Can you Cast Defensively when Blind

Hi, If a character is suddenly blinded, within a Deeper Darkness area, has an invisible foe, or otherwise can't see an opponent, can they still benefit from casting defensively, say to cast Dispel Magic on the Deeper Darkness?

Yes.

On the other hand, they are stil effectively denied dex to any folk going to melee them anyway, especially if they are canny enough to ready a combat action to be triggered by spellcasting.

By RAW and RAI (I believe), absolutely you are allowed to cast defensively. I'd even say that it seems slightly silly to refuse the option to the spellcaster tbh. Why would being blind prevent taking your actions defensively??? You might not be very effective at it, but I think this would be covered by the no DEX to AC.

Yeah pretty sure you could but of course itd suck because of lots of penalties.

Yeah pretty sure you could but of course itd suck because of lots of penalties.

Such as?

It's just a Concentration check, which takes no penalties for inability to perceive enemies.

How can you do anything defensively if you can't see what it is you're defending against. For example, you can't add a dodge bonus from using Total Defense vs a target you can't see. I'm assuming that casting defensively means your trying to avoid AOO's from opponents you can see.

Casting defensively is more about not letting down your guard in general - not making yourself a glaringly obvious target - rather than defending yourself against a specific opponent. You might not be able to dodge a specific attack when blinded, but you can still weave about, meaning an opponent has to actually aim an attack, rather than just hit the guy who looks like he's conducting n orchestra in the middle of a battlefield.

Casting defensively is just an expression for keeping yur concentration on 2 things at once. If you try to target a creature you can't see you will likely find it impossible, but its not an issue if you instead target a spell.

Basically, there is often penalties to casting blind, but not on the step of casting defensively

How can you do anything defensively if you can't see what it is you're defending against. For example, you can't add a dodge bonus from using Total Defense vs a target you can't see. I'm assuming that casting defensively means your trying to avoid AOO's from opponents you can see.

The penalty for being blind is already taken into account by the fact that you are suffering the standard blind penalties, i.e. you have no dex bonus to AC against anyone who's threathening you. You also have a major problem when it comes to targeting anyone with a spell besides yourself.

Thanks for your answers. Casting defensively successfully, the wizard is able to dispel the Darkness spell (in a dimly lit room) and eliminate the blindness issue. Oh, it's a troop of Babau Demons that have teleported in to flanking positions. Now the Oracle will cast Sunlight to counteract any future Darkness spells and so on...