Blindfolds

[Lothoir]

I've seen a few people running around with them and acting as though a complete lack of sight is no problem at all. In addition to the long list of skill debuffs it provides, could a decreased AC and Attack be part of it? Or an onequip blindness effect?

[Saulus]

How about -20 dex?

[ParadoxicalAnonymity]

Haha. That'd be an interesting route to go. But I do agree with Lothoir. While I understand some people want to be unique and special snowflakes, if they want to be that special, they should have to take the penalties that only make sense with blinding yourself.

In my opinion, anyway.

-20 Dex is substantially nasty, but interestingly enough, I usually see clerics wearing them. While their AC would drop dramatically, they'd still be able to hit anything and everything, which seems to make little sense.

What about the Blindness effect that Lothoir mentioned? Or would that be substantially difficult to code? The reason why the Blindness effect is nice is because it also prevents people from being able to Spot.

[Philosopher]

It might be possible to put a permanent blindness effect on blindfolds, which would be nifty.

[Lothoir]

The only problem would be, that like the resting penalties, the blindness could be dispelled. I don't know how it could be made permanent.

[ParadoxicalAnonymity]

Isn't there some script for something like a heartbeat check? Could it check every so often to see if the effect is on them, and if it's not, put it back on?

I doubt even a Favored Soul would be able to keep up with it if it keeps putting Blindness back on every 3 seconds.

[Lothoir]

Except heartbeat checks eat up CPU cycles, and are bad things. I really don't think making people blind is a big enough concern to do that.

[ParadoxicalAnonymity]

My ignorance of coding/scripting shines through, here. I really don't know what efficient and what's not efficient. If heartbeat checks slow the game down, whether server or client side, then yeah. Not worth it, when it's such a small thing.

[Quoth The Raven]

It's possible to make an effect resistant to dispel anyway.

[Saulus]

Except heartbeat checks eat up CPU cycles, and are bad things. I really don't think making people blind is a big enough concern to do that.

correct.

[Kajae]

Instead of onHeartbeat, could it be a check based upon spells being cast on the wearer?

[Fezzik]

The biggest problem in saying that everyone wants to be unique special snowflakes is.... really as adventurers, they are. If everyone and their dog (maybe some cats too) could cast spells, slip into the shadows, commune with their gods and/or kill people by smacking their chests and causing their hearts to stop, it would be a pretty dull world.

I've seen one or two in my time that had reasons for their being able to "see" with a blindfold on (such as their spirit guide). If everyone slaps on a blindfold though and says, oh well, I can see anyway for "Insert canned response #2 here" then it's a problem with creativity. Things go in cycles; people will get bored of being mundanely "unique" and move on to something more interesting. We had a glut of crazy psychopaths for a while (including a dwarf that burned himself alive in his jail... good times those); an influx of Paladins; an influx of Banites etc...

Anyway, adventurers, or at least the way that I've seen them, are people of great ability, that can't seem to fit into normal society... so in effect, they are sort of special little snowflakes, or maybe instead of something quite so unique, maybe we could consider them the Lamborghinis or Delorians of the world full of Fords, GM's, Honda's and Toyotas (the later obviously being followers of the Fury gods because they just can't stop... * cough *)

[Kajae]

Which is why it's always more fun to play a Tonka over a Toyota.

[ParadoxicalAnonymity]

The biggest problem in saying that everyone wants to be unique special snowflakes is.... really as adventurers, they are.

I'm not sure where you get the problem, because there are exceptional differences in the views of 'unique' when in consideration of my favorite little word: context.

There's nothing wrong with people wanting to be unique, as everyone tries to adapt something they deem as cool or interesting, and then form it into something they consider exceptional. Whether it really is or not is actually not the issue.

This isn't a discussion of people's creativity when it comes to making an interesting and fulfilling background for their character, and then expanding upon it into real-time Roleplaying.

It's a discussion of people constantly trying to take a characteristic (blinding themselves), and then only taking the 'goodies,' without the 'baddies.' Namely, they can act near to entirely unhampered, despite what is actually a very significant disablement.

If I wanted to RP a deaf character but pumped my Listen to max, something is certainly wrong. A character with a blindfold on RPing as if practically nothing is amiss just so they can spout stuff like, "Because you see with your eyes, you are deceived. Not relying on my eyes allows me to see the truths of this world," is becoming decidedly commonplace. I can think of five characters I've met in just two months that have all said something exceptionally similar to that phrase.

And you know what? I have zero problem with that. If they have the penalties that came along with being blind.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that's rolled my eyes at people playing disabled characters with none of the actual disablement. It's rather comical.

[Sacred Geometry]

I think that allowing people to penalize themselves with their blindness in the ways that they wish it is more helpful to the server and players than it is not. There will always be people who will do things in ways you do not agree, including having a disability that does not hinder them, but creating restrictions will not stop them.

Instead of regulating their roleplay through mechanics, I would sooner suggest that you do it through your own roleplay. A blind man wishes to join your party, and you refuse them, because blind men can not discern allies from enemies, nor can they receive good orders such as, "Move to the hill, hit the leader with the headdress, kill the man in red, etc."

I understand that there must be a happy middle between keeping everyone happy, and maintaining the integrity of roleplay, and I believe what I suggest is that middle ground.