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5 years ago ::
Jul 22, 2008 - 7:31PM
#41
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Date Joined:
Aug 17, 2005
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We had a blind paladin in 3.5, and it worked great. (I both played with him and DMed) Some notes:
The assumption was that he could navigate decently by sound/touch, and we said his detect evil helped. Mechanically he got a small penalty on melee attacks until he engaged (hit or was hit), then it went away. He also was denied his dex bonus (now Combat Advantage) until engaging. He couldn't make any ranged attacks at all.
We didn't use listen checks to find enemies in battle; he just knew their direction well enough to approach them. He treated invisible enemies like any other. This was a small advantage, but not overpowering.
He got a bonus on listen checks, but no spot at all. You may have to treat different perception roll differently in 4e.
The biggest factor were the little miscellaneous things. He can't find a unconscious buddy to heal, for example. He needed guidance to jump. He can't read or describe differentiate visual things things. We never ran into any gaze attacks that campaign.
The bottom line was, the blindness was a penalty for sure, but he could still fight, and still contribute as much as anyone. More importantly, he felt and played like a blind charachter. An extremely talented blind character, but we never forgot he couldn't see.
Also, it really helped the teamwork aspect. The rogue telling him where to pick up the sword on the ground in the middle of battle. Things like that.
I think a blind cleric works well. Area attack are great for this, and you can always cite a little divine guidance if you need it to make a rule work. Don't just make him "like everyone else," and don't be afraid to change the system a little. The blinded rules should be thrown out and replaced with custom rules for a blind PC. You should not be making perception rolls to find every enemy, but you also need to have some disadvantages.
I don't think the minor benefit of gaze immunity is that big of a deal; gaze monsters should know to target seeing creatures only.
Sure a playable blind character needs to have some superhuman abilities, but that is what D&D is all about. Enjoy it.
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5 years ago ::
Jul 24, 2008 - 8:29AM
#42
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Date Joined:
Jul 16, 2003
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You may have to treat different perception roll differently in 4e.
If I was the DM, this is the primary mechanical aspect I would use. The Perception skill includes both hearing and sight, and the first time I read the status effects of Blinded and Deafened, I had to wonder why the -10 Perception penalty didn't apply only to the one form of Perception that was being hindered.
In my opinion, Blinded should only penalize sight-based perceptions, and Deafened should only penalize hearing-based perceptions. Likewise, I would not compensate a blind character with bonus feat(s) that improved all forms of perception.
The common fantasy-aspect of being blinded is to compensate with a greater degree of perception using your other senses. I.E. something like suffer a -10 penalty on all sight-based perception checks but gain a +X (I'd probably only go up to a +5) bonus to hearing, tactile, and/or olfactory (maybe just pick one of these) perception checks.
In summary, I'd impose all the normal out-of combat consequences of not being able to see (can't read, etc.), allow them to move around with no significant penalty (divine guidance), and grant a kind of "combat sight" that allowed them to take part in combat situations as if they were sighted.
As for Gaze attacks and 'magic' attacks that would normally inflict the blinded condition, I'd just give the character a small bonus to their defense against such an attack, since I'd have their special "combat sight" be affected by such attacks instead of their 'normal' sight. Although, I'd probably still allow them to be immune to any 'physical' attack that inflicted the Blinded condition.
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5 years ago ::
Jul 24, 2008 - 10:14AM
#43
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Date Joined:
Jun 17, 2008
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I like the idea - always have. So, more power to ya. I am going to assume you are not min/maxing the issue, so lets leave those guys out of it. Thus my thoughts are as follows:
Make it purely RP and not mechanical. There are lots of ways to do this. You are already going to use the AoEs (areao of effect) with IFF (identify friend foe) so that is good (your RP decision lead to a character decision without penalty or bonus).
I recommend maybe a pet. Like a dog, "Where is he boy?" (free action), "Whoof" (free action) - drop your AoE. Or, The dog growls (perception check), "whats wrong boy?" Make the pet a part of your character, like another player might describe his character as really fat. Your HP total actually represents both you and your dog, your skills often involve the two of you etc, etc. So, when you get a blinded effect on you it is in fact the dog that is blinded and you suffer the normal effects that everyone else does, "guess we're in the same boat now, boy."
As your second ritual choose TFD (tensor floating disk) (again RP leads to character decision). Ride around on it whenever adventuring. This avoids the tripping on a sidewalk issues. The TFD can only move 5 so you are taking a move penalty of 1 (which you are fine with as you said so - perfect).
Design your own first level Ritual - Raise Ink. Say you trained yourself to read by feel. Pay for this cheap ritual with starting gold (First level rituals are cheap enough you could scrimp one if you tried).
Then let the DM hit you with surprises when he feels like it would be appropriate. You will get into situations where you are in trouble. From your posts I think you are okay with that. You will be immune to gaze attacks. Okay, not a big deal unless the DM wants to throw some at you for the fun of using this concept (I would).
Finally, RP the heck out of it. When you make a perception check, "did you hear that, a weapon is being drawn to our left?" When you pick somehting up, "Fetch boy!" Someone has a low charisma, "What is that aweful smell?" etc. . .
I think this way, everyone can feel that your character is truely blind, but also in 4e style no one is truely a gimp.
Oh, yeah . . . definitely take a thin staff. Tap, tap, tap, tap.
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