Well considering blind would grant everything total concealment and give you a 50% miss chance as well as causing you to possibly fall every time you moved more then half speed it seems an awful big hurdle to jump for some flavor. This is in additional to any potential problems locating foes.
You might want to look into oracle. One of their curses blinds you down to 30 ft (although it gets better eventually)
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I recently started planning a blind monk/or ranger that is blind, specializing in using a bow. my question is this: would it be too much of a burden on the rest of the people at the table to deal with it, or if this seems to be something that should be left to homebrew campains? also, does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks for taking a look.
First of all, welcome to PFS! Hope to see you around someday at a con!
Now then, on to the meat of the matter. Blind is a bit of hefty penalty to saddle the party with. But, if you chose to take a level of oracle, one of the curses is blindness. However, while you sacrifice your eyesight, you gain boosts to your other senses, giving you darkvision 30 as sight. This lets you play a functional blind character. An oracle of battle seems to have the abilities and spells that would fit a blind bowman, but your mileage may vary. Once again, welcome to PFS, and if you have any further questions, post away!
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For extra flavour points, have you considered making your character pregnant and or giving them advanced stage cancer?
For flavour, of course.
Silliness aside, I think a blind oracle is the only way this character concept will work. The PFS is a group of elite adventurers - there's no way they'd accept a blind adventurer unless that adventurer was lvl8+ at the time they were permanently blinded. And even then, they'd have the resources for magical healing.
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I would also recommend the blindness oracle curse if this is the type of character that interests you. That is definitely the best option if you aren't going to be playing with the same group of people all of the time. A home PFS group can make allowances for you, but once you start playing with strangers, you are going to meet all kinds of people. Some may like the idea. Many will wonder why you crippled your character for no benefit.
Welcome to PFS.
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Your character may be blind, but I don't think you'd need to give your character the condition blinded just because of that. I assume you want your character to be a bit in line with Daredevil or some other blind fellow with supernatural powers? You could, for instance, disregard blindness penalties when in combat.
Do note that in the blinded condition states the following: "Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them." This hasn't been specified anywhere so it remains as a GM's discretion argument.
Of course if a foe would cast a spell or effect that'd cause blindness, it'd affect you as well. Maybe cloud your supernatural senses or the like.
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Do note that in the blinded condition states the following: "Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them." This hasn't been specified anywhere so it remains as a GM's discretion argument.
However, he is talking about a PFS character, so there is no room for GM discretion. He could pick up the blind-fighting feat as a surrogate for adapting to blindness, but this is the sort of character which is easier to accomodate in a home campaign than organized play.
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Do note that in the blinded condition states the following: "Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them." This hasn't been specified anywhere so it remains as a GM's discretion argument.However, he is talking about a PFS character, so there is no room for GM discretion. He could pick up the blind-fighting feat as a surrogate for adapting to blindness, but this is the sort of character which is easier to accomodate in a home campaign than organized play.
What does it matter? If the player wishes that his/her character is blind purely for fluff reasons, let him/her have his/her fun! It'd purely be fluff. Fluff! Flavor!
Though I don't think there is any reason the player couldn't pick real blindness with all the penalties to a character. I just couldn't understand why.
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Though I don't think there is any reason the player couldn't pick real blindness with all the penalties to a character.
Because it's a cooperative game and a group experience. Due to the nature of PFS games, time is often tight, and having to spend time roleplaying the blind condition and asking other players to take care of you is hogging the spotlight. You will be nearly unplayable for a vast majority of the scenarios, unless you were to invoke some kind of adaptation to blindess that the rules don't cover. PFS doesn't allow for that sort of variation. Remember, it's not the same GM every time - you'd have to explain the whole thing over and over again every time you play.
Sorry, but if this character appeals to you it will be best realized in a home campaign, where you have the same GM and can spend the time to roleplay and explore this condition properly.
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Though I don't think there is any reason the player couldn't pick real blindness with all the penalties to a character.
Because it's a cooperative game and a group experience. Due to the nature of PFS games, time is often tight, and having to spend time roleplaying the blind condition and asking other players to take care of you is hogging the spotlight. You will be nearly unplayable for a vast majority of the scenarios, unless you were to invoke some kind of adaptation to blindess that the rules don't cover. PFS doesn't allow for that sort of variation. Remember, it's not the same GM every time - you'd have to explain the whole thing over and over again every time you play.
Sorry, but if this character appeals to you it will be best realized in a home campaign, where you have the same GM and can spend the time to roleplay and explore this condition properly.
I mostly agree with this, but the option of playing an oracle with the "clouded vision" curse is legal within the PFS rules, and shouldn't be too disruptive to play, although you would have to watch and make sure that you are not taking away from the other players enjoyment and chance of success in the module.
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@Deussu: yeah, i was considering going the scent route to overcome some of the difficulties behind it, and run it that way. how well that would work at lower levels, i don't know.
So you are aware, scent does not get rid of the penalties of being Blind, though you can work on tracking where someone is with Scent, you still will have all the penalties associated with being blind.
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I mostly agree with this, but the option of playing an oracle with the "clouded vision" curse is legal within the PFS rules, and shouldn't be too disruptive to play, although you would have to watch and make sure that you are not taking away from the other players enjoyment and chance of success in the module.
I agree - the oracle is about as close to this concept as you could get.
Ok, same concept as the OP but with a twist is my question:
As the GM of my home group, not PFS, I have been planning an NPC that the PC will eventually fight but he will be a blind barbarian (the arch type that doesn't use weapons but his bare hands), only his blindness has gone on for so long he has gained:
-Echolocation (ie Daredevil)
-track by smell (ie wolverine)
-tremor sense
Those are 3 special abilities I want the NPC to have but with books to back it up, not home brew or GM discretion. What would be the best way to pull this off either racial or other things?
That would be a question for the Advice forum rather than the PFS forum (where this thread currently resides). You'll have better results if you just start a new thread there.
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As others have suggested clouded vision curse oracle is probably the best way to still be mostly viable in a PFS setting. I would also consider going dual cursed and warsighted oracle archetypes. Martial flexibility is great and you gain more revelations through dual cursed. Battle mystery is likely your best bet.
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I recently started planning a blind monk/or rangerIn other words, Zatoichi (also available in paleface). --There's nothing wrong with envisioning yourself as such an alter-ego, but RPGs don't gear well for it.
would it be too much of a burden on the rest of the people at the table to deal with it
Zatoichi is essentially a 20th-level samurai with the script-writer in his court making sure nothing happens to him. An actually-blind 1st-level PFS character is a complete and total liability to the party, and will die like a mouse almost immediately unless everybody at the table treats the session as a loathesome escort mission.
Being blind sucks, and throwing a half-dozen or more feats at it to make it ever so agonizingly slowly suck less with leveling is a complete rip-off, not that you've the remotest chance of surviving that long. The problem isn't that it's not impossible (e.g., a 15th level fighter permanently losing his eyes in a no-magic campaign, spends a year recuperating and retraining a wheelbarrow of feats), it's that it's wholly impractical for a low-level character.
* Need to move faster than *half*-speed? Make an Acrobatics check, and at -2 because your Dex is -4 while blind, in order to not fall down.
* Are you wearing plate armor? (It's probably a good idea because you're a pin-cushion otherwise). ...I hope you never need to move more than two squares on the battlemat per round, as otherwise that Acrobatics check to avoid falling prone is now -8, or worse if you also have a shield).
* -2 to weapon attacks (because your attack stat is nerfed -4), and that's before your miss chance.
Thankfully, unless you jam a dagger into your own eyes in front of your local PFS venture captain at sign-up, I'm not sure how you can even make a blind 1st-level character in that campaign. (A 1st-level character lacks the funds to purchase the NPC-cast spell Blindness/Deafness) at character-creation, and 20pt-buy otherwise assumes an exceptional specimen of whatever race, compared to a 1st-level "basic" NPC who is basically *1* point-buy, or a "heroic", who is ~11pt-buy.)
(Note: oracles with the Clouded Vision curse are merely nearsighted until higher level; it has little impact aside from denying them archery as a viable fighting style, and occasionally failing a Perception check.)
does anyone have any suggestions?
Wear dark sunglasses over perfectly good eyes while making Bluff checks when you lie about being blind, because, for some reason, you need people to think you are while remaining a perfectly viable adventurer who can actually hit a plate with a fork .
If you are making a blind character, the first that comes to mind is the Blind Zeal trait. It let's you move at full speed, reduces what gets penalties, and gives Blind-Fight as a bonus feat.(There's a trait that gives you a feat? ...eh, sure. Anything goes in these dark days of the decline and fall of PF1, I guess.)
The other thing is Master of Many Styles Monk or Unarmed Fighter to get Blinded Blade Style at lv1. This let's you have Improved Blind-Fight at lv 1; Or, if you are human, you can have Blinded Competence at lv 1.
* Just to make sure its understood. This combo let's you ignore most of the problems of being blind, while also making it easier for you to hit things when other struggle.
The main problem is that the character effectively has one fewer traits and three fewer feats than everyone else at the table, and precious little to show for it.
(An oracle with the Clouded Vision curse may not be the sort of "blind" the OP had in mind, but at least it's not gimped.)
Well, no adventure is going feature Deeper Darkness unless:
(A) The GM wants to TPK the party, or....
(B) He knows the PCs are ready for it.
A scenario in which only one character is adept, but the others are helpless while the first guy has little capacity to assist them, doesn't help the GM create logical encounters that suitably play to that character's gimmick while not slaughtering everyone else.
Otherwise, it's normal, low-level adventure time without invisible opponents or DD until the casters are up-to-snuff and the NPCs have warned the PCs and knowledge skills regarding Drow have been made so the right spells are prepped, and so forth.
I didn't mean to say that other characters are helpless, just that they hit less often, darkness doesn't give the same penalties as blindness and deeper darkness is more a response to bright light (to still get the darkness benefit).
It doesn't matter. --If you can't see your opponents, you die in a fight. Unless the opponents are *incredible* creampuffs, or there's a McGuffin you have to figure out (e.g., laughing at will o' wisps) before they do TPK you.