I lost an eye! (or, how to handle one-eyed characters in d20) CRUNCH

[Daniel D. Fox]

So, how to handle it?

A player lost his eye to a notorious criminal lord for renegging on a contract some years ago. However, we've never used game mechanics to define what exactly happens when you lose an eye.

Obviously, there are real-life drawbacks (such as loss of depth perception). Are there any alternative rules out there on how to handle the loss of an eye in d20, or any recommendations for rules to reflect the loss of an important organ?

Cheers~

 

[joshjurg]

It sounds like these guys are decently high level - If this happened to me, I would seek out a magical eye patch or some facial accouterments with true seeing or somesuch on it to offset the penalty.

Our group would probably agree on the afflicted character having -2 on the following things : to hit (or just to hit with ranged attacks), spot & search.

 

[blargney the second]

The Cyclops mini from the most recent set gives something: enemies who flank gain +3 attack, rather than +2. I'd probably make weapon range increments go the same route.

 

[Felnar]

if its a character background thing, it probably shouldnt give penalties

 

[Three_Haligonians]

You might want to toss in a penalty (any of the above sounds good) for a little while but as the character becomes accustomed to the new condition, lessen it or get rid of it completely. Chances are, living with such an ailment - a person will figure out how to handle and account for the handicap.

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Shin Okada]

Eye of Gruumsh (Prestige Class for Orcs) does not get any penalty from having only 1 eye. It could be a part of class's special ability but there is no penalty rule for one-eyed character from the beginning. I think that is the default rule for current edition. For another example, there is an invocation which detach one of a warlock's eye from him and use it as a kind of scouting device. While having only one eye, the warlock does not get any sight-related penalty.

Besides, with small fee of 7x13x10=910gp, you can beg a cleric to cast you Regenerate spell and get your lost eye back.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

Heh, we don't have spellcasters in our game who're willing to cast spells for coin; it's a low magic game.

I may look at the flank option, but casting needs to be tedious as well with distance judgement on his part. Either way, thanks for all of the suggestions!

 

[Gloombunny]

An eyepatch can make a character look cool. Don't punish your PCs for looking cool.

Besides, depth perception is based on a number of different visual cues, and only a few of them require two eyes. And the farther away something is, the less valuable those two-eye cues become. So having only one eye shouldn't be a big problem for ranged attacks. The main problem would be the loss of peripheral vision on one side. A penalty to Spot checks when opposing someone's Hide check and/or that increased flanking effect would make more sense than a range penalty.

 

[Legildur]

Although it seems a bit severe, I'd have thought that -2 penalty to Spot checks, and -1 penalty to attack rolls and maybe AC (depth perception and seeing attacks coming etc) might be appropriate. But maybe there should be a bonus against 'accidently meeting gaze attacks'.

Why not have a look at flaws as a bit of a guide?

 

[XCorvis]

I'd say no mechanical penalty. It's cool backstory, not a punishment.