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Difficult terrain, obstacles, and poor visibility can hamper movement (see Table: Hampered Movement for details). When movement is hampered, each square moved into usually counts as two squares, effectively reducing the distance that a character can cover in a move.
The table confirms that the movement is twice the cost as normal.
A bank of fog billows out from the point you designate. The fog obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker can't use sight to locate the target).
A moderate wind (11+ mph) disperses the fog in 4 rounds; a strong wind (21+ mph) disperses the fog in 1 round.
The spell does not function underwater.
So, fog cloud gives us zero vision past 5 feet, and really bad vision within 5 ft. I think this would count as poor visibility.
Therefore, you start spending double movement the instant you enter a fog cloud, and you can't make 5ft steps inside it.
Blinded
The 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.
Since you can't see anything, I think that also qualifies as poor visibility. So, a blind character treats all movement as double cost, and in addition must make the acrobatics check to move at more than half speed. (If only the acrobatics check applied, then a person who was completely blind can move around easier than someone who can still see a bit).
A 30ft speed human who is blinded essentially can only move 5ft as a move action or 15ft as a full-round action (withdraw), and can't make 5ft steps.
Do I understand this correctly? What other possible explanations of poor visibility are there?
The half speed effects from Blind/Poor Visibility:Hampered Movement don't 'stack' like you think.
The latter doubles the cost to enter a square, but your speed PER SE isn't affected.
Blinded requires the Acrobatics check to move more than half speed (i.e. how far they could move in a given action) but since Hampered Movement didn't actually change your Move Speed (it's effectively just like Difficult Terrain), the Poor Visibility/Hampered Movement's doubling of cost to enter a square is FUNCTINALLY just preventing you from moving more than half speed in the first place (i.e. triggering the Acrobatics check).
I am FAQing anyways, because the broader issue came up some time ago (search my posts for relevant thread).
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One doubles movement cost, the other reduces the speed you can move in a round. They're two different effects. Besides, even if they were the same effect, the book states that different forms of hampered movement stack.
What I don't get is that your ruling states that it's easier for a blind person to move around than a person whose vision is 10-15ft (reasonably poor visibility).
Why is the standard human who can see restricted to a 15ft move, when it's possible for a blind person to move 30ft?
(this is all assuming the person in question is used to relying on his sight to move around).
One doubles cost, the other does NOT reduce the speed you can move:
it calls for a check to not fall Prone if you move faster than a certain speed.
if you pass the Acrobatics DC (or don't care because you're Flying and thus are Immune to Trip),
Blind cannot impact how far you can move in a round (much less your actual Move Speed) on it's own (i.e. unless you rule that Poor Vision applies to it).
Blind doesn't say per round, so the logical reading to me is 'half speed' = 'half the distance you could normally do with a given action' (move, double move, run, etc) if you have a problem with that, use '1/2 normal move speed in 1 round' if you want to (i don't see that called for in RAW but you may difer), it doesn't change the rest of things, just the amount of movement you can take before triggering the Acrobatics check.
Again, note that even if you fall down, if you have an ability to Stand Up from Prone as a Free Action (etc) then you can continue your Movement just fine, Blinded doesn't actually limit your Movement per se... Of course, most characters who aren't Flying and dont' have certain Rogue Tricks CAN'T Stand Up without spending a Move Action to do so, but that penalty of effectively ending your Movement isn't inherent to the Blinded rule itself.
I WAS assuming that Blind counts as Poor Visibilty (as you were) although that's not clear per RAW.
Example of what I mean: Normal Movement Rate 40.
Poor Visibility (Fog/Blind/whatever) means each square counts doubly, i.e. 5' count as 10' of movement.
Blinded says you need Acrobatics to move more than half speed. What's half speed?
Well, your Move Speed is still the same: 40', so that would mean moving more than 20'.
Well, if every square counts as two (Poor Visibility), you can't possibly move further than 20' with one Move Action, so you can't possibly trigger the need for an Acrobatics check.
Hmmm interesting. I think I will incorporate the blindness acrobatics check whenever someone is moving and is suffering from poor visibility in order to allow them to move at full speed. Blindness is NO visibility and should not trump someone with poor visibility.
- Gauss
yeah, that came up when the topic was being discussed some time ago.
i would certainly house-rule to allow the Acro check when under merely Poor Visibility.
closing your eyes when moving thru Fog (to avoid the 2x movement cost) is just silly.
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Example of what I mean: Normal Movement Rate 40.
Poor Visibility (Fog/Blind/whatever) means each square counts doubly, i.e. 5' count as 10' of movement.
Blinded says you need Acrobatics to move more than half speed. What's half speed?
Well, your Move Speed is still the same: 40', so that would mean moving more than 20'.
Well, if every square counts as two (Poor Visibility), you can't possibly move further than 20' with one Move Action, so you can't possibly trigger the need for an Acrobatics check.
"Speed" is defined in the CRB:
Speed
Your speed tells you how far you can move in a round and still do something, such as attack or cast a spell. Your speed depends mostly on your size and your armor.
Dwarves, gnomes, and halflings have a speed of 20 feet (4 squares), or 15 feet (3 squares) when wearing medium or heavy armor (except for dwarves, who move 20 feet in any armor).
Humans, elves, half-elves, half-orcs, and most humanoid monsters have a speed of 30 feet (6 squares), or 20 feet (4 squares) in medium or heavy armor.
If you use two move actions in a round (sometimes called a "double move" action), you can move up to double your speed. If you spend the entire round running, you can move up to quadruple your speed (or triple if you are in heavy armor).
Speed is the number of feet/squares you can normally move in a round. Hampered Movement increases the cost of movement for each square, that is, each 5ft (square) of movement counts as 10ft (2 squares) of movement.
Someone with 40ft speed can move 20ft in difficult terrain. They're not moving half their speed, they are moving their full speed, but only getting half as far as they would normally.
Blindness specifically references speed. A blind person with 40ft MUST succeed at an Acrobatics check if they want to move faster than a 20ft speed. Someone who doesn't want to make an acrobatics check therefore only has a 20ft speed to work with.
Having Hampered Movement increases the cost of moving. Someone in difficult terrain with 20ft speed can only move 10ft max.
Combine the two, and you have the person 40ft speed person only able to move 10ft in a round when he's blind.
Non-mechanics perspective:
Think about if you were to try to hustle at around 10ft/s in a strange environment with your eyes closed and a blindfold on. That's what you're saying the average dexterous person who suddenly can't see at all should be able to do if he's not in a stressful situation (Take 10 Acrobatics check). Try walking even 5ft/s in a strange environment with your eyes closed. Apparently anyone can do that.