Hey all. it's going to be my first time behind the screen fairly soon, and my players are making their characters. One of them wants to play a blind character. We've been workshopping a few things. They get Blindsight up to 15 ft and advantage on any listening or smell-based perception check. But also disadvantage to anything that would be classified as a ranged skill or dodge. Plus enemies get advantage on them for ranged attacks and AoE. As this is my first time running a game and this has never come up while I was a player, I am unsure if I am going about this right. Any advice to people who have done this?
Do they really want to play a blind person, or a blind superhero? Because giving them blindsight, even with a short 15' range, is basically Daredevil shenanigans.
Do they really want to play a blind person, or a blind superhero? Because giving them blindsight, even with a short 15' range, is basically Daredevil shenanigans.
I'd think that if you are playing a dual-weilding blind Ranger, Daredevil is the goal. If it gets too OP, the player is cool with me adjusting things to bring it more into balance
If all he wants is to play a blind character the character permanently has the "blinded" condition. Done.
It definitely sounds like Daredevil to me. I think there is going to be some trial and error in getting the character to work properly and not be over or under powered. As long as the player is good with adjusting as needed it could be fun. Reminds me of Zatoichi the blind swordsman.
You might want to consider blindsense instead of or in addition to (with a longer range) blindsight. This would let them tell where enemies are to attack them, but would mean that they still have disadvantage for not being able to see the target.
If he wants to play a blind character I think I would be cool and just let him. I would say that he can 'see' with his ears/heightened other senses and so mechanically everything remains the same, but for roleplay purposes he describes it differently. Like the vibrations of footsteps bouncing off walls creating a map in his mind etc.
He would be immune to being 'blinded' as a condition but if he where ever to become 'deaf' it would be very difficult for him indeed, so you can...once in a while...use that spell on him but even then I would say he can feel the vibrations of movement through the floor so he wouldn't, automatically at least, become useless.
If he wants to be a cool blind guy let him, if he wants some kind of mechanical advantage from that...then sit down and work out that the advantage he is after will mean the need for a disadvantage to balance it out.
I don't think 15' of blindsight leads to an overpowered character. As you point out, they're still blind to ranged attacks. Also, I'm not sure how blindsight interacts with incorporeal creatures (ghosts, etc.), but they might be blind as to those as well.
I'd also say that becoming deaf kills the blindsight.
I can't imagine the player wants to *play* a blind character.... also the rest of the party will hate them because then they are an Escort Quest, not a contributing member. So I agree, this guy wants to play Daredevil. Positives he's not wanting to play the "blind archer" trope.
My first comment is that the player and you need to go into this with both eyes open. There is precidence for this in the rules. If you search for Curse-of-Strahd-Extended-Dark-Gifts page 2 has the 1st Dark Gift.
The character’s eyes melt away, leaving empty sockets. He or she has disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks, but gains blindsight out to a range of 60 feet. The character is blind beyond this distance.
If the character really wants to be Daredevil then, sure give him Echolocation. The bat can't use its blindsight while deafened. from the Monster: Bat.
I'd worry about having all vision based Perception auto fail and Adv on hearing and/or smell later... they are pretty minor.
1st Issue: I would remind the player that he is not going to be a total description of everything from his perspective every time, just when it might be personally important. Keep in mind the character can't see color or anything else and so will be IDing things on small, touch, hearing, taste, and.... some amount of "because you're a PC".
2nd Issue: 15 feet is VERY small. Like he wouldn't even know where most rooms end, I think the 60' is much more reasonable.
3rd Issue: The player needs to know that outside their Blindsense they are actually *blind*. So ranged attacks will all be coming in at Advantage from that distance... the only positive is spells aren't really effected by this. Also, the Silence spell will totally screw them, and that has to be OK, but you shouldn't deploy it all the time. The character isn't necessarily "immune" to the blinded condition they are always blind, just have blindsense.... but glaze attacks won't work. I don't think this is a huge "OP" issue. Because they are pretty rare and as the GM you can regulate them. Introduce an gaze monster to make the character feel powerful if you want, but don't make them common.
4th Issue: Remember to have fun with it, and the fact that this character has no idea what color, light, dark, etc... are. He might be able to "read writing" by sensing the script on the page, but maybe throw a color puzzle at the party and have everyone amused at the character's happlessness.
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Hey all. it's going to be my first time behind the screen fairly soon, and my players are making their characters. One of them wants to play a blind character. We've been workshopping a few things. They get Blindsight up to 15 ft and advantage on any listening or smell-based perception check. But also disadvantage to anything that would be classified as a ranged skill or dodge. Plus enemies get advantage on them for ranged attacks and AoE. As this is my first time running a game and this has never come up while I was a player, I am unsure if I am going about this right. Any advice to people who have done this?
Do they really want to play a blind person, or a blind superhero? Because giving them blindsight, even with a short 15' range, is basically Daredevil shenanigans.
Why don’t you use the Lingering Injuries Table: Treat it as having no eyes. From the DMG.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/dmg/dungeon-masters-workshop#Injuries
Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
Haven’t used this account in forever. Still a big fan of crawling claws.
I'd think that if you are playing a dual-weilding blind Ranger, Daredevil is the goal. If it gets too OP, the player is cool with me adjusting things to bring it more into balance
If all he wants is to play a blind character the character permanently has the "blinded" condition. Done.
It definitely sounds like Daredevil to me. I think there is going to be some trial and error in getting the character to work properly and not be over or under powered. As long as the player is good with adjusting as needed it could be fun. Reminds me of Zatoichi the blind swordsman.
You might want to consider blindsense instead of or in addition to (with a longer range) blindsight. This would let them tell where enemies are to attack them, but would mean that they still have disadvantage for not being able to see the target.
If he wants to play a blind character I think I would be cool and just let him. I would say that he can 'see' with his ears/heightened other senses and so mechanically everything remains the same, but for roleplay purposes he describes it differently. Like the vibrations of footsteps bouncing off walls creating a map in his mind etc.
He would be immune to being 'blinded' as a condition but if he where ever to become 'deaf' it would be very difficult for him indeed, so you can...once in a while...use that spell on him but even then I would say he can feel the vibrations of movement through the floor so he wouldn't, automatically at least, become useless.
If he wants to be a cool blind guy let him, if he wants some kind of mechanical advantage from that...then sit down and work out that the advantage he is after will mean the need for a disadvantage to balance it out.
I don't think 15' of blindsight leads to an overpowered character. As you point out, they're still blind to ranged attacks. Also, I'm not sure how blindsight interacts with incorporeal creatures (ghosts, etc.), but they might be blind as to those as well.
I'd also say that becoming deaf kills the blindsight.
I can't imagine the player wants to *play* a blind character.... also the rest of the party will hate them because then they are an Escort Quest, not a contributing member.
So I agree, this guy wants to play Daredevil. Positives he's not wanting to play the "blind archer" trope.
My first comment is that the player and you need to go into this with both eyes open.
There is precidence for this in the rules. If you search for Curse-of-Strahd-Extended-Dark-Gifts page 2 has the 1st Dark Gift.
The character’s eyes melt away, leaving empty sockets. He or she has disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks, but gains blindsight out to a range of 60 feet. The character is blind beyond this distance.
If the character really wants to be Daredevil then, sure give him
Echolocation. The bat can't use its blindsight while deafened.
from the Monster: Bat.
I'd worry about having all vision based Perception auto fail and Adv on hearing and/or smell later... they are pretty minor.
1st Issue:
I would remind the player that he is not going to be a total description of everything from his perspective every time, just when it might be personally important. Keep in mind the character can't see color or anything else and so will be IDing things on small, touch, hearing, taste, and.... some amount of "because you're a PC".
2nd Issue:
15 feet is VERY small. Like he wouldn't even know where most rooms end, I think the 60' is much more reasonable.
3rd Issue:
The player needs to know that outside their Blindsense they are actually *blind*. So ranged attacks will all be coming in at Advantage from that distance... the only positive is spells aren't really effected by this. Also, the Silence spell will totally screw them, and that has to be OK, but you shouldn't deploy it all the time.
The character isn't necessarily "immune" to the blinded condition they are always blind, just have blindsense.... but glaze attacks won't work. I don't think this is a huge "OP" issue. Because they are pretty rare and as the GM you can regulate them. Introduce an gaze monster to make the character feel powerful if you want, but don't make them common.
4th Issue:
Remember to have fun with it, and the fact that this character has no idea what color, light, dark, etc... are. He might be able to "read writing" by sensing the script on the page, but maybe throw a color puzzle at the party and have everyone amused at the character's happlessness.