4 penalty.

Eye: Appraise, craft, decipher script, disable device, forgery, openlock, search, sense motive, spellcraft and spot checks. Survival checks (for tracking) initiative rolls, dexterity checks, ranged attack rolls, reflex saving throws.
Severe damage to both eyes causes a character to become blinded.

[Ecalsneerg]

just make the character with a low wisdom and treat spot as allways a cross class skill, keep it simple.

The problem with low wisdom is this:

DEVA: You have half-way decent fighting stats, charisma, and firm religious beliefs. Why didn't you become a Cleric?
ONE-EYED MAN: I have one eye.

[Spiryt]

just make the character with a low wisdom and treat spot as allways a cross class skill, keep it simple.

I won't call your solution "simple". We can maybe tell that character with only one eye can't perceive well, thus worse spot, survival or sense motive. He feels insecure, so worse Will save e.c.

But there is no reason why character with one eye should be worse at listen, heal or profession(baker) or why should he be less efective cleric.

[BizzaroStormy]

What page is this info on? I have a character with a crippled arm and up till now all it has done is deny me the use of an arm.

[John Campbell]

The problem with low wisdom is this:

DEVA: You have half-way decent fighting stats, charisma, and firm religious beliefs. Why didn't you become a Cleric?
ONE-EYED MAN: I have one eye.

This becomes even sillier if his patron deity is Gruumsh.

And still more ridiculous if it's Odin.

[kjones]

I feel like the Eye of Gruumsh PrC (3.0e) should have something to say on this, but I can't for the life of me find it in any of my books.

For a different perspective, Hackmaster has the Loss of Eye flaw, which grants -1 to all to-hits (and -1 to Comeliness, but that's just a Hackmaster thing), along with automatically granting the No Depth Perception flaw, which makes ranged combat impossible, grants an additional -2 to all attack rolls, and "will walk into walls or walk off cliffs if he isn't careful... This person needs a really good friend or guide dog." If you're houseruling this, keep these (very harsh) penalties in mind.

[Orzel]

As a person who is blind in one eye, a person blind in one eye for longer a week would get nothing but a -2 Spot penalty and -2 to attack using thrown weapons. I can't throw correct depth and bump into things on my left.


But for short term blindness I'd go will a -4 to all Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom skills checks except Listen and Sense Motive and -4 to all attacks.

[MrNexx]

+2 Wisdom, +1 Caster Level, if you do it right.

[AtomicKitKat]

What is this lack of depth perception all of you are talking about?

Seriously though, I've never had a problem with depth perception, regardless of whichever eye is covered. In fact, covering one eye tends to help with removing doubled images.

[MrNexx]

What is this lack of depth perception all of you are talking about?

Seriously though, I've never had a problem with depth perception, regardless of whichever eye is covered. In fact, covering one eye tends to help with removing doubled images.

On the other hand, my right eye is blind and I have horrible depth perception.

[Sonofaspectre]

Personally, I looked to the 300. If it was a DnD game, I think they would all be fighters, except the guy with one eye would be a Marshall. When he lost his eye, it was right after a battle, and I tell my players that the loss of an eye was a way to explain his level 12 +1 CHAR, as it made him even more unique, helping him be a better diplomat and a better commander.

Don't know if this helps. What I'm really saying is that there is no RAW for it, so that means it is flavor.

[woc33]

As noted above, the rules for such thing can be found in the DMG page 27. It gives a -2 penalty to different skills, initiative, dex checks, ranged attacks and ref saving throws.

[Bender]

Eye of Gruumsh is in Complete warrior: they take out one eye, but don't suffer any consequences for it.
I think -4 penalty to anything is too harsh, except maybe for the first hour or so.
For ranged attacks or spot checks, depth perception only matters for the first 5 meters or so, after that, a second eye doesn't help that much, less if the target is even farther.

I once had to deal with having an eye covered, I couldn't safely descend a staircase at first, but after a while, I got used to it. I didn't really try anything relevant to dnd though.

EDIT: I just remembered: I did go skying with one eye, it took some getting used to, but no problem after that.

I certainly wouldn't penalise Appraise, craft, decipher script, forgery, openlock, sense motive, spellcraft checks. In most cases it hardly matters how good your eyes are anyway (eg: lock picking is done by feel, not by vision)

maybe a penalty on disable device, search, spot, survival checks (for tracking) and ranged attack rolls. But even then, it's very situational whether it is important. For spotting something a mile away, there really shouldn't be a penalty, not even for estimating the distance.

[ForzaFiori]

those penelties to ranged checks really aren't true. I mean, i happen to close one eye so i shoot BETTER! I lose a little bit of depth perception close up (like within arm's reach, and even that goes away if you keep the eye covered long enough.), but other than that i'm ok. a penalty to spot is probably good, b/c you can't see as wide a range, and maybe bump flanking bonuses +1 for a specific side. from what i've seen through my own attempts and through talking to people with one eye, it really doesn't hinder you that much.

[Serpentine]

I don't think I'll be adding much more than has already been contributed, but anyway... I could be pursuaded to have one or more of the following:

-1 to -3 to all attacks.
-1 Dexterity AC
maybe -1 Reflex saves (harder to time/judge?)
-2 Disguise (but only really if it's a particularly distinctive injury e.g. prominent scar, white eye)
-2 to -4 Jump (harder to judge the distance)
-1 Search
-2 to -4 Spot

Appraise I certainly don't agree with, for this reason. Same with most of the other skills that were listed in, I think, that something official (?). I think it should only effect things that involve the size of one's field of vision and when accuracy is required in depth (e.g. determining distance)

[Quietus]

When you lose use of a hand, you take -2 to all checks involving the use of hands. When you lose an eye, the same should apply.

[Serpentine]

One eye works just as well as two for most things. You can still see as far and as close, you can see colours and shapes and do things like draw or pick things up or whatever just as well with one as with two. As I said, it's only when field of view and depth perception is affected that it matters.
One hand, on the other hand... Cutting food, using a two-handed weapon, cooking, climbing, and so on... It makes very many things quite a bit more difficult, even impossible without specific adaptation. I don't think it's a suitable equivalent.

[Tempest Fennac]

Regarding seeing things which are a long way away, pirates would often wear an eye patch over 1 eye to improve their vision in the other eye when they were on lookout duty, so it may not result in a penalty to Spot checks.

[Kurald Galain]

we have a -4 penalty to everything no depth persecution till 2 weeks of having 1 eye when you get used to it

You don't "get used" to having no depth perception. Having one eye should give a sizable and permanent penalty to ranged attacks.

[Bender]

You don't "get used" to having no depth perception. Having one eye should give a sizable and permanent penalty to ranged attacks.

In fact, you do get used to it. You even get used to those special glasses which mirror your sight. After a few days you can function perfectly like that (experiments have been done).
That only shows adaptability of the brain. Not having depth perception is different, but there really are a lot of people that don't have good depth perception, even with two eyes. You gain depth knowledge from shading, patterns, occlusion, size... rather than stereovision. This is especially through for distances beyond a couple of meters (as repeatedly mentioned: archers use one eye to shoot, often closing the other).
Also in snooker, I often close one eye to remove double vision.

[Querzis]

You really get used to not having depth perception so maybe you should have some penalty right after one of your eye is blind but after a week it should be totally ok. The only real problem of having only one eyes is that you cant see someone attacking you from the right if your right eye is blind so I would give a +2 bonus to flanking someone who lost an eye and a -2 to spot and thats it. Having one hand cut off is a big problem but you really can see just as well with one eye, it just that your sight has a range of 120 degree (I think) instead 180 but once you already spotted the enemy, thats totally irrevelant. Except that its easier to flank a guy with one eye, there is no other real penalty.

By the way, pirate had eyepatch so that one of their eyes would already be in darkness so it kinda gave one of their eye low-light vision, but they still had to have both of their eyes to do this, it doesnt work like that if one of your eye is blind.

[daggaz]

I would say -2 to attack and spot and balance, -4 to ranged attack. This is for the first week.

After 1 week, no penalties, not even for spot. (Your eyes tend to look in the same direction at all times, anyways. The slightly smaller field of vision is simply made up for by a natural tendency to turn your head more and more often.)

Triangulation (there are several ways the brain does this, one by actually measuring muscle extension in the eyes, and two by comparing the overlapping images) is only one of many ways the brain can figure out distances. It is the only way that requires two eyes, and the brain is more than adept enough to compensate should one or more modes of measurement be damaged, it just takes a bit of time.

In short, people with one eye do NOT suffer from total lack of depth perception.

[Person_Man]

-10% Experience for using a cliche?

Anywho, I'd let it be a flaw so that the PC got a free feat out of it. Maybe -4 to Spot and Search.

[Kurald Galain]

Well, it's nice to hear several people asserting that lacking an eye does not hamper your sight in any way, but since this is rather counterintuitive I wonder if anyone has a medical source for that?

Or, for that matter, for "eyepatches were for low-light vision", other than that Mythbusters says that this is possible? We have extensive written records on the seafaring age, after all.