Okay, so, I had a plan to have (in my cinematic combat game) a bad guy who got the hero in single combat and then turned off the lights, using night-vision goggles to keep hitting the hero while the hero lashed out blindly.
Then I read the d20 Modern SRD, and things got interesting.
Relevent goodness:
"Blinded
The hero can't see at all, and thus everything has total concealment to him or her. The character has a 50% chance to miss in combat. Furthermore, the blinded character has an effective Dexterity of 3, along with a -4 penalty on the use of Strength-based and Dexterity-based skills. This -4 penalty also applies to Search checks and any other skill checks for which the GM deems sight to be important. The character can't make Spot checks or perform any other activity (such as reading) that requires vision. Heroes who are blind long-term (from birth or early in life) grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them (at the GM's discretion)."
"Blind-Fight
Benefit: In melee combat, every time the character misses because of concealment, the character can reroll the miss chance roll one time to see if the character actually hits.
The character takes only half the usual penalty to speed for being unable to see. Darkness and poor visibility in general reduces the character's speed to three-quarters of normal, instead of one-half."
"Uncanny Dodge 1: The Fast hero retains his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by a hidden attacker. (The hero still loses his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense if the hero is immobilized.)
Prerequisite: Evasion."
"Attack Roll Modifiers:
Attacker invisible +2(3) to melee and ranged
(3): The Defender loses any Dexterity bonus to Defense"
Okay, so help me out here. It looks like being Blind just got a WHOLE lot uglier.
So I'm Joe Paragon. I have 10 ranks in Tumble and Jump. I have a Str and Dex of 18 each. From some combination of classes, I have a Defense of 10 +6 class +4 Dex +2 Dodge (Dodge and Defensive Martial Arts) = 22, under ordinary circumstances.
Then the lights go out, and I'm fighting somebody who can see me.
First, my movement rate drops.
My Tumble modifier goes from +14 (10 ranks +4 Dex) to +2 (10 ranks -4 Dex (new Dex of 3) -4 blindness). My Jump modifier goes from +14 (10 ranks +4 Str) to +10 (10 ranks +4 Str -4 blindness).
My Defense goes from 22 to 12 (10 +6 class -4 Dex +0 Dodge). And also, opponents get a +2 to hit me if they're considered invisible. Of course, the line "opponents lose Dex to AC" is odd, but that possibly applies only to invisible attackers. While I'm blind, everyone is invisible, but that "losing Dex" is covered when my Dex drops to 3 for all intents and purposes.
Now, maybe I've trained for this. Maybe I have Uncanny Dodge I and Blind-Fighting. That would drop my movement penalty in half -- so, instead of dropping from 30 to 15, I'd drop from 30 to, say, 20 or 25. Also, I still retain my Dex bonus against my attackers (from Uncanny Dodge) but, becase the d20 Modern Blind-Fight feat says nothing about opponents getting no bonus to hit me, they still get that +2. And, no matter what I do, I still have a Dex of 3 for purposes of skill checks and saves.
Right?
Then I read the d20 Modern SRD, and things got interesting.
Relevent goodness:
"Blinded
The hero can't see at all, and thus everything has total concealment to him or her. The character has a 50% chance to miss in combat. Furthermore, the blinded character has an effective Dexterity of 3, along with a -4 penalty on the use of Strength-based and Dexterity-based skills. This -4 penalty also applies to Search checks and any other skill checks for which the GM deems sight to be important. The character can't make Spot checks or perform any other activity (such as reading) that requires vision. Heroes who are blind long-term (from birth or early in life) grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them (at the GM's discretion)."
"Blind-Fight
Benefit: In melee combat, every time the character misses because of concealment, the character can reroll the miss chance roll one time to see if the character actually hits.
The character takes only half the usual penalty to speed for being unable to see. Darkness and poor visibility in general reduces the character's speed to three-quarters of normal, instead of one-half."
"Uncanny Dodge 1: The Fast hero retains his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense regardless of being caught flat-footed or struck by a hidden attacker. (The hero still loses his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense if the hero is immobilized.)
Prerequisite: Evasion."
"Attack Roll Modifiers:
Attacker invisible +2(3) to melee and ranged
(3): The Defender loses any Dexterity bonus to Defense"
Okay, so help me out here. It looks like being Blind just got a WHOLE lot uglier.
So I'm Joe Paragon. I have 10 ranks in Tumble and Jump. I have a Str and Dex of 18 each. From some combination of classes, I have a Defense of 10 +6 class +4 Dex +2 Dodge (Dodge and Defensive Martial Arts) = 22, under ordinary circumstances.
Then the lights go out, and I'm fighting somebody who can see me.
First, my movement rate drops.
My Tumble modifier goes from +14 (10 ranks +4 Dex) to +2 (10 ranks -4 Dex (new Dex of 3) -4 blindness). My Jump modifier goes from +14 (10 ranks +4 Str) to +10 (10 ranks +4 Str -4 blindness).
My Defense goes from 22 to 12 (10 +6 class -4 Dex +0 Dodge). And also, opponents get a +2 to hit me if they're considered invisible. Of course, the line "opponents lose Dex to AC" is odd, but that possibly applies only to invisible attackers. While I'm blind, everyone is invisible, but that "losing Dex" is covered when my Dex drops to 3 for all intents and purposes.
Now, maybe I've trained for this. Maybe I have Uncanny Dodge I and Blind-Fighting. That would drop my movement penalty in half -- so, instead of dropping from 30 to 15, I'd drop from 30 to, say, 20 or 25. Also, I still retain my Dex bonus against my attackers (from Uncanny Dodge) but, becase the d20 Modern Blind-Fight feat says nothing about opponents getting no bonus to hit me, they still get that +2. And, no matter what I do, I still have a Dex of 3 for purposes of skill checks and saves.
Right?
