By Nicholas Hoekstra
Have you ever passed out from a night of heavy drinking, only to wake up the next day and find that your friend's familiar mistook you being dead drunk for... dead, and plucked out your eyes?
Have you ever gotten in a good natured bit of banter with a ship's captain, only to have him bite off your ear?
And what experienced dungeoneer hasn't woken up the next morning lying beside a Kobold and been forced to hack off a limb in order to escape?
“That be nothing compared to what I was forced to cut off when I woke up next to yer mum.”
Role-playing games have become ever more diverse in recent years, but the inclusion of persons with disabilities is still underrepresented in many tabletop RPGs. Characteristics such as blindness or deafness typically exist only as temporary conditions cured by magic or time. When characters with disabilities do appear, they are often portrayed as stereotypes, such as the blind seer, disabled veteran, or old man who is hard of hearing.
There is no reason why an active adventurer can’t also have a disability, though, and no reason why you shouldn’t consider playing one on your next campaign. My target audience with this post is not necessarily other people with disabilities: a person with a disability may or may not choose to roleplay a character with a disability. Instead, I write this post with the goal of encouraging other players to include disability as a natural and feasible characteristic to incorporate in the development of their characters. With that end in mind, I provide some advice – from my own experiences as a blind gamer and professional in inclusive education – on how you might RP a blind, deaf, or physically impaired character. Disability exists in our every day, and there is no reason it wouldn’t exist in our games.
Mac and Me: The benchmark of integrity we should all be striving for.
1. Think about the challenges a character with a disability would face in your setting and how you might adapt.
Tabletop RPG settings can range widely from the primitive to the futuristic, but for purposes of this post I will focus on the traditional mediaeval campaign setting popular in Dungeons & Dragons. Perhaps the most striking challenge for any character with a disability in this environment would come in the form of stigmatism and social isolation.
Imagine growing up as a person who is deaf or blind in a cut-throat world with limited technology and even fewer rights. Individuals with disabilities have probably been underestimated, sometimes isolated, and have had to develop strong self reliance. This all makes for great fodder when thinking up a backstory.
Practically speaking, characters with physical or visual impairments might find it difficult to get around a feudal environment. Your average castle dungeon isn’t compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and probably won’t have ramps or elevators – just steep stairs and trap doors. You may need to rely on your party’s tank to help you down stairs, if walking is a challenge, or consider investing in a magic carpet. A good old fashioned quarterstaff can substitute nicely for a cane for the visually impaired, but you may still benefit from the occasional sighted guide.
“Hoo-Ha!”
Magic and prayer, on the other hand, may require a character to read, speak or gesture, all of which could be impacted by a disability. A blind character could, theoretically, have spells read to them while a character who is missing an arm could gesture using their feet. A deaf bard may favor percussion instruments over flutes or strings for working their magic, although they might find singing to be a challenge.
In terms of fighting, a blind warrior might have disadvantage on ranged attacks against smaller monsters, but that disadvantage would quickly disappear as enemies grow larger and louder. A deaf character might not hear the sound of a twig snapping behind them in the woods, but might be sensitive to vibrations through a wooden floor that others fail to notice. A character whose legs are paralyzed may be unable to jump, but have developed great arm strength from needing to frequently lift themselves.
The key is to recognize that a disability will change how your character goes about the daily routine of adventuring; some activities may be impossible and others will require you to think creatively.
2. Think about the skills and spells that would be particularly natural for your character.
Role-playing a character with a disability means considering how an impairment may have shaped their choices in life. This could mean that a character with a physical impairment has pursued a life of magic over fighting, or long-ranged weapons over hand-to-hand combat. Characters with hearing impairments may struggle to communicate in day-to-day interactions, making bargaining difficult, but find acceptance in the halls of temples or the deep forests. A blind orphan may have been bullied growing up, yet learned to grapple as a fighter or manipulate the sympathies of others as a con artist.
“I will fuck your shit up.”
A number of magic spells may take on new significance. Characters with sensory impairments might be partial to spells like arcane eye or beast sense that bypass the characters’ own disability, though they should be strategic in when and how to use them. If your blind sorcerer has burned their arcane eye spell looking at gnomish porn, you’ll be out of luck when you want a glimpse of the battlefield. Characters with visual impairments may favor shocking/flaming/freezing grasp spells rather than the use of long-range attacks, while a mage with a physical impairment may need to rely on the blink or fly spells to escape from danger.
3. Think about the advantages of a disability.
It might not be immediately obvious how a disability could lend an advantage to a player, but let’s consider this. From a roleplaying perspective, individuals with disabilities are often underestimated in society, potentially allowing for a sneak attack or advantage on a first engagement. For a similar reason, a blind character or one with a physical disability might be overlooked in the tavern and thereby overhear otherwise private conversations.
When it comes to fighting, a blind warrior or mage can look that basilisk straight in the eye and a deaf ranger can withstand the siren song or vitriolic insults of an enemy bard. Even a character with a physical impairment will be immune to any spell that attempts to force movement in limbs that are missing or paralyzed.
When plunged into deep darkness, the blind druid in your party will be the only person at ease, while magical silence poses less of a threat to the long-time traveling companions of the deaf monk who has taught them sign language.
Lesson 1
4. Avoid giving your character an overpowered trait that counteracts their disability.
If you choose to play a character with a disability, it should have some baring on how you roleplay. Creating a blind character who has inhuman hearing would defeat the purpose. Similarly, providing your physically impaired character an artifact that grants normal movement wouldn’t change your playstyle. A fighter with a hearing impairment may be more sensitive to vibrations, but that doesn’t mean they can feel the drop of a pin from 10 feet away. If you create a character with a disability, only to give them supernatural powers to bypass it, you might as well just play Ben Affleck.
“And they said I was blind.”
In the end, roleplaying is about storytelling. Creating a character with a disability offers a great new dynamic to your game that also reflects the reality in which we live. I hope these basic tips provide some food for thought in the unlikely case that your half-elven rogue is caught steeling and loses a hand.
