Playing a blind character...

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Excellent post by Patryn. I'd suggest splitting up #4, though, into

4a. Half-speed Movement.
4b. Cannot take 5ft-steps.

Note that Blind-Fight will partially ameliorate 4a, but not 4b.

Excellent point. For the record, Infiniti is talking about these rules:

Take 5-Foot Step
You can move 5 feet in any round when you don’t perform any other kind of movement. Taking this 5-foot step never provokes an attack of opportunity. You can’t take more than one 5-foot step in a round, and you can’t take a 5-foot step in the same round when you move any distance.

You can take a 5-foot step before, during, or after your other actions in the round.

You can only take a 5-foot-step if your movement isn’t hampered by difficult terrain or darkness. Any creature with a speed of 5 feet or less can’t take a 5-foot step, since moving even 5 feet requires a move action for such a slow creature.

You may not take a 5-foot step using a form of movement for which you do not have a listed speed.

Since I didn't include that originally, I'll add it back in to my analysis above.

 

[hbarsquared]

Patryn of Elvenshae to a good job of listing the drawbacks and the number of ways that some of those drawbacks could be ameliorated.

I played, at one point, a blind monk, and we had a lot of fun with it. To compensate, my DM and I decided to grant him blindsight to a distance of half of his enhanced speed. I understand that this setup isn't quite an option for a wizard, though.

I would probably say that in exchange for blindness, Blind-fight should be a bonus feat, as well as at least a +2 bonus to Spot and Listen checks. Why Spot, if your character is blind? Well, I would rule as a DM that you could use the Spot skill almost as a sixth sense for a blind character. Feeling a brief touch of wind, the slightest tremor, things like that.

The other suggestions regarding feats from other sources are good, too.

 

[ElectricDragon]

Upon reading Read Magic, it seems that this spell would allow even a blind caster to read a scroll. He would have no chance using just Spellcraft unless the scroll was in braille and he would continually have to cast the spell to re-read the scroll (even though he knows what is on it he still can't read it without the spell).

Conversely, many divination spells would enhance the blind wizard's sight to such an extent that blindness could be irrelevant: darkvision, detect magic, see invisibility, arcane sight, clairvoyance, arcane eye, etc. This is not to mention spells that the blind wizard might make up for himself for compensation.

Ciao
Dave

 

[interwyrm]

A blind bard has a certain.. homerian feel to it.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I played, at one point, a blind monk, and we had a lot of fun with it. To compensate, my DM and I decided to grant him blindsight to a distance of half of his enhanced speed. I understand that this setup isn't quite an option for a wizard, though.

Given blindsight, I'd make all my characters blind. What a huge advantage that would be. Then, I'd go spend the 150 to cure my blindness while keeping the blindsight. Suweeeeet.

ElectricDragon, you need to reread Patryn's post above. All 'activities that rely on vision . . . automatically fail.' There's no gray area in that sentence. So, pretty much all those suggestions are ultimately futile.

 

[Carlos R. Acevedo]

I have started a blind wizard. Lvl 2 so far (5e). His first spell was Comprehend languages. After that his learning improved. His second spell was Find Familiar. On his studying days he casts Comprehend Language (as a ritual) and then can read any books and material for one hour (touching the pages). His familiar can also read for him.

I keep him in the back at combat (he is a human variant and has the HEALER FEAT) where he uses healing kits very successfully and that is is main contribution to the party. His familiar (a cat) can also scout ahead for the team (bonus in stealth).

For his spells he cannot take any that uses the description of (target you can see, or area you can see). Cone Shaped spells (burning hands), touch (shocking grasp) and those emanating from himself (Thunderwave) will be his choices.