Blinded character in combat?

[BuzzardB]

How exactly do you run a blinded character in combat?

I mean I understand the -2 AC, Concealment ect. But Im not sure how to run the "The creature cannot see" portion. There do not seem to be rules for how a blind character goes about finding an opponent.

There are decent rules for locating an invisible opponent which seems like it would be similar to a blind character locating a visible creature.

One would also assume that his teammates would help point out the opponent to him, but does that mean he should know exactly where he is?

Any insight would be appreciated.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

BuzzardB wrote:

How exactly do you run a blinded character in combat?

I mean I understand the -2 AC, Concealment ect. But Im not sure how to run the "The creature cannot see" portion. There do not seem to be rules for how a blind character goes about finding an opponent.

There are decent rules for locating an invisible opponent which seems like it would be similar to a blind character locating a visible creature.

One would also assume that his teammates would help point out the opponent to him, but does that mean he should know exactly where he is?

Any insight would be appreciated.

I look at it this way; if the creature cannot see and has no guidance or sense of direction, then this diagram might help, via rolling a D8

00000
01230
08X40
07650
00000

LEGEND: X = Character, Numbers = Die Roll, 0 = Open Squares

The creature proceeds at half movement normally in that direction; they may move at full speed, but must make an Acrobatics/Reflex Save (or something along those lines) or fall prone.

If the creature collides with another object or creature as a result of their movement, then their movement stops and their turn ends adjacent to the creature/object.

A friendly creature can guide the blinded creature, though it would require physical contact, AKA being adjacent to one another. Personally, I would also say that both creatures would be considered grappled, but that is up to you as GM.

I hope this helps!

[Skylancer4]

Use perception (move action) to determine rough direction (aka which square) and attack that square. As most opponents in combat aren't trying to use stealth the DC would be around 22-32. Sounds of combat (0) + unfavorable (+2) + opponent is invisible (essentially to the blinded character this is true +20). The 32 is if you want to use "hearing a creature walking" as a base DC.

Have the player roll perception, keep the DC a secret. If they fail the roll the character attacks the wrong square (but they don't know it) and have them roll everything as normal. Concealment first to see if the attack hits, if not stop there. If it "hits" roll the attack with the penalties it probably requires a high roll so even if they "hit" on the wrong square you can say it missed without revealing why. If they roll a 20 after all that and still miss, you tell them that they failed the perception check.
It might sound a bit sneaky, but it will help against the meta game process.

[BuzzardB]

Hey thanks guys, that definitely gives me a few things to think about when that next comes into play.

Though while both of those are good advice, are there actual official rules on how to handle it?

[Skylancer4]

Not that I'm aware of though I believe my suggestion is as close to RAW as I can give.

[davidernst11]

The default should be that the character attempts to attack the last square he remembered as the enemy's location. If he runs over to that square and the character is still there, he can attempt to attack it at a 50% concealment penalty. If he has moved since the character has been blinded, I would consider that to be a stealth roll, and the blinded person could make a perception check to find where that person has moved.

If the blinded character can hear his buddies fighting something, he should be able to find that square and attempt to help attack. If anyone in the opposing party uses a free action to speak or do anything that would logically create noise (such as rooting around in their gear), that should also signify to the blinded character the square where the PC was.

As a GM, I pretty much rule out any ranged attacks while the character is blinded and either use that time to run and hide, using spells or potions to buff the character, or have him run up and make melee attacks against whatever character he can sense.

As a player, using Glitterdust to blind someone and then using Ghost Sound to confuse the target as to where an enemy's location is a pretty good tactic.

[Dr. Guns-For-Hands]

Also, remember that if you have a blinded character intending to move, he can move at half speed normally, but moving at your full speed while blinded requires a DC 15 Acrobatics check or you fall prone. This same mechanic applies when a character cannot see, such as characters without Darkvision in the dark with no light source, or Deeper Darkness.