(Proposal) Blind from Birth Template
Rae ArdGaoth
Explorer
Well don't jinx it! You speak too soon, my friend. Unless you see invisible posts that evade my eye, no judges have said anything about my template either... ::knocks on wood::
nimisgod
LEW Judge
Rae ArdGaoth said:
I think you could clarify the last sentence a little more. I'm assuming of course that Extraordinary senses don't double scent, tremorsense, and blindsight abilities that were not granted by the template, such as if someone decided to make a Blind from Birth Grimlock (w/c is stupid, bec. all Grimlocks are blind but its used as a hypothetical example).
Rae ArdGaoth
Explorer
Done! Hope that's a bit clearer. I stole your grimlock example. ::grinn:: And also, I must disagree with you somewhat on your last statement. As I elucidated in the paragraph after Extraordinary Senses, the grimlock could actually improve on his scent ability and gain tremorsense with this template, whereas before, these things were impossible to get. Is it a worthy trade off, 3 feats for improved scent and a tremorsense? It's up to the player, I suppose. Or perhaps more tweaking is necessary. My reasoning behind excluding all non-template abilities from doubling is this: if the grimlock's blindsight 40' was doubled, it would make it insanely good, way too much for one feat to grant. Perhaps Extraordinary Senses could add 30' to Scent, 15' to Tremorsense, and 5' to Blindsight instead of doubling the ranges. Actually, I think that's a really good idea... I'll go do that right now.
EDIT: Done! And I also modified the text at the end of Permanent Blindness, to clarify that a bit more.
EDIT: Done! And I also modified the text at the end of Permanent Blindness, to clarify that a bit more.
Last edited:
nimisgod
LEW Judge
I think that I'm okay with the idea now. The super senses of the character is off-set by his vulnerability to range attacks.
However, how about psionic powers such as this one:
[sblock]Synesthete
Psychometabolism
Level: Psion/wilder 1, psychic warrior 1
Display: Material
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Power Points: 1
You receive one kind of sensory input when a different sense is stimulated. In particular, you can either feel light or feel sound. You can shift your stimulated sense between these two options once per round as a swift action. Your senses continue to work normally as well, unless they are impaired for some reason.
Your face must be uncovered to use this power, because it is the skin of your face that acts as the sensory receiver.
If you are feeling light by absorbing ambient light onto your skin, you have your normal visual abilities (except for darkvision), even if your eyes are closed or you are blinded. If your eyes are working normally, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus on all Spot and Search checks. While feeling light, you are immune to gaze attacks.
If you are feeling sound by absorbing sound onto your skin and your ears are working normally, the expanded audio input provides you with a +4 circumstance bonus on Listen checks.
Psionic or magical displacement effects, invisibility effects, illusions, and other similar effects confuse your synesthete senses just as they would your normal senses.
You can also use this power to see sound if you are deafened, or hear light if you are blinded, thus removing all penalties associated with either condition (though you gain no bonuses for using the power in this way if you are not deafened or blinded). [/sblock]
and what of spells like remove blindness? What happens to a formerly blind from birth character?
However, how about psionic powers such as this one:
[sblock]Synesthete
Psychometabolism
Level: Psion/wilder 1, psychic warrior 1
Display: Material
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Power Points: 1
You receive one kind of sensory input when a different sense is stimulated. In particular, you can either feel light or feel sound. You can shift your stimulated sense between these two options once per round as a swift action. Your senses continue to work normally as well, unless they are impaired for some reason.
Your face must be uncovered to use this power, because it is the skin of your face that acts as the sensory receiver.
If you are feeling light by absorbing ambient light onto your skin, you have your normal visual abilities (except for darkvision), even if your eyes are closed or you are blinded. If your eyes are working normally, you gain a +4 circumstance bonus on all Spot and Search checks. While feeling light, you are immune to gaze attacks.
If you are feeling sound by absorbing sound onto your skin and your ears are working normally, the expanded audio input provides you with a +4 circumstance bonus on Listen checks.
Psionic or magical displacement effects, invisibility effects, illusions, and other similar effects confuse your synesthete senses just as they would your normal senses.
You can also use this power to see sound if you are deafened, or hear light if you are blinded, thus removing all penalties associated with either condition (though you gain no bonuses for using the power in this way if you are not deafened or blinded). [/sblock]
and what of spells like remove blindness? What happens to a formerly blind from birth character?
Rae ArdGaoth
Explorer
Hmm... Interesting. I think that such a low-level spell with such a long duration would make this template broken. The feeling light thing... I'm going to think about it and then add a new section to the template.
Creamsteak
Explorer
If you want to have a blind character, have a blind character. Blind monster? Make a blind monster.
I don't like the idea of a template for it, or awarding any bonuses for it in general. If you think that such a disadvantage can bring out the character in your character, that's your right. But I don't think it should provide any sort of advantage outside of circumstance bonuses adjudicated by a DM.
I don't like the idea of a template for it, or awarding any bonuses for it in general. If you think that such a disadvantage can bring out the character in your character, that's your right. But I don't think it should provide any sort of advantage outside of circumstance bonuses adjudicated by a DM.
Rae ArdGaoth
Explorer
Well, under normal circumstances, I would do just that. I'd talk to my DM about playing a blind character, we'd decide on what his penalties would be, and we'd decide on what his bonuses would be, we'd discuss whether he could improve or not, and then we'd play him. That's what I'm doing here, with this proposal. In LEW, every adventure this character goes on is likely to have a different DM, so I decided it would be better to make the whole thing universal and get input from many people. I'm not trying to make a god-character, I have tried to make it balanced, and I think that, for the most part, I have achieved something close. While this proposal is a template, my real motive behind the proposal is to make my character. A template seemed the best way to do it. The new section I'm adding might explain a bit more about it. That's all, I guess.Creamsteak said:
EDIT: Okay, I added the Healing the Blindness section and removed tremorsense (it seemed redundant). I also weakened the starting abilities and made the feat progression completely linear. I believe this to be pretty well thought out and any problems with it are probably only typoes, or perhaps times and durations. Thoughts and comments welcome, of course.
EDIT2: Oh yeah, and I just realized something, Nimisgod. A grimlock couldn't actually take this template because one of the requirements is that it be...
A grimlock does not have eyes, and therefore couldn't have the template.
Last edited:
Rae ArdGaoth
Explorer
Alright, I've made another fix. I had used a grimlock in an example scenario, but as I said in my previous post, a grimlock can't have the template. I changed it to a bugbear. Now it is complete.
