Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Whisper_Swiftblade 04-18-06, 05:39 PM	I don't know if there is info for this kind of thing but I would be happy to get some ideas on roleplaying as well as stuff like his lisin check going up to make up for his lack of sight
TheChilliGod 04-18-06, 06:02 PM	The only thing that will probably allow any character to start off blind, RAW, are flaws, covered in This (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm#flawDescriptions) part of the SRD. I know that being blind isn't one of the flaws in that list, but that doesn't stop you going to your DM, and asking him to look up these rules so he can help you with a blind character. Note that you get a free feat for each flaw you take. I reckon it's best to either take Blind-Fight or Skill Focus (Listen) as that free feat, if you want to make up for being blinded. As for roleplaying, get yourself a quarterstaff, and buy a pet guide dog (I'm blasted serious about this, no blind man walks around a dungeon not knowing that there's a rock ahead that can trip him up). You can, if you want, demand respect and appropriate care for your condition from your peers, or you can be stoic and ask the party to be treated as if you were not blind. If you're a wizard, consider going diviner, going for the "Blind Seer" archetype. "I may not see in front of my eyes, but I can see through the eyes of the entire world/ the gods," sorta thing.
blackjackg 04-18-06, 09:36 PM	This is a trait I created for blind characters (the idea of traits is that they are self-balancing, unlike flaws). I think it's balanced, but it hasn't been playtested. And you'd definitely want to talk it over with your DM. Blindness Positive: Bonus Feat: Blind-Fight +4 Bonus to Listen Checks Extraordinary Luck: The character may reroll one die each day, as if he had access to the Luck domain. If the character DOES have access to the Luck domain, the character still may only reroll one die per day. Negative: Automatically fails Decipher Script, Forgery, and Spot checks. The character can not gain any ranks in these skills as long as he is blind. -2 Penalty to Appraise, Climb*, Craft, Disable Device, Disguise, Hide, Move Silently*, Open Lock, Search, Spellcraft, Tumble* and Use Rope checks. These skills are always considered cross-class as long as the character is blind. *Monks and characters with Wisdom 15 or more do not suffer penalties to these skills. A blind Wizard requires special spellbooks and scrolls. Material costs double. Naturally, finding specially prepared spells is rare at best, so there are very few blind wizards. Aside from the above, the character is considered blinded (PHB p. 305). Note: This trait requires that the character is physically blinded, such that sight can not be restored by the Remove Blindness spell. A Regenerate or Wish spell would be required to restore the character's sight. As such, the trait may be inappropriate in high-level or high-magic campaigns. If a Blind character's sight is restored, he loses the extraordinary luck benefit, as well as the skill penalties. As far as roleplaying goes, a blind character isn't well-suited to skill-based classes (like Rogues), ranged spellcasters, career warriors, or wizards (for obvious reasons). The only classes I'd recommend for blind characters are druids, clerics or monks. Most of TheChilliGod's suggestions are absolutely correct. Get a staff. Seeing eye dogs wouldn't exist in most medieval worlds, but of course that is ultimately up to the DM. A druid's animal companion might work. Other than that, just be smart. Most of playing a blind character is roleplaying.
tafkamhokie 04-18-06, 10:07 PM	It is slightly cheesy and works around the rules instead of with them, but run a grimlock as a PC. Say your Grimlock lair was raided by adventurers years ago and the paladin (or cleric or whatever) in the group could not bear to slaughter a child, so you were raised in the temple of XYZ. So you have the blindness and blindsight of a Grimlock with the social graces of a human. Two monstrous humanoid levels and a +2 LA are not too awful bad for a ranger or barbarian. Does not work very well for a wizard, sorcerer, or cleric, though.
Dragoncat 04-18-06, 10:35 PM	A blind Wizard requires special spellbooks and scrolls. Material costs double. Naturally, finding specially prepared spells is rare at best, so there are very few blind wizards. This is not actually necessary. In Complete Arcane, they detail various ways of constructing spellbooks, one of which uses touch, be it carvings, Braille, or any other form. This requires a successful Search check and adds a bit to the wizard's standard time to prepare spells, but the spell"books" are otherwise unaffected. It is also quite handy, should a normal wizard find himself preparing spells in complete darkness. For reading scrolls, use of the familiar is encouraged. Scry on familiar might work at later levels, but low level, blinded wizards might have to have their familiars read to them. Cute image, that.
grunty123 04-18-06, 11:03 PM	Kay honestly a blind PC IS almost any DM's worst nightmare, as long as you don't reply to any "You see"s with a "NO I DON"T" More than a couple times you should be fine. I Belive That blackjackg has a perfect Idea TAKE IT I do doubt any DM will take a blind PC otherwise. WHAT CLASS ARE YOU PLAYING/// dam caps lock.
Kazeofwinds 04-18-06, 11:40 PM	There's a feat the grants the PC 5' Blindsense with blind-fighting as a prerequisite, you could look into that, I forget what book its from. But I think mostly, you need to work out the mechanics of this with your DM.
Solidcobra 04-19-06, 04:37 AM	I suggest Embrace the Wild, a spell in Complete Divine. Lv.2 spell, lasts 10 minutes per caster level. gives you lots of good things. Like bonus to spot. Listen. And, oh, blindsight 120ft? I suggest extending it.
tdsprouse 04-19-06, 08:52 AM	If you go Cleric, there is a 3rd or 4th lvl spel call See No Evil from Book of Hallowed might that gives you a Wisdom bump as long as you dont See anything Evil. i used it with a blindfold that gave blindsense from one of the sourcebooks, cant remember wich one. might have been arms and equipment. it was an oldfer one, i had to replicate the item with new costs from the DMG
Whisper_Swiftblade 04-19-06, 05:06 PM	Kay honestly a blind PC IS almost any DM's worst nightmare, as long as you don't reply to any "You see"s with a "NO I DON"T" More than a couple times you should be fine. I Belive That blackjackg has a perfect Idea TAKE IT I do doubt any DM will take a blind PC otherwise. WHAT CLASS ARE YOU PLAYING/// dam caps lock. a druid
OamuTheMonk 04-20-06, 02:45 PM	Here are some suggestions I gave to another poster who proposed a similar question (how to create a Zatochi/Blind Swordsman class). Some of them may be relevent to your concept...you may as well get some use out of my response, since the OP on that other thread never looked at it. There are a variety of feats in complete adventurer that help in building a blind warrior-type character, many of which are available as fighter bonus feats. Scouts also get access to them as bonus feats, as well as vital class features for a blind swordsman (like uncanny dodge, which lets you not be flat-footed all the time, per the blindness rules). The two feats I can think of offhand are hear the unseen and tactile trapsmith, both of which sprout from the Blind-fight feat tree. Scouts also get fast movement, which helps with a blind character's reduced land speed (half, I think, as per the blindness rules). Give the character Flaw: Sightless (you were born blind), Flaw: Shaky (bad at ranged attacks, I forget the penalty). Make him human (for the bonus feat), and alternate levels of Scout with levels of Fighter. You will begin at first level with three or four feats. Spend one on Blind-fight, one on Able Learner (from Races of Destiny, so you can use those skill points wherever), and one on Hear the unseen. See if you can use weapon proficiency groups from unearthed arcana, so you don't need to spend a feat to wield a bastard sword. Concentrate on feats that aid mobility (Dash), Sword wielding (Weapon Focus/Specialization), and Listening (Alertness/ Skill Focus: listen). You need Skill ranks, so don't skimp on INT. Do not be tempted to simply give the character Blindsense, Blindsight or some other munchy slapdash solution. This character will only be interesting if you use the RAW to do it. Being a blind warrior can be done, and done well, but it should not be thrown in as an afterthought, simply devised to make the character immune to gaze attacks, and offering no mechanical penalties.
FeceMan 04-21-06, 11:42 AM	This is not actually necessary. In Complete Arcane, they detail various ways of constructing spellbooks, one of which uses touch, be it carvings, Braille, or any other form. This requires a successful Search check and adds a bit to the wizard's standard time to prepare spells, but the spell"books" are otherwise unaffected. It is also quite handy, should a normal wizard find himself preparing spells in complete darkness. For reading scrolls, use of the familiar is encouraged. Scry on familiar might work at later levels, but low level, blinded wizards might have to have their familiars read to them. Cute image, that. I actually had an idea similar to this--a blind geometer who used abstract shapes and ink mixed with sand in his spellbook.
Bulletproof_Condom 04-21-06, 12:10 PM	What is the appeal of blind PCs? These threads come up a lot. What's the deal? In a world with spells like remove blindness and regenerate, why would you want to play a deliberately weakened hero? It's almost an oxymoron. You wouldn't wanna play a fighter who's missing an arm or a wizard who's autistic. Don't most people prefer their heroes to have a full set of working parts? Nobody seems to want to play a deaf character or a double amputee character, so what's so cool about being blind? :sigh: The Blindsight feat was in either Sword & Fist or Masters of the Wild. I forget.
danielinthewolvesden 04-22-06, 02:25 PM	What is the appeal of blind PCs? These threads come up a lot. What's the deal? In a world with spells like remove blindness and regenerate, why would you want to play a deliberately weakened hero? It's almost an oxymoron. You wouldn't wanna play a fighter who's missing an arm or a wizard who's autistic. Don't most people prefer their heroes to have a full set of working parts? Nobody seems to want to play a deaf character or a double amputee character, so what's so cool about being blind? :sigh: . :cheer: :w00t: :clap: :bow: :ayyyy!: Folks watch too much late nite films with the Blind Samurai, that's why. :P
Reighnhell 04-22-06, 03:12 PM	In fantasy, Blindness is the coolest infirmity, followed closely by missing an eye or missing a hand. Some players think there is a certain appeal to playing someone who has turned a weakness into a strength. And running around kicking the tar out of bad guy's blindfolded is pretty neat too. Realistic? Not very. But your D&D character is a hero in a fantasy story. It's ok for them to be larger than life.
Father Dale 04-22-06, 03:14 PM	I don't understand the appeal either. And the game mechanics are brutal for blind PCs (as it probably should be). Always must move at half speed. Big -4 penalty to Search checks and most Str and Dex based checks. Always denied your dexterity. Thus, your fodder for rogues. Cannot use any targeted spells unless touching the target. Some of these can be removed or lessened through Blind fight, Blindsense or Blindsight. If you can get blindsight and blind fight, you will cover most of the bases however.
Bulletproof_Condom 04-22-06, 09:13 PM	In fantasy, Blindness is the coolest infirmity, followed closely by missing an eye or missing a hand.I disagree. To me, a stump knife is way cooler than a 50% miss chance against everything.
TonyStark 04-23-06, 04:13 AM	tere are a few feats that can help out a blind character alot now a days. there is earth sense (just dont jump/fly alot :behold: ) i also think i remember a feat that allows you to make listen checks instead of spot checks - but forgot the name - it's 4:11am now, not thinkin so straight. with the 2 flaws allowed from UA, you can pickup blind fighting and say earthsense (races of stone) and not tap into your normal feats yet.
babysamurai 04-24-06, 07:55 AM	I also agree that it's a nightmare for a DM. Especially if it's solo campaign - there go any of your cool visual descriptions. The whole campaign would be: you hear this, you smell that, you...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. And even worse in a party campaign. You would have to pull the player who is playing "blind-boy" into another room every second to give him non-visual desrcriptions, while giving all-inclusive (all senses) descriptions to the rest of the party. It's a logistical nightmare.
Wargamer 04-24-06, 08:21 AM	Now, I have to ask the question; are you roleplaying a blind character, or a blind hero? A blind Hero is basically someone like Zatoichi; a character who, despite being blind, can slaughter an entire room full of soldiers, can outfight a veteran Ronin, can tell which way up a dice lands by listening to it, and other-such feats of ability. Another example of a blind Hero is DareDevil; someone who can "see" by means of echoes, in effect, giving them sonar. If you're playing a Blind Hero, I'd simply say that they cannot perform any "sight" action that relies 2D perception (such as reading words on a page), but can still to 3D visual perception (such as reading words carved into stone). They can either "see" the world by unusual means (eg: Sonar), or just have a paternatural ability to "know" where things are. Not sure how best to RP a blind Character... a long stick, and some sort of animal (or humanoid) companion to see for them seems wise.
Rojar 04-24-06, 11:22 AM	As a DM who is running a long term campaign, and who has a player playing a blind monk... I would advise against taking that disability... if you have to be disabled... I mean, have a peg leg or a hook hand or something. It can be a NIGHTMARE to DM and a pain in the behind for the other players of the group for a PC to be blind - especially at lower levels. It often requires that the other players do alot more work, the DM to do alot more planning... especially coming up with alternate descriptions of like, EVERYTHING. Combat can be rough for a DM to judge in places unless you are a very very good player that doesn't let OOC knowledge affect your actions... I had to pretty much set up a PLAYER screen for the player of the blind monk so he wouldn't like, try to move his mini towards enemies he shouldn't have known were there. Plus, every round it's like, "make a listen check to find out which direction your opponents are" "Make a pinpoint check to be able to attack"... and this is all with blind fighting and a nearly superhuman Wisdom. At some point I'm going to just be giving him a headband of blind-sight I think because it's gotten very tiresome to deal with. On a game universe note too... unless it's a low magic world or the character has had his eyes like, physically removed, an adventuring character can probably have his eyesight restored by a party cleric as early as the first time you can get your hands on the 375gp it takes to get the remove blindness/deafness scroll. Even if he/she's not high enough level to cast the spell normally, a relatively low spellcraft check would allow it to be cast properly from the scroll... Any good cleric in the party would almost certainly try to help their friend to regain his sight as soon as possible. To sum up: Blind PCs, while they sound cool, are in reality difficult in many ways - so many I can't even think of them all right now. It's unrealistic (As far as dnd realism...) to assume that an adventurer would remain blind past 2nd or 3rd level unless the eyes are physically missing or something in his background says that he has to remain blind permanently.... religious reason, etc.. I dunno. Believe me, if I could go back and forbid the blind monk in my game, I would. So, give the party and DM a break and just lose a leg or arm or something. It'll make them happy!
Khelvaster 04-24-06, 05:47 PM	Be a blind druid. Once you learn how to wildshape, wildshape yourself into a gorilla 24/7. Same size, better physical stats, and you can see since you are in a different body.
OamuTheMonk 04-24-06, 06:46 PM	It's unrealistic (As far as dnd realism...) to assume that an adventurer would remain blind past 2nd or 3rd level unless the eyes are physically missing or something in his background says that he has to remain blind permanently.... If a creature is born blind, no magic can help them (except possibly Wish or Miracle)--Remove Blindness, Regenerate and Heal will not work.
BadCatMan 04-24-06, 10:34 PM	Do nothing. Blind heroes in fantasy somehow function perfectly well despite their blindness. They fight just as good, they move just as well and just as fast, they don't bump into walls. Blind heroes have all the abilities of a sighted hero, and no real downside. Zatoichi (although I've yet to see any of those movies), Daredevil, Montolio (Drizzt's mentor), and any other blind hero you care to name would be statted just as well as a sighted hero. So do nothing, and just claim to be blind, and act as if sighted. It saves messing around with bonus feats and penalties and what have you, and trying to balance it all. Choose feats such as Blind-Fight, max out Listen, and take the Illiterate trait to help the image if you like.
Rojar 04-24-06, 10:43 PM	Huh. I had never read that. I suppose at that point it could be a PC call to claim they don't actually HAVE eyes or something.... however, if the eyes are just malformed, damaged, etc... then remove blindness should work just fine... at least as far as the rules as written go - in the spell description. If a creature is born blind, no magic can help them (except possibly Wish or Miracle)--Remove Blindness, Regenerate and Heal will not work.