So I'm looking through my 1e books and OSRIC and I can't for the life of me find a reference to what actually mechanically happens when someone is blind or deafened.
I could certainly infer things on blindness based on invisibility rules. (-4 to hit all opponents and must guess correct direction). Am I missing some key passage somewhere?
Thanks.
Blindness is defined in the AD&D DMG under the additional notes for the spell
light: -4 to hit, -4 to saves, and -4 to AC. According to the description for the
gem of brightness, partial blinding can result in similar penalties, using a d4 to determine the exact severity. AD&D 2e gives the same penalties (in about 8 different places, sometimes omitting the penalty to saves), as well as adding a penalty to movement rates and preventing precise actions such as backstabbing (see the section in the 2e DMG on Darkness). The lack of any effect on chances of surprise in either edition is probably an oversight. Sorry, couldn't help it.
In 1e, deafness has no effect beyond the obvious. The description for
holy word gives some possible effects, but these are intertwined with the effects of the
word itself, so it's hard to say what effects deafness alone should have just from that source. In 2e, deafness is defined by the spells
cure blindness or deafness (reversed),
shout, and
deafness, and gives -1 to surprise* and a 20% chance to miscast spells.
* 2e surprise is entirely different than 1e surprise, so you may want to drop this or consider it a -10% to chances of surprise.
