Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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Creating a blind character (self.Blind)
submitted by Dredgen-Rancor
Hi everyone! Over this past year, I have been getting really interested in roleplaying games, dungeons and dragons in particular. Recently, I finished watching the Netflix show Daredevil, and I thought a blind martial artist would be an interesting character to play. But before I can commit to playing the character, I wanted to make sure I was being respectful. I did some research, and one piece of advice I got on creating blind characters in fictional settings is to talk to visually impaired or nearsighted people. So, I was hoping I might be able to get some advice from this subreddit.
Currently, this is an overview of the character:
-his mother was a demon, so he has some innate magic
-he was blinded at a young age, has no sight
-he was taken in by an ancient dragon, who trained him in martial arts
-with a combination of training and some magic, he found a way to overcome his handicap
-he uses a kind of magical echolocation to navigate his surroundings, and due to his demonic heritage, can hear heartbeats
-similar to the character daredevil, he can visualize his surroundings as rough shapes an forms, but is unable to make out specific details at a distance
-for example, he could tell that there is a person standing with their arms in front of their chest by a wall roughly 20 feet away from him, but would be unable to describe what they are wearing or what their face looks like
-the character will be able to move and navigate roughly as well as a sighted person, but will be unable to describe his surroundings beyond roughly 30 feet
I don't want to fall into the trope of using a blindness just for flavor, so I'm trying to structure his powers in a way that will still pose challenges to be overcome, while allowing the character to function within the world of the game. Is there anything here I should change? Is playing a blind character in general a bad idea if I am not blind myself?
I would really appreciate any feedback. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!
Currently, this is an overview of the character:
-his mother was a demon, so he has some innate magic
-he was blinded at a young age, has no sight
-he was taken in by an ancient dragon, who trained him in martial arts
-with a combination of training and some magic, he found a way to overcome his handicap
-he uses a kind of magical echolocation to navigate his surroundings, and due to his demonic heritage, can hear heartbeats
-similar to the character daredevil, he can visualize his surroundings as rough shapes an forms, but is unable to make out specific details at a distance
-for example, he could tell that there is a person standing with their arms in front of their chest by a wall roughly 20 feet away from him, but would be unable to describe what they are wearing or what their face looks like
-the character will be able to move and navigate roughly as well as a sighted person, but will be unable to describe his surroundings beyond roughly 30 feet
I don't want to fall into the trope of using a blindness just for flavor, so I'm trying to structure his powers in a way that will still pose challenges to be overcome, while allowing the character to function within the world of the game. Is there anything here I should change? Is playing a blind character in general a bad idea if I am not blind myself?
I would really appreciate any feedback. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!
nullatonce 3 points 1y ago
Consult "Avatar: The last air bender".
And to anser: no, it's a game, an experience. Tbh sounds fun, i think disrespectfull would be to have a lame dungeon, that doesn't explore char's potential.
And to anser: no, it's a game, an experience. Tbh sounds fun, i think disrespectfull would be to have a lame dungeon, that doesn't explore char's potential.
BlindsightBlue 2 points 1y ago
I don’t think it’s an issue as long as you try to be respectful about it. Like, don’t go and say cliché things like “Justice is blind” or something super cringe like “Hear you later“ when saying goodbye to someone. Blind people are just normal people, so treat your character that way.
In terms of actually playing the game, there are mechanics to play a blind character in D&D 5E without the negative effects of the Blindness condition. It’s a little level dependent, but it’s possible. Take the Alert feat and the Blind Fighting fighting style from Fighter, Ranger, or the Martial Adept feat. This allows you to never be surprised and you don’t have disadvantage when trying to hit some thing and an enemy doesn’t have advantage trying to hit you because you can’t see them. Blind Fighting also gives you blindsight in a 10 foot radius, allowing you to see invisible creatures without breaking the game. You can get all this at level one by making a human fighter, which will give you a free feat for Alert and a free fighting style for Blind Fighting. I am blind, and this is what I used for my Blind Echo Knight Fighter.
But remember, blindness is a disability for a reason. Creating a blind character means you’re going to forfeit things sighted characters are just going to do like reading, and I’m pretty sure ancient tomes found in dungeons won’t have a braille transcript. Just something to think about.
In terms of actually playing the game, there are mechanics to play a blind character in D&D 5E without the negative effects of the Blindness condition. It’s a little level dependent, but it’s possible. Take the Alert feat and the Blind Fighting fighting style from Fighter, Ranger, or the Martial Adept feat. This allows you to never be surprised and you don’t have disadvantage when trying to hit some thing and an enemy doesn’t have advantage trying to hit you because you can’t see them. Blind Fighting also gives you blindsight in a 10 foot radius, allowing you to see invisible creatures without breaking the game. You can get all this at level one by making a human fighter, which will give you a free feat for Alert and a free fighting style for Blind Fighting. I am blind, and this is what I used for my Blind Echo Knight Fighter.
But remember, blindness is a disability for a reason. Creating a blind character means you’re going to forfeit things sighted characters are just going to do like reading, and I’m pretty sure ancient tomes found in dungeons won’t have a braille transcript. Just something to think about.
the-cat1513 1 points 1y ago
Centuries ago, a powerful sorcerer of terrible magnificence and a prodigious addiction to coffee faced an ancient demon who wielded dark and lost magic, because he stole his coffee. When our sorcerer defeated the demon, he decided to divide it into 2 and enclose it in his most precious volume of magic, so that he could read its contents to whoever opened such incunabula. In addition, he forced the other half of such an awful creature to narrate the memories deposited in his magic orb to those who used it.
Thus was born audio description in the forgotten realms.
Thus was born audio description in the forgotten realms.
WorldlyLingonberry40 2 points 1y ago
What functions will his cane have? Could it be used as a fighting staff? Could it be made out of your enemies' bones?
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