[3.5 or Tome] Blind Swordsman build

[virgil]

What do you do if you or someone you know wants to play the blind swordsman archetype in a D&D game? In this particular instance, I'm speaking of someone who's in a Tome game.

[Avoraciopoctules]

From the "Homebrew Tome Style Feats" thread:

Feh, I'll also post my 'what hath I wrought' business, also from being bored. A slightly keyed down version of the tomes Blind-Fight feat, dependent on Listen, built for those persons who want to play a blind monk or whatever. It kind of goes against how expansive a tome feat should be, though it's still far more than anyone other than Daredevil could be expected to do. Just cut out the 'you're blind' and the prereq and tack on a '-Fight' to the name it's a Blind-Fight replacement, ta-dah.

Blind!
You've figured out how to punch people without having to see them.
Prerequisite: Must be taken at level 1.
Listen ranks:
0: You gain +4 to your Listen checks, and the ability to take 10 on any Listen check, regardless of your condition (save for dead, deafened, or unconscious). You can make one Listen check each round as a free action. Listen is always a class skill for you. Oh, yeah, AND YOU'RE BLIND.
4: In melee, you may reroll your miss chances caused by concealment. An invisible attacker gets no advantages related to hitting you in melee. You take only half the usual penalty to speed for being unable to see.
You can attempt a DC 24 Listen check to pinpoint the location of all creatures within 30 ft., as long as you have line of effect to them. Creatures attempting to move silently in range instead make an opposed Move Silently check with a +10 bonus. This check does not find incorporeal creatures.
When making Listen checks, you might learn more about the source of a noise.

Code: Select all

Check beats the DC by:  Extra information learned.
5                       The the size and speed of the source of the noise.
10                      The type of armor the creature wears and what it carries, if anything.
15                      The creature’s type and subtypes.

9: You gain blindsight in a 5 ft. radius. You no longer take the penalty on Strength and Dexterity-based checks for not being able to see, nor suffer a movement penalty.
14: Your blindsight improves to a 30 ft. radius. You can extend the Listen check to pinpoint all creatures within 30 ft. to 90 ft., but the DC for the modified check is 34. You take no penalty to Search checks for not being able to see. You may ignore the chance to miss a target because of concealment.
19: Invisible ranged attackers do not get a bonus to hit you, and you may apply your dexterity to your armor class against them. You can no longer be caught flat footed.

Penalties taken due to blindness:
No Dexterity bonus to AC.
+2 to hit on any attacks made against you.
-4 penalty on most Strength and Dexterity-based checks.
-4 penalty on Search checks.
Automatic failure of Spot checks and similar abilities (such as reading).
Must make Listen checks to detect creatures. All creatures are considered invisible to you.
Even if pinpointed, a creature still has total concealment against you.
Cannot benefit from abilities such as precision damage bonuses.
Cannot use target spells except by touch.
Movement speed cut in half.
Adjusted blindness penalties beyond 19 Listen skill points:
Automatic failure of Spot checks beyond a 30 ft. radius and similar abilities (such as reading).
Must make Listen checks to detect creatures beyond a 30 ft. radius. All creatures beyond a 30 ft. radius are considered invisible to you.
Cannot benefit from abilities such as precision damage bonuses beyond a 30 ft. radius.
Cannot use target spells beyond a 30 ft. radius.[/b]

EDIT:
And then from a little further down:

Blind! is not as good as Blindfighting.

Inorite, when Alertness and Blind Fighting are combined they're just Blind! but SUPERAWESOME! Someday, (/me sniffles.) I'll look back and be okay with that.

EDIT: Not one to take giving up, Blind!, part 2, presented as a rewrite of Alertness and Blind Fighting. Along with Ghost Hunter, you're a powerhouse sans eyes. In reality, I was just wondering about the overlap between these two feats, and the fact that Blind Fighting gave you the ability to sense things burrowing around 120 feet below the ground. (Also, epic usage of the listen skill to detect illusions? Chyeah, right.)

Alertness [Skill]
Your ears are so sharp you probably wouldn’t miss your eyes.
Listen Ranks:
0: You gain a +3 bonus to Listen checks.
4: You can make a Listen check once a round as a free action. You don’t take penalties for distractions or ambient noise on your Listen checks.
9: You gain blindsense equal to 5 feet for every point invested in the Listen skill. You gain blindsight equal to 1/4 that distance, rounded up. Divide any distance penalties you take on Listen checks by two.
14: You may make a Listen skill check instead of a will saving throw against any illusion with an aural component. You gain an immediate saving throw when any illusion with an aural component enters your blindsense range.
19: You can hear through magical silence and similar effects, but you take a -20 penalty on your check. Divide any distance penalties you take on Listen checks by five.

Blind Fighting [Combat]
You don’t have to see to kill.
+0: You may reroll your miss chances caused by concealment.
+1: While in darkness, you may move your normal speed without difficulty.
+6: You may ignore your miss chances caused by concealment. You gain blindsight to 20 feet.
+11: You can use blacklight as a spell-like ability 1/encounter, only centered on yourself, with a caster level equal to your character level.
+16: You cannot be caught flat footed.

[traverse]

Try not to pay to much attention to that, though. Unless you're really looking to hurt your character, which in turn hurts the group, blindness should be fluff, and not mechanics. Blind! was just a look back at an old character of mine (everyone looks at making a blind character, at least once).

So, yeah. Just take feats that reflect the fact that you've done the obvious, and awkward, 'shoring up of the other senses' (but try to still stick to abilities that are actually useful, much easier in a tomes game), and roleplay the rest.

If you are interested in actually being blind, though, the penalty list under Blind! is the compiled effects of being blind, in nice bullet points. Got it from a thread on the WotC boards years back.

[CatharzGodfoot]

Zen Archery is pretty much a must.

[virgil]

For a swordsman?

[Quantumboost]

The Zen Archery +1-BAB ability only applies to ranged attacks. Good for an archer Samurai, not so much for a swordsman.

[CatharzGodfoot]

For a swordsman?

Yeah. Specializing in swords should not completely preclude being useful in ranged combat. Zen archery is pretty much a must for a blind ranged combatant.

[virgil]

Hmm, if there were some way to give the character the non-Tome feat Blindsight 5'

[CatharzGodfoot]

Hmm, if there were some way to give the character the non-Tome feat Blindsight 5'

It's easy: you just give it to them. Alternatively, they take it once they have the BAB and wisdom prerequisites filled.

[NineInchNall]

Or you, ya know ... give'em a blindfold of true darkness ...

[Cynic]

Or you, ya know ... give'em a blindfold of true darkness ...

I am a blind man and I choose to put a blindfold on!


sorry, it just sounded strange as I read your post out aloud.

[Quantumboost]

I am a blind man and I choose to put a blindfold on!

Wouldn't be the first time...

[Caedrus]

You take the blindfold of true darkness and you grab the eversmoking bottle (which makes thick, nonmagical smoke) and the end result is that you can see everyone and most everyone can't see you.