Just how bad would a 4th level blind Barbarian be?

[CTurbo]

The thought would be Reckless Attack canceling out disadvantage on melee attacks.

I don't care to try to get him True Sight or Blindsense or anything. Just a straight up blind warrior.

Would he REALLY be that bad? I know anything that relies on site is an auto-fail, and Danger Sense doesn't work when blind. This is probably the one thing I would ask the DM to houserule just for flavor. Kinda like Daredevil style.

It sounds like a fun idea that would likely inevitably get old after a while.

 

[Leatherhead]

Barely passable.

Not only are you merely getting a normal dice roll on your attacks at best, and getting hit and crit way more than normal, you would be severely increasing your odds of dropping Rage due to not being able to find something to attack.

At higher levels it would be even worse, crit-fishing is the Barbarian's path for scaling damage.

 

[CTurbo]

...you would be severely increasing your odds of dropping Rage due to not being able to find something to attack.
.

Yeah this one was of my biggest worries

 

[MarkB]

Well, I personally wouldn't want to associate with an enraged person who has no easy way of distinguishing between friend and foe in battle.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

Apart from screwing you in combat, it is going to screw you in the other pillars.

Forget about making any Perception Checks. You find traps by walking into them.

Also forget about Survival. If you can't see, you can't navigate, you can't find food and water, you can't avoid dangers.

Probably also forget about Animal Handling. If you can't see a beast then you can't read its body language. Same would go for Insight, Persuasion, and Intimidation.

Blindness is a staggeringly large handicap in a preindustrail world. If I were the GM, I wouldn't be worrying about the characters's chance in combat, I'd be asking the player to explain how the character has survived the last week.

On the other hand... this is heroic fantasy, and the trope of the blind swordsman is a common one.

Perhaps the barbarian has a guide (another PC?) on whom they depend on for their daily life.

Perhaps the event that blinded them opened them up to the primal rage inside. "I used to be a noble. But there is no need for a blind noble, so my family disowned me. Alone on the street, hungry, lost, abandoned, I discovered strength inside myself. No longer do I act as my family dictate - I choose my destiny!"

 

[Psikerlord#]

I think it would be completely fine. Obviously he would use his "heightened" hearing to discern friend from foe, and reckless attack cancels being blind. You'll hit slightly less often, but AC is so low in 5e it's not going to be much of a problem - esp if you have a cleric with bless or pick up a magic weapon (which, frankly, in 5e is common).

It's a bloody great idea, wish I'd thought of it! I just played a sumo barbarian and it was terrific fun, but a blind one, old barbarian would have been even more awesome!!

 

[OB1]

How about just making him 'legally blind'? Anything beyond 5 feet from him is considered heavily obscured. Give him advantage on all perception checks that rely on hearing.