The Blind Swordsman

[daagon]

I'd love to make a character based on the japanese "blind swordsman". I thought that I could give him the Major Flaw "Blind" (funniliy enough). For this I would say that he always couted as if he were in pitch darkness (1/2 CP) probably with some Perc penalties too.

But what could I give him as a Merit, to not necessarily balance[/u] the blindness, but at least give him some of his CP back?

He wouldn't be much of a fearsome swordsman if he were simply blind, with no special qualities.

Any ideas, guys? (and gals!)

[Richard_Strey]

You know, I hate to rain on your parade, but if you want to stay close to reality, blind swordsmen are really not that dangerous. They are usually retired or very dead.

That said, if you want a more fantastic approach, you might want to have a look at the movie "Blind Fury" with Rutger Hauer. Great stuff, but *not realistic* (who would've thunk).

[Valamir]

Probably to replicate the ass kickingness we see in the movies the easiest way would to simply be a "sixth sense" Gift which restores X number of CP that have been lost from any source having to do with surprise or perception, and also allows WP or Reflex checks to react to visual cues (like a dropped cup).

You can then make up for the remaining CP by buying his Proficiency up to ungodly levels.

[daagon]

Who said I wanted to stay close to reality?

Good idea Valamir. I'll look into that.

I just wanted to recreate one of my old D&D characters in TROS, and what with the new movie "Zatoichi" coming out soon, it got my memory going...

[Lxndr]

Of course, if you really don't want to stay close to reality, why not just have "Blindness" be a special effect, no flaw (or perhaps just a minor flaw) necessary to explain the (at this point minor) side-effects of not being able to see.

Just a thought.

[Dain]

Don't know if you've considered it yet, but perhaps give him the Sorcerous Gift of a familiar (he can see through it's eyes and lots of other similar things). I don't think that would totally make up for the CP loss, but having an eagle or something looking down on the battlefield would certainly be more informative than normal sight (you'd have 360 degree vision, top view only, that way). It would be disorienting however, so I'd leave at least a one or two CP penalty...but then again, maybe no penalty at all...after all, there's tons of "3rd person view" or "down view" computer games out there that people wipe the opposition off the map with. You could keep the penalties when the familiar can't get to a good vantage point (like indoors, underground caves, etc,.....). And if the familiar gets womped or isn't with him, welcome to being blind. Having to rely on the familiar for a crutch gives him another "role play only" flaw (ie doesn't count as a flaw, but is one nonetheless) in that he has to worry about it and protect it or he will be truely blind. He even has to try to make sure no one ever figures out he has it, because once people know he has it, it becomes a weakness because people will gun for it to weaken him (like shooting the crow in the movie The Crow if you've ever seen it).

Just a thought.

[Ben Lehman]

Here's a thought:  Blindness Appropriate SAs.

Drive: Turn My Weakness Into My Strength
 (triggers when trying to do things, like sword-fighting, which should be better done with vision.)

yrs--
--Ben

[daagon]

Dain, thats not quite what I'm after, but DAMN that is a good idea never the less!

Ben, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. That SA idea sounds like it could just work! Thanks for some great ideas, but the first prize goes to...   Ben!!!

Thanks again everyone. You've been most enlightening.

:)

[Jake Norwood]

Blind Fury is basically an American remake of the excellent Zatoichi movies from Japan. Check 'em out.

Jake

[Ingenious]

In the real world, there have been studies conducted of blind people to see if their other senses became more potent via having to rely on them to 'see' after becoming blind.

Results for that are unknown to me, as I didn't read the whole entire article.. but the point is.. is that such a thing might be possible as a solution to this character.

The blind swordsman in question could gain some cues as to where his opponets are from audible sounds(footsteps, if his hearing is acute enough.. his opponent breathing.. yelling, gasping, the unshealthing of a sword etc) However, this all depends on the amount of background noise. If they were fighting in the middle of downtown New York City for example.. during rush-hour.. I'd say that he wouldnt be able to easily hear as much... his focus would be diverted. This means in game mechanics, that his 'bonus' for such things is halved... so instead of regaining 1/4 of his lost CP due to blindness, he'd get 1/8.. or some other such percentage/fraction.

Hope that helps, it's damn sure easier to explain.. and works especially well with a fantasy world if that is what you are going for. I credit Val for the basic idea, but this gives an explanation but differs from Val's original idea in that it isn't exactly a sixth sense.. just that the remaining senses compensate for the lack of eyesight. If given enough thought, this same 'gift' or whatever we fashion it as, you could also explain a blind character's ability to read. Though braile was not historically invented until awhile after the medieval era... you could have your characters attempt to read the impression made into some paper created by a pen, but this would be done reading from the back of the paper, not the front.. unless the paper had writing on both sides.. in which case it will be damned near impossible for the blind person to 'read' it. Modify the idea as you see fit if you choose to use it.

-Ingenious

[Tash]

Cool as the idea is I don't think there is any way a sightless person could actually swordfight.  While some aural cues would allow them to locate and probably attack their opponents, I doubt they could defend themselves.  Swords moving through air don't make much noise, and the sound they do make isn't one that's easy to localize (like say and hand clap or a human voice is).  Also a slash to the head would sound indentical to one directed at the waist or legs....you can see where I'm going with this.  I've done some training excercises blindfolded when I was still doing martial arts, but they involved grappling and trapping drills, things where you could actually feel what your opponent was doing.  Very helpful for building your sense of balance, timing and distance independant of your vison, but I certainly don't think I could actually fight blind.
But this is a game, and the idea of a blind warrior who can use his hightened remaining senses to fight effectively is really cool.  I'd certianly like to see what you come up with and how well it works in the game.

As for real world studies regarding hightened senses in blind individuals I don't think they actually have more potent senses than the rest of us, they simply adapt and learn to use them more effectively.  Its a matter of training and perception, not biology.  I could be wrong though.  My older brother is a professor who does research in this area (senses and perception).  I will ask him for clarification and also see if he has any examples I could share here.

[Ingenious]

Well, unless you were to do that in a neurology lab(surprise, I've been to one..), they hook you up to a bunch of electrodes around your skull that measure brainwave activity. An increase in brainwave activity, i.e. spikes on the printout of the session in a certain hertz taken from a certain location.. means something.. I'm not TOO knowledgable in that aspect.. as I was merely a lab-rat in biotherapy learning how to control my brainwaves in order to learn how to focus better. It worked in the long-run.. but the point was how to 'prove' the more powerful senses.. doing so would require testing of a subject prior to blindness and afterwards..which isn't really feasible...just possible.

Back to the MAIN topic.. you could pair my idea with something that appears like the Matrix..(i.e the binary scene whenever Neo ressurects imself after getting shot in the first movie..) but you could do it with electrical fields, mainly.. static electricity.. maybe the character can sense/see electrostatic fields generated by the weapon going through the air...as everything that moves through the air creates friction and therefore static electricity.. though this might be a little too sci-fi for you... and a bit more on the 'magic' side of the spectrum.

This is more along the lines of the original 'sixth sense' concept.. and it might be worthwhile to pursue additional avenues of it.

-Ingenious
Sometimes, I get the impression that I know too much for my age..

[Tash]

Actually I don't think you'd need to test the same subject before and after they became blind.  It would be as simple as testing a pool of sighted and sightless individuals: average sighted person kicks out X hertz in hearing center, where as the average blind person kicks out Y hertz in the same center.  If Y > X then there is physiological evidence that the average blind subject has greater hearing than the average sighted subject....maybe.  I don't exactly know if greater neurological activity in a sensory center actually indicates that the sense is more developed or simply shows that it is working harder.  The same thing could be observed by dissecting the brains of the subject and examining the neurological pathways (more pathways = more developed sense), but most volunteers would probably object to that.

As for the other part, sharks do almost the same thing: they can sense the electromagnetic fields of living creatures in the water around them.  Actually a number of sea creatures do this, but it works better in water than it does in air.  From a magical perspective could a sorcerer create some kind of "aura", for lack or a better term, around themselves whereby they could feel objects passing through it?  One method could be using a spell that holds a volume of air around the character in a specific pattern.  When an object moves through that space it disturbs the pattern.  The character could then tell, based on how the distrubed pattern "felt" the size, shape, and velocity of the movement, in theory with enough precision to allow effective dodging/parrying of blows.    

A possible alternative to the 6th sense idea for a character with sorcerous abilities.

[Drifter Bob]

Blind Fury is basically an American remake of the excellent Zatoichi movies from Japan. Check 'em out.

Jake

I think what was being portrayed with the (I agree, excellent) Blind Swordsman movies is a lesson over and over of doing the Kenjitsu equivalent of Master Cuts.  What better way to emphasize the importance of believing in your cut and ignoring your opponents blade in executing the Master Cut.  Also, it makes a lot more sense to me that a blind guy could determine an opponents location by his footsteps or breathing, than actually being able to somehow sense where is sword is and actively parry and strike ala "Daredevil".

Jeanry

[Dain]

Hey Drifter Bob,

Daredevil actually makes more sense if you get told one very important clue that brings it all together. I thought the recent movie tried very hard to get it out, but maybe they botched it, leaving only the comic fans having a clue. Daredevil's hearing is beyond super human...it hears things even way beyond the range normally only bats can hear. So every sound in his environment, even a whisper, is practically an ear piercing shriek to him, bouncing off all objects and painting a picture in his brain not unlike sonar. The more sound bouncing off all the objects around him, the clearer the picture. This is why he periodically beats his baton against things and why he loves relatively gentle but constant sounds like rain...because the sound is sufficient to give him perfect (literally perfect) greyscale "sight" for the duration of the sound. This is also why he sleeps in a sensory deprivation chamber...hard to sleep when a pin dropped 3 rooms away echos around your head like a M80 going off...it also gives him relative silence for a change to help relieve the constant migraine all that sound causes. This is also why VERY LOUD sounds basically drop him to his knees helplessly writhing in agony...they "blind" him due to sensory overload.

Ok, comic book geek mode off, back to normal well adjusted human being (...well, I can pretend can't I?!).