Physical Disabilities 3.X

[Samloyal23]

What affect does a missing eye, ear, or other body part have? If you're not completely blind or deaf but just partially, what penalties do you suffer? Are there any existing feats or class abilities that let you cripple someone by targeting a specific organ like the eye?

 

[Jon_Dahl]

DMG page 27 "Damage to specific areas" covers this pretty well IMO.
On a related sidenote: I've always found it interesting how initiative and hearing are so strongly connected to each other. Not that I'm complaining

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

I don't have any official sources that answer your question, but I think I as a DM would assign a -2 penalty to Spot, Search and Listen checks to the appropriate sense.

in a universe that possesses the Regeneration spell, I don't see such a problem coming up often, or at least for very long.

EDIT: Thanks [MENTION=89822]Jon_Dahl[/MENTION], I don't know how I never saw that section before.

 

[frankthedm]

in a universe that possesses the Regeneration spell, I don't see such a problem coming up often, or at least for very long.

It is a fairly high level spell, as hard to cast as Resurrection, if less costly. It is worth 910 GP in NPC spellcasting costs, assuming access to a 13 level Cleric.

 

[Ashtagon]

It also depends on the extent of the injury.

If one eye is completely destroyed, at a minimum you should consider doubling all range penalties. Weak sight could also introduce penalties to Spot and Search. Total blindness is already in the rules. Weak vision can be counted as everything and everyone having partial concealment.

Partial hearing should cause penalties to Listen and initiative checks. Deafness should also impede spell-casting as in RAW.

 

[Samloyal23]

I'm thinking a person who has lost an eye or had one of his eardrums popped is going to be less able to notice dangers and less able to react to them because of he is only getting partial information from his senses, so an initiative penalty is realistic. Thoughts?

 

[Ashtagon]

I'm thinking a person who has lost an eye or had one of his eardrums popped is going to be less able to notice dangers and less able to react to them because of he is only getting partial information from his senses, so an initiative penalty is realistic. Thoughts?

It depends on the nature of the injury. If it's a case of "one eye is missing", well, we do habitually turn our heads this way and that, especially when alert. I don't see any reason for an initiative penalty in this case. If it is a case of murky vision (extreme long-sightedness/astigmatism/myopia/whatever), then it would be better represented by giving everything partial concealment.

It makes more sense for hearing though, because hearing isn't so strongly directional as vision.

 

[Vegepygmy]

What affect does a missing eye, ear, or other body part have? If you're not completely blind or deaf but just partially, what penalties do you suffer?

Unearthed Arcana has a short list of character "flaws" that do a decent job of assigning mechanical penalties to things like being "inattentive," "murky-eyed," or "unreactive." You might look there for ideas on how to adjudicate partial blindness, missing limbs, etc.

 

[Thanael]

You could also adapt the effects of the Pathfinder optional called shots system.

 

[Grogg of the North]

My party's fighter recently lost an eye. When I was trying to decide what penalties he would take I learned that human eye sight is incredibly complex, so I opted to just give him a -1 to attack and any skill checks involving sight (spot, search, and so on). I also gave him a +1 to intimidate and a magical curse. Which he hasn't figured out yet. *evil GM laughter*