blindness and blindfighting Options

[mfb]

noticed an inconsistency in the rules. the TN penalty for the Blind flaw is +6; the TN for total darkness / blindfire is +8. we'll assume that the difference stems from the fact that a blind person's had time to get used to their disability.

the blindfighting adept power reduces penalties from blindfiring or full darkness from +8 to +4. what's its effect on blindness? does it reduce the +6 to +4, or +2 (-4 from blindfire/full darkness), or +3 (1/2 blindfire/full darkness penalty)?

[Kagetenshi]

I'd be inclined to go with +3.

~J

[Firewall]

A blind adept? As a concept character, I suppose I would be okay with it but I would be suspicious of the player who handed me that sheet...

As for blind fire, that would imply that someone gave a gun to the blind adept. Yeah, okay... Now I am not sure about the rest of you but I sure as frag am not going to stand too close to him.

[mfb]

why not? with spatial recognition, hi-freq hearing, and select sound filter, you can all but pinpoint the location of everyone around you. from there, you can open up a can of suppressive-fire whoopass with your 6 bonus die and your centering against that measley +2 TN mod.

[Firewall]

Daredevil with a gun?
(excuse my cynicism, I am just like that sometimes)

[mfb]

*shrug* whatever works. my main interest, though, is the archtypical blind swordsman.

and, if you're apologizing? you're not cynical enough!

[CardboardArmor]

With the (dikoted) katana, mfb. With the katana.

[mfb]

heh, actually, the character i've got in mind is a blind satyr physmage college chick who uses kusarigama practice to relieve stress and, occasionally, bring in some extra cash.

it's been awhile since i played a different character. figured i'd go all-out.

[CardboardArmor]

Forget the satyr. Go with the elf Japanese chick with the impossibly long black hair and the inordinate fascination with her own culture almost to the point of getting off at the mere mention of it.

[mfb]

i will kill you and everyone you know. *shudder*

[CardboardArmor]

Glad to be of service in cheapening and mocking your Shadowrun experience. :D

[Kakkaraun]

NO! Make her a retired hitman, tall, blonde, white, human woman! That kind of makes sense if you've seen Kill Bill! Why am I talking like this!

[CardboardArmor]

[TinkerGnome]

For the adept, astral perception is a 2 point power. It'd work pretty well for what you need.

[mfb]

yeah, but that feels like cheating. she's actually the reason i came up with the spiritblind flaw, posted in another thread. with blindfighting, i reduce her penalties to +4 or +3, depending on who's gm'ing; from there, my reach 2 weapon gets me down to +2 or +1, and then i center.

[Arz]

[mfb]

i'm not sure i understand why it's harder for a blind man to fire a gun at something he hears that it is for a man in a lightless room. heck, the blind guy's had time to get used to his condition.

[A Clockwork Lime]

Applying the same penalty twice is also a little asinine. It'd be like applying the Partial Lightning and Minimal Lighting penalties on top of Total Darkness. The guy's already blind; visibility penalties have no affect on him.

[Talia Invierno]

I wouldn't have a problem with dropping the modifier (with blindfighting) to +2, for a character who has been blind all their life and has learned to function that way. For a PC who became blind in their adult years, I would go with the net +3: they would still be more adept in their perpetual darkness than someone who runs into it every now and again.

Then again, the namesake of this username was conceived of as a blind-from-birth physmage who later learned to alternate with astral vision (+2), so I might be biased.

[Kakkaraun]

[A Clockwork Lime]

If that were the case, yes. But Astral Perception doesn't override natural vision, it overlaps it. That's why astrally projecting magicians have different modifiers than dual-natured perceiving magicians (one has a +2 for viewing the physical, the other has a +2 for the distraction of seeing both).

[Kakkaraun]

Hee hee...hee...hee. Sorry for the derailing.

Hee hee.

[mfb]

so, the general consensus is that the Blindfighting adept power halves the modifiers for not being able to see your target?

[Arz]

You are missing something here. Blind fire is a conditional modifier. LOS interrupted etc. Sometimes it's applicable, sometimes it's not. Blind penalties are permanent and across the board. So, yes, sometimes both can apply. Personally the penalty for blindness is quite generous for combat ...the social penalties are vicious though. Just try finding the black haired, blue eyed man in a party crowd. Everyone will say that you just missed him.

[A Clockwork Lime]

The Blind Fighting combat maneuver lowers visibility penalties by -2. That one's easy.

The Blind Fighting adept power, however, simply reduces the penalty for total darkness and blind fire to +4. While that is half of the normal penalty, no exception is made for blind characters. By the rules, it's less effective for a blind character than someone who's never been blind... so it would be just +4. I'd do the one-half thing myself, though.

Used together, it drops it down to +2 (+1 if generous), which isn't bad at all. Throw in Ultrasound Vision (either the adept power or the implant) and it drops to +1 either way. Definitely not bad at all, especially since such a character is pretty much immune to all visibility modifiers as a result.