Reactions while blind

[Seyonne2450]

Reactions while blind

Hello everyone. Question about how reactions work while blind. I'm playing a champion, and we were blinded in a fight by darkness. My GM ruled that you can't react while blind, so he did not let me use my retributive strike, even though both enemy and ally was in my aura. We're level 16 if that matters. I understand potentially not letting me take the strike since I can't see, but the trigger is just that both ally and enemy are in my aura and range (enemy was 10 ft away but I have a reach weapon). He's a very RAW guy, so if someone can point me to an explicit ruling from paizo, it'd be greatly appreciated.

[TheFinish]

All characters have hearing as an imprecise sense (at least by default) which means if you're Blinded you can still detect people using your hearing, they'll simply be Hidden (per the rules in Imprecise Senses ).

For any action that targets a hidden creature you'll need to pass a DC 11 flat check or it will fail (per the rules on the Hidden condition).

Your Reaction does not target your ally, per se, and so it cannot fail. The Strike you make as part of Retributive Strike though does target the enemy so that one can fail if you don't pass the flat check.

Other than these wrinkles though the reaction still functions as normal. Nothing in the Blinded condition says you can't use Reactions, so as long as the triggers are met you can take them. Just at very reduced efficiency in some cases.

Compare for example with a reaction like Nimble Dodge where the trigger specifies you must be able to see the attacker. If you're blinded, you can't see them, so you can't use it. But Retributive Strike doesn't have this restriction, so it works fine.

EDIT: Also, forgot to say that you don't need the enemy to be in your reach for you to use Retributive Strike. You can use the Reaction at any range if both the enemy and your ally are in your aura. You only get to strike if the enemy is in Reach, but the damage reduction happens regardless.

[NorrKnekten]

The key here is that you absolutely know what square the enemy occupies, just like TheFinish says.

If the enemy was entirely Undetected however, Which RAW require more than just the Blinded condition, Then you will not become aware of what square the enemy was in until after the strike is resolved. Which causes a bit of a weird moment of table variation depending on GM since the player have no clue if the attacking creature is in the aura or not.

But this doesn't stop you from using reactions in any shape or form unless the reaction's trigger is being violated, You would need to guess where the enemy is and target that square. With the GM rolling all checks in secret as outlined in the link above. You will either be aware of a hit, or a miss.. but not why you missed or even if you targeted the correct square.

You will not find an explicit ruling that allows using reactions while blind, because there isn't a ruling forbidding the usage of any actiontype while being unable to see the target, The exceptions are effects that explicitly require line of sight, or a creature to be observed

[Captain Morgan]

Narratively, it might be worth noting that the champion reaction in particular is a form of divine intervention, not just a martial technique triggered by the champion. The introduction of the champion's aura further supports this. It magically conveys that you are a champion of your deity to other followers of your deity. (A neat fact I just noticed.) It's not that weird that your reaction can "auto lock" onto triggers within the same aura.

[Finoan]

Seyonne2450 wrote:

My GM ruled that you can't react while blind,

This sounds like 'specific defines general' logic as well as 'but reality'.

The specific rules for the Ready action and reaction are that the trigger must be observable in-game by the character. But that does not get upgraded to a general rule for all reactions. That is a rule for Ready specifically.

For other reactions, the triggers absolutely can be, and are, based on game mechanics. How many in-game character-perceivable things are there in the trigger for Focus Ally?

No, the game rules don't always match up perfectly with the narrative description. That is also why you still roll Reflex saves while unconscious or even Paralyzed.

[NorrKnekten]

Finoan wrote:

The specific rules for the Ready action and reaction are that the trigger must be observable in-game by the character. But that does not get upgraded to a general rule for all reactions. That is a rule for Ready specifically

Even then, for Ready; You can absolutely observe the sound of your ally being struck with a weapon or being hit by a bow, firearm or spell.

Visibility has no real impact on percieving audible cues, Such as non-subtle spells or someone's footsteps as they stride.