We had quite a disagreement tonight on what being blinded , as per the blind spell actually means. So if someone can explain what exactly you can and cannot do in combat while blinded I would be most appreciated. Can you attack , can you move can you percieve ect?
BlindedThe creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) against the blinded character. Blind creatures must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
Actually, that's pretty clear to me.
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I'm with Xum, they're mostly clear to me. The part where you might be confused is "targeting" a character. It would be the same as if you were conducting an encounter in total darkness. As a DM I'd give the person a perception check to listen to where opponents are. Other than that if they target the correct square they would still get a 50% miss chance, on top of the other negatives. Being blind is a very very detrimental effect and pretty much takes the character out of the fight, unless they have another way of perceiving.
The biggest hole in the blindness (and this applies to deafness as well) is what do you overcome over time? Do you no longer need to make perception checks to find enemies squares? Do you get your dex to AC back? It's left pretty open ended for that portion.
Can you attack , can you move can you percieve ect?
Attack: yes, 50% miss chance. No worse than attacking an invisible opponent or fighting in darkness. Pick a square and fire/swing.
Move: yes, DC 10 Acrobatics check to move more than half speed or fall prone
Perceive: sound, touch, taste/smell perception checks as per normal if unopposed, or -4 if opposed. Sight based perception checks automatically fail.
Normal checks to hear the sound of water running in the distance. -4 to hear a rogue trying to sneak up on you. Not sure why the -4 applies to non-sight based opposed perception checks, but that's RAW.
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Normal checks to hear the sound of water running in the distance. -4 to hear a rogue trying to sneak up on you. Not sure why the -4 applies to non-sight based opposed perception checks, but that's RAW.
Most likely because stealth (sneaking) is based off of both sight and sound, and to perceive the rogue you're now only relying on one sense rather than both.
Most likely because stealth (sneaking) is based off of both sight and sound, and to perceive the rogue you're now only relying on one sense rather than both.
Makes sense.
In the above the gm said I could not 5 ft move because I was blind and that any perception to determine where my opponent was auto failed.
RAW definitely indicates you can move.
Unless the only people in the room are you and your opponents, I don't think you could distinguish between friend and foe without help. I'd allow sound-based perception rolls against all other creatures in the room to identify general locations based on movement and sounds of battle. But you couldn't necessarily tell that the person on the left is a friend and the person on the right is a foe without them helping you.
I would also not let you pinpoint that a creature is 3 squares up and 1 square to the right. At most, you'd know someone is "up that way about 15-20 feet".
In the above the gm said I could not 5 ft move because I was blind and that any perception to determine where my opponent was auto failed.We had quite a disagreement tonight on what being blinded , as per the blind spell actually means. So if someone can explain what exactly you can and cannot do in combat while blinded I would be most appreciated. Can you attack , can you move can you percieve ect?
BlindedThe creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) against the blinded character. Blind creatures must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.
Then your dm hasnt looked at the rules for the blinded condition or the rules for perception. The rules for blinded clearly say you can move up to half your speed without penalty (besider perhaps not taking the most efficient course. Though I agree the rules are vague on how to pinpoint the location of an enemy if one cannot see. Normally I just allow the player to make a listen based perception check to try to hear where the opponent is 'with a significant bonus to the target ofcourse'. Also if the player is attacked he knows what direction he came from at my table.