What would you do if you wanted to play a blind character?
What if someone sat down at the table and said "my character is blind" what would you do?
If they were prepared to accept the -5 to attacks?
If they were not prepared to do so?
Here is an example build: Note that only Frostwind Blade and Melee Basic attacks are negatively impacted by being Blind.
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
Berrian the Blind, level 1
Changeling, Swordmage
Swordmage Aegis: Aegis of Shielding
Background: Dragon Coast, Birth - Cursed (Bluff class skill)
FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 10.
STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 11, Con 14, Dex 10, Int 18, Wis 10, Cha 8.
AC: 20 Fort: 12 Reflex: 15 Will: 13
HP: 29 Surges: 10 Surge Value: 7
TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +10, Athletics +5, Insight +7, Bluff +7
UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics, Diplomacy, Dungeoneering, Endurance +2, Heal, History +5, Intimidate, Nature, Perception, Religion +5, Stealth, Streetwise, Thievery
FEATS
Level 1: Focused Expertise (Longsword)
POWERS
Swordmage at-will 1: Sword Burst
Swordmage at-will 1: Frostwind Blade
Swordmage encounter 1: Sword of Sigils
Swordmage daily 1: Sweeping Frostblade
ITEMS
Leather Armor, Longsword, Adventurer's Kit, Climber's Kit, Woodwind, Fine Clothing
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Sounds like fun actually although you would never gain any benefits from combat advantage as well.
I had a player who wanted to play a blind deva shaman, for flavor, that could "see" using the spirits. (Thus working around the -5 penalty.)
I thought it was a cool idea, but noted that "blind" is a condition in 4E. I told him that as long as he was willing to shoulder the burden of the "fluff" when an enemies attack blinded him, dark conditions, etc., it was fine by me.
In the long run, he decided it would be more fun to go a different direction with his character. (Too much effort/illogical effects for being "blinded" when he was already blind.)
As long as the player doesn't try to "cheat" the mechanics, there's nothing wrong with playing adventures with your eyes closed. 
[Especially if it enhances the players' fun.]
I would be less than impressed if I showed up at a LFR table at a various gameday and was in a group with a "Blind" PC. You are putting yourself and the party at a disadvantage and could be potentially setting the party up to fail.
don't get me wrong, the concept is interesting. I just think that it would be better served in a home campaign and not in LFR.
I would say, if you want to be blind, just say you're blind. That's all. It has no mechanical advantage or disadvantage. You make perception checks as normal, blinding attacks affect you the same way, etc. Just reflavor things as necessary, using hearing, touch, smell, or a "sixth sense" to cover the gaps.
Chainlink, that is one way of handling it, and a way I have thought of doing it because depending on how the DM wanted to handle it:
I would be less than impressed if I showed up at a LFR table at a various gameday and was in a group with a "Blind" PC. You are putting yourself and the party at a disadvantage and could be potentially setting the party up to fail.
Aye, this is why I'm asking for input on the idea.
Though the character above can do it's role just fine, and still effectively attack the enemy etc etc so no real disadvantage to the party.
I would say, if you want to be blind, just say you're blind. That's all. It has no mechanical advantage or disadvantage. You make perception checks as normal, blinding attacks affect you the same way, etc. Just reflavor things as necessary, using hearing, touch, smell, or a "sixth sense" to cover the gaps.
Also agree with this approach
I would be less than impressed if I showed up at a LFR table at a various gameday and was in a group with a "Blind" PC. You are putting yourself and the party at a disadvantage and could be potentially setting the party up to fail.
don't get me wrong, the concept is interesting. I just think that it would be better served in a home campaign and not in LFR.
Agreed. Also, in my experience in home games where someone wanted to play blind characters, they're usually trying to use the condition as an excuse to get some kind of special favor from the DM (e.g., free blindsense or blindsight), so I'm usually highly suspicous of anyone that does this.
Of course, I don't have any problem with someone who has a blind character that just reflavored sight into smell, hearing, etc., as mentioned above.
As I see it, there are two ways of playing a blind character:
* You are actually playing a blind character. You pick powers and abilities that do not rely on sight, but there will be situations in which your inability to see will put you at a disadvantage.
This is best suited for a home campaign, where the DM can either work the campaign around your disability or give you corresponding benefits to balance the disadvantage. This could be an interesting character, and in the right circumstances and a campaign that meshed with this concept, wouldn't be underpowered.
In LFR, however, this is not a character I would willingly play with, unless it was being run by a truly amazing player.
* You're not really playing a blind character. You describe your character as having the appearance of being blind and want to roleplay him as blind, but you're basically just reskinning sight into uber-hearing or spirits guiding you or whatnot.
I'd be a little perplexed at this, since the basic idea of, say, a blind swordsman is "Wow, how amazing is it that they can overcome that disadvantage" and you're only pretending there's a disadvantage. It would be like roleplaying that you're an unarmed fighter that can kill people with his bare hands... only you wanted to mechanically use a fullblade and just pretend you were fighting unarmed. I'm not sure I see the point.
Playing a character who claims he's blind but really isn't goes beyond the level of reflavoring I'm comfortable with, though I'm not sure my response as a DM would fall more on the roll my eyes level, or the "Well, you can make a Bluff check to make people think you're blind, but if you fail, people are going to notice that you're peeking through your bandages" level.
I played blind characters in previous editions and it was fun. Eventually I did 'buy off' the disadvantages to reflect that the character was a hero and not a normal person adventuring. I'm going to side with Chainlink in a home play situation. As for a LFR game at a convention...amazing player or not I would let the person play a blind character. I would do a quick once over the character sheet, DMG, DM empowerment rules, and take a moment to inform the player about the obvious. "You can't read anything unless it is runic script. You have no true concept of color....etc.." and I would also let the other players know too.
Hopefully everyone will have a good unique gaming experience.
And guess what I am going to do for my next LFR game.
I'm kinda hoping for an Unearthed arcana book that allows us to pick up disabilities to enhance and hurt our characters. Like the blind guy recieves certian negitives to sight based effects and the -5 penalty, but is able to get combat advantage as normal. He also gains bonuses towards hearing base effects, but suffers greatly against deafen attacks.
Eventually more feats and the like will be able to be chosen to allow the player to become stronger and overcome some of the weakness blindess gives him. I'd say a background trait...
I agree with what Brian says. There really are distinct differences with whether blind is an actual continual condition or just flavor. I have no problem with the flavor. It is valid RP for me, and a cool idea.
If you are applying the condition, you likely want to mitigate the impact. You are basically lowering your defenses by 2, potentially taking more dmg from lurkers, and lowering your attacks. You could go all-burst/blast and work around this. You could also take a familiar to mitigate targeting issues. But, in the end, you would be weaker than a comparable PC. You would not want to be so weak that you hurt the table. Blind swordsman would likely hurt the fun of the table if you lack a way to gain blindsight or similar consistently.
A way of potentially flavoring it is that you deliberately take powers that:
Cause you to grant CA to opponents - normally your senses compensate, but some powers leave you unbalanced.
Be unable to take opportunity attacks or be unable to threaten - powers that daze the user, invoker works well here.
Have burst/blast powers that wouldn't care if you're blind or not