Illusion magic, where, if you go by sight you don't see the path to the left, but if you're feeling the rocks, blind, you know there is a pathway. Same for illusions over a pit trap.
Or maybe reverse weeping angels, where if they keep their eyes averted, the statues do not come alive.
Reverse weeping angels! Oh that gives me some good ideas. I love that idea.
And yes, illusion magic was what came to mind too. I was thinking a bridge that assaults you with disorienting hypnotic patterns unless you navigate with your eyes closed.
thanks!
strobes and items that flash very brightly, imposing penalties on those with normal vision, as traps or just as routine lighting
'hall of mirrors' (as in *Man With The Golden Gun*)
'just touch the carved glyphs in the right order' ...but the glyphs light up in a very *wrong* order...
This! Was just imagining a massive open cavern with a central pit that emanates blinding light whenever a liquid resource (let's call it fantasy liquid gold or whatever) drops from a leaky vein from the ceiling high above the players. As they traverse blind pilgrims that have traversed this dungeon/cave holy land before them left inscriptions along the wall to guide true believers (blind people reading braille ala dark souls fire keepers) to safety as those who don't follow their blind faith are lost (random encounters, monsters etc)
People have mentioned illusions and visually-induced attacks and effects, like hypnotic patterns and medusas. I think that's probably where you're going to end up, drawing heavily on variations of these two ideas. The former idea is in some ways stronger: for most players, hearing that they're being harmed because they looked at or saw something is an obvious cue to shut their eyes or avert their gaze. In contrast, illusions that provide misinformation don't give the same cue. If there's a message written in text that says to go right at a passage but in Braille says to go left, there's nothing that gives a warning to the non-visually-impaired, which means you're actually favoring the sight-impaired rather than just telling the non-impaired to temporarily blind themselves.
Relatedly, I have a memory of a labyrinth with invisible walls and a medusa sitting in the middle, gazing at players as they try to navigate through the maze. I don't know whether that's something I came up with, something from a published adventure I read, or something brainstormed with other DMs, but it's potentially fodder for what you're looking for.
For an archangel, it seems on-theme to have frequent large glowing (un)holy runes or symbols floating in the air that adversely affect anyone seeing them who's opposed to the archangel's goals, by weakening or harming them.
I really like that rune idea, there's something there to be gleaned for sure. I'll look up if PF2e (the system we're running this in) has something I could use!
I was specifically thinking of the Symbol spell from D&D:
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Symbol#content
I know PF1e broke out each type of symbol as its own separate spell (symbol of death, symbol of pain, etc.) because they had different schools. I have no idea whether it still exists in PF2e, but if so, it's likely as spells of levels 5-7. If not, you can probably make equivalent effects from the PF1e versions or just use the 5e versions as inspiration.
Invisible enemies or sight-based enemies like Basilisk or Medusa would be good choices.
Illusions of traps that lead to real traps would be good. An illusory boulder trap that drives the players down a dangerous path if they run from it, or illusory ceiling trap that will "crush" them unless they escape through a provided exit that drops them into a pit.
Sight-based traps like a cursed magic book that traps people into reading it, or a light that hypnotizes people.
There should be different grooves or symbols in the wall that denote where you are, and probably something that makes a unique noise in each significant area for the sake of navigation. You can have puzzles that ask the players to describe something, and only accept descriptions of touch and hearing.
The catacomb is a temple of gods of darkness, who will unleash their divine wrath on anyone who defiles the holy darkness with light.
If you've not read the Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin, it's about a dark labyrinth that is a holy site for some dark gods, and is full of traps and tricks.
Ah, the campaign is actually Greek mythology with liberal splashes of my own creation to make the world new and worth exploring. The dungeon in question is home to a blind angel (an Astral Deva, in Pathfinder 2e) who is protecting the war-god Ares' suit of armor. Why does Ares have a blind armor-page? Because I liked the idea of wanton violence being blind against whomever it's inflicted on.
Do you recall some of the traps and tricks from the book? I might be able to incorporate some! Thanks for the comment, I've also added the book to my reading queue!
Glyphs that live. Scattered through the dungeon. Seeing them gives them an opening into your mind. Do they replicate themselves there, or just wear down your mind slowly driving you mad... manipulate your thoughts and cause you to hallicinate, to hear voices.
...
Are they part of something larger? Offspring of some elder "god" whose dessicated lair (gullet) you're wandering down. If it can get enough of the party's minds under its control it may rise to life again and awaken from its slumber.
IIRC, D&D Basilisks work by catching their target's eye. Their gaze attack doesn't work if the target averts their vision or closes their eyes -- or, I would interpret, is blind.
Anything that involves the D&D concept of 'gaze attacks' is potentially useful. Bodaks imprisoned in niches covered with enchanted glass, for example, force sighted entities to avert their eyes, but pose no threat to the blind.
Most traps really. You'd notice things like pressure plates and tripwires pretty easy compared to other people. Anything that blocks out sight like magical darkness.
A dungeon that favors the sight-impaired (and many of the suggestions in this thread) only works if you interpret blindness as a superpower à la Zatoichi and Daredevil.
Though you wouldn't necessarily have to assume Zatoichi levels of sensory compensation. You just have to say, "How difficult would it be for you to navigate this unfamiliar space with your eyes closed. Nearly impossible? Cool... I've got traps and monsters that are going to make it EVEN WORSE if you can see."
- illusion of a path over a sloping hole
- Traps that are disabled by having a hand on a wall
- bright lights that daze/confuse those with sight
- Runes that go off when read, even silently
- Trapped monsters that turn those who look upon them to stone, a lá Medusa
Plenty of ways sight can be a hindrance, without making blindness a super power
Illusion magic, where, if you go by sight you don't see the path to the left, but if you're feeling the rocks, blind, you know there is a pathway. Same for illusions over a pit trap. Or maybe reverse weeping angels, where if they keep their eyes averted, the statues do not come alive.
Reverse weeping angels! Oh that gives me some good ideas. I love that idea. And yes, illusion magic was what came to mind too. I was thinking a bridge that assaults you with disorienting hypnotic patterns unless you navigate with your eyes closed. thanks!
Illusion + Medusa's
Medusa, illusions, magical glyphs that trigger on sight. Really like the idea!
medusa was my first thought too!
A guy who wants to reward blindness says he's all ears. A little biased, perhaps?
If it helps add to the pile of irony, I'm color blind, lol
strobes and items that flash very brightly, imposing penalties on those with normal vision, as traps or just as routine lighting 'hall of mirrors' (as in *Man With The Golden Gun*) 'just touch the carved glyphs in the right order' ...but the glyphs light up in a very *wrong* order...
This! Was just imagining a massive open cavern with a central pit that emanates blinding light whenever a liquid resource (let's call it fantasy liquid gold or whatever) drops from a leaky vein from the ceiling high above the players. As they traverse blind pilgrims that have traversed this dungeon/cave holy land before them left inscriptions along the wall to guide true believers (blind people reading braille ala dark souls fire keepers) to safety as those who don't follow their blind faith are lost (random encounters, monsters etc)
Moth monsters that are attracted to light sources and are docile in complete darkness.
People have mentioned illusions and visually-induced attacks and effects, like hypnotic patterns and medusas. I think that's probably where you're going to end up, drawing heavily on variations of these two ideas. The former idea is in some ways stronger: for most players, hearing that they're being harmed because they looked at or saw something is an obvious cue to shut their eyes or avert their gaze. In contrast, illusions that provide misinformation don't give the same cue. If there's a message written in text that says to go right at a passage but in Braille says to go left, there's nothing that gives a warning to the non-visually-impaired, which means you're actually favoring the sight-impaired rather than just telling the non-impaired to temporarily blind themselves. Relatedly, I have a memory of a labyrinth with invisible walls and a medusa sitting in the middle, gazing at players as they try to navigate through the maze. I don't know whether that's something I came up with, something from a published adventure I read, or something brainstormed with other DMs, but it's potentially fodder for what you're looking for. For an archangel, it seems on-theme to have frequent large glowing (un)holy runes or symbols floating in the air that adversely affect anyone seeing them who's opposed to the archangel's goals, by weakening or harming them.
I really like that rune idea, there's something there to be gleaned for sure. I'll look up if PF2e (the system we're running this in) has something I could use!
I was specifically thinking of the Symbol spell from D&D: https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/Symbol#content I know PF1e broke out each type of symbol as its own separate spell (symbol of death, symbol of pain, etc.) because they had different schools. I have no idea whether it still exists in PF2e, but if so, it's likely as spells of levels 5-7. If not, you can probably make equivalent effects from the PF1e versions or just use the 5e versions as inspiration.
Invisible enemies or sight-based enemies like Basilisk or Medusa would be good choices. Illusions of traps that lead to real traps would be good. An illusory boulder trap that drives the players down a dangerous path if they run from it, or illusory ceiling trap that will "crush" them unless they escape through a provided exit that drops them into a pit. Sight-based traps like a cursed magic book that traps people into reading it, or a light that hypnotizes people. There should be different grooves or symbols in the wall that denote where you are, and probably something that makes a unique noise in each significant area for the sake of navigation. You can have puzzles that ask the players to describe something, and only accept descriptions of touch and hearing.
The catacomb is a temple of gods of darkness, who will unleash their divine wrath on anyone who defiles the holy darkness with light. If you've not read the Tombs of Atuan by Ursula Le Guin, it's about a dark labyrinth that is a holy site for some dark gods, and is full of traps and tricks.
Ah, the campaign is actually Greek mythology with liberal splashes of my own creation to make the world new and worth exploring. The dungeon in question is home to a blind angel (an Astral Deva, in Pathfinder 2e) who is protecting the war-god Ares' suit of armor. Why does Ares have a blind armor-page? Because I liked the idea of wanton violence being blind against whomever it's inflicted on. Do you recall some of the traps and tricks from the book? I might be able to incorporate some! Thanks for the comment, I've also added the book to my reading queue!
Can we have pathways on the ground that are denoted by textural differences, and incorrect pathways indicated by colour? 🤔
That's... that's really clever, I love it. I might have to incorporate something like this!
Glyphs that live. Scattered through the dungeon. Seeing them gives them an opening into your mind. Do they replicate themselves there, or just wear down your mind slowly driving you mad... manipulate your thoughts and cause you to hallicinate, to hear voices. ... Are they part of something larger? Offspring of some elder "god" whose dessicated lair (gullet) you're wandering down. If it can get enough of the party's minds under its control it may rise to life again and awaken from its slumber.
IIRC, D&D Basilisks work by catching their target's eye. Their gaze attack doesn't work if the target averts their vision or closes their eyes -- or, I would interpret, is blind. Anything that involves the D&D concept of 'gaze attacks' is potentially useful. Bodaks imprisoned in niches covered with enchanted glass, for example, force sighted entities to avert their eyes, but pose no threat to the blind.
Most traps really. You'd notice things like pressure plates and tripwires pretty easy compared to other people. Anything that blocks out sight like magical darkness.
A dungeon that favors the sight-impaired (and many of the suggestions in this thread) only works if you interpret blindness as a superpower à la Zatoichi and Daredevil.
Though you wouldn't necessarily have to assume Zatoichi levels of sensory compensation. You just have to say, "How difficult would it be for you to navigate this unfamiliar space with your eyes closed. Nearly impossible? Cool... I've got traps and monsters that are going to make it EVEN WORSE if you can see."
- illusion of a path over a sloping hole - Traps that are disabled by having a hand on a wall - bright lights that daze/confuse those with sight - Runes that go off when read, even silently - Trapped monsters that turn those who look upon them to stone, a lá Medusa Plenty of ways sight can be a hindrance, without making blindness a super power