Blind PCs

[RichGreen]

Hi,

One of my players is suggesting he'd like to run a blind PC. I'm tempted to just say no as I have no idea how to DM this, but can any of you think of a way to handle this? Does blindness appear as a flaw you can take for extra feats/skill points in any 3rd party books?

Cheers


Rchiard

 

[Slife]

Shadows of the Tower Volume One has a blindness based PrC ("Aesthetic Eye"). The magazine's content isn't particularly well edited or balanced, but it is free, and a good place to start.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

There are some hidden benefits to being blind. Immunity to all vision based illusions and gaze attacks being chief among them. I've had characters like that in my campaigns (blind paladin back in 2nd ed was fun) and have played characters like that (the stereotypical blind monk). I really don't think there needs to be any bonus for the character beyond what's already there, though I would suggest to the player that he take Blindfight at first level to represent his adaptation to his condition, and take a class that gets Uncanny Dodge, perhaps.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You might want to check out this thread:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=145772

 

[JustKim]

There are some hidden benefits to being blind. Immunity to all vision based illusions and gaze attacks being chief among them.

That's not actually true. In theory you can simply close your eyes to gain those benefits, and in practice closing your eyes does not make you immune to illusions.

When someone asks to be blind they usually have a concept in mind that involves being better than a sighted person in another area- usually, blindsense. You should definitely not award blindsense in exchange for blindness, and I'd actually agree that the PC should not gain anything at all for it. It's a drawback, but one that can be easily cured in the D&D world.

A blind character can be an interesting opportunity, though. When I was writing a story about a blind character I paid a lot of attention to the ramifications, and one of the things I think most people cannot grasp is that blindness isn't the same as being in the dark or closing your eyes. Our eyes are working even while we're asleep, and being naturally blind can be akin to the entire visualization process of your brain being comatose. Our visual sense is also keyed to many of our instinctual responses, including the biological clock, hunger, relaxation, and (obviously) sexual attraction. Many of these are responses that cannot be consciously duplicated.

I could go on, but yeah. There's more to blindness than a 4th of July gone wrong. It's very interesting.

 

[crazy_monkey1956]

Over in that other thread it was suggested that the character be able to spend feats on their other senses, which I would allow as DM, especially if the player wanted to emulate something like the Daredevil character from Marvel Comics. Allow them to take things like Blindsense and Scent as feats. They're using a resource (feats) to cover for a weakness, so it balances out...sort of.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Over in that other thread it was suggested that the character be able to spend feats on their other senses, which I would allow as DM, especially if the player wanted to emulate something like the Daredevil character from Marvel Comics. Allow them to take things like Blindsense and Scent as feats. They're using a resource (feats) to cover for a weakness, so it balances out...sort of.

The point is: Is it blind as in "need a dog and a stick" or blind as in "super-hearing"?
For the first one: Perhaps give a feat, since being blind is crippling as hell, and the character will have big problems, but can be fun to roleplay.
If the character is Daredevil-blind: The best way is: Just say he's blind. Don't change anything. It's just fluff.

 

[Numion]

One of my players is suggesting he'd like to run a blind PC. I'm tempted to just say no as I have no idea how to DM this, but can any of you think of a way to handle this? Does blindness appear as a flaw you can take for extra feats/skill points in any 3rd party books?

Adventuring in a party is a compromise. On one hand every player is entitled to make a character she/he likes. On the other hand, the other players can't be forced to adventure with one player making an evil or useless character.

I mean, why would the other character go on an adventure with a cripple any more than they would adventure with an evil dude? In a dangerous situation both are lethal liabilities, not to mention that a blind character is dead weight, an xp sink.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The point is: Is it blind as in "need a dog and a stick" or blind as in "super-hearing"?
For the first one: Perhaps give a feat, since being blind is crippling as hell, and the character will have big problems, but can be fun to roleplay.
If the character is Daredevil-blind: The best way is: Just say he's blind. Don't change anything. It's just fluff.

I'd agree with the first half of that post, but not the latter...

Being blind like Daredevil has real game-mechanical effects- see the Destrachian and Yrthak (both in the MM) for example.

 

[Shining Dragon]

One of the biggest drawbacks to being blind is moving around in unfamiliar areas.

Running risks slamming into walls or waist-high pointy things.

A Player wanting to play a blind character has me thinking they want the benefits but not all the drawbacks. Because all the drawbacks are not fun.