Blindsight and Sneak Attacks?
- Thread starter Legildur
- Start date
LuYangShih
First Post
Theoretically, yes. It depends on whether or not you would rule the Rogue can or cannot locate vital spots to target Sneak Attacks when using Blindsight. I would personally allow it, as creatures with Blindsight should be able to "see" those areas well enough to make attacks on them.
Roland Delacroix
First Post
Only when flanking. Possibly ranged if the Blindsight radius is less than 30'. You can't Hide from a creature with Blindsight.
LuYangShih
First Post
Roland Delacroix said:
Since when? Blindsight simply renders you able to see without your eyes, rendering you immune to visual effects such as Invisibility or Darkness, but it wouldn't affect Hide, in my opinion. A person with a high Hide skill is not automatically detected by a person with Blindsight, Scent, or anything else.
A high Hide skill should reflect knowledge of how to avoid all kinds of detection, so someone with that skill would know to rub dung or some other substance on themselves to cover their smell, they would know to eat snow to avoid having their breath mist, they would know to use cover and the terrain to avoid Blindsight, etc.
If anything, it would be easier to avoid a Bat than a Beholder, since all you have to do to avoid the bat is foil it's echo location, but for some reason quite a few DMs rule that those abilities automatically detect characters/creatures that are Hiding and/or Moving Silently. Creatures with such abilities have to make an opposed roll like everything else. Why would a Dragon even need those high skills in Spot or Listen if he autodetects anything that comes near him?
LuYangShih
First Post
Legildur said:
To clarify what I said earlier: A creature with Blindsight does not need to use it's eyes to "see" it's opponent. Invisibilty is an Illusion (Glamer) affect, IIRC, and is based on sight, so creatures with Blindsight "see" them normally. If both creatures are in a Darkness affect, and the Rogue in question targets the other creature, he does indeed get a Sneak Attack if the victim cannot see and thus is suffering the penalties for Blindness, including losing their Dexterity bonus to AC.
The Rogue would not be able to Sneak Attack an invisible creature unless it was otherwise denied it's Dexterity bonus to AC, though I'm sure you already knew that.
LuYangShih said:
Blindsight makes Spot and Listen checks irrelevant. Read the spell description for Blindsight in MaoF, it says this exactly.
Sonar or echo-location is a type of Blindsight used by some creatures (e.g. Desmodu). Are you suggesting that a person hiding in shadows in an otherwise empty room cannot be located by echo-location?
Hiding is essentially a non-magical form of invisibility.
LuYangShih said:
Why would a Dragon even need those high skills in Spot or Listen if he autodetects anything that comes near him?
The same reason that Mystra, the goddess of magic, has ranks in Spellcraft and Knowledge (Arcana).
If you are a greater god with magic as your portfolio, why do you need these skills? You can already cast any spell spontaneously as well as research new spells on the fly.
