You can see very small or distant objects as if looking through a magnifying lens or telescope but are unable to focus on anything nearby. This extends your visual range by 20 × (IE) feet, adding this amount to the listed range for a ranged weapon up to the maximum, but giving disadvantage on any check requiring seeing that is closer than 10 × (IE) feet except for looking at fine details on an object, magnified 10 × (IE) times. You are unable to read normal-sized writing, and the spells in your spellbook are written too small for most eyes to read.

Real-world Examples

This is a fantasy trait and doesn’t exist in the real world.

Assistive Options

Characters can use inverted binoculars to see closer, but this gives a limited field of view and requires the user to hold the binoculars with one hand.

Your eyelids move uncontrollably, making it difficult to focus. While this is occurring, you need to succeed on a DC 8 + (IE) Constitution check to maintain concentration on spells or to avoid a −(IE) penalty on all ranged attack rolls for the round. Occasionally (Roll (IE) or under on 1d20 each time it happens or every hour if Acute), the spasm causes your eye to close completely for 3d20 minutes, giving disadvantage to Wisdom (Perception) checks on that side for the duration.

Real-world Examples

Blepharospasm, Hemifacial Spasm, Parkinson’s Disease, Tourette Syndrome

Assistive Options

This trait has no mundane treatments.

Magical Assistance

The Suggestion spell can stop this trait for the duration.

One or both of your eyes are shaped or located outside the range typical for your ancestry. Choose or roll on the following table. Note that this is usually a permanent condition and does not fluctuate, but the player and GM are welcome to determine a magical version that fluctuates based on the Frequency table above. Example stimuli include sunrise/sunset, seasons, or stress.

Location. Each affected eye is (IE) inches from its expected location. Roll 1d12, using clock locations for direction. This gives you +(IE) to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks but −(IE) to Charisma (Persuasion) checks with people who don’t know you due to many people’s discomfort around those with unexpected appearances.

Eyelid Difference. Your eyelids are an unexpected shape, such as an odd angle, or they don’t close typically, or they droop. This gives you +(IE) to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks but −(IE) to Charisma (Persuasion) checks with people who don’t know you due to many people’s discomfort around those with unexpected appearances.

Bulging. Your eyes poke out of your head noticeably. This gives you +(IE) to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks but −(IE) to Charisma (Persuasion) checks with people who don’t know you due to many people’s discomfort around those with unexpected appearances.

Sunken. Your eyes are sunken into your head, giving them a skull-like appearance. This gives you +(IE) to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks but −(IE) to Charisma (Persuasion) checks with people who don’t know you due to many people’s discomfort around those with unexpected appearances.

Oversized. Your eyes are larger than expected for your ancestry, an extra inch diameter per IE. This gives or increases Darkvision by 10 feet × (IE) but also gives a –(IE) penalty on saving throws against being blinded by bright lights. You have −(IE) to Charisma (Persuasion) checks with people who don’t know you due to many people’s discomfort around those with unexpected appearances.

Undersized. Your eyes are smaller than expected for your ancestry by a factor of 1/2 × (IE). This gives you +1 to Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks but −1 to Charisma (Persuasion) checks with those who don’t know you due to many people’s discomfort around those with unexpected appearances. If you have Darkvision, this decreases it by 10 feet × (IE) but gives you a +(IE) bonus to saving throws against being blinded by bright lights.

Pupil Difference. Your pupils are horizontal (50 percent) or vertical (50 percent). Horizontal pupils decrease the normal range of a ranged weapon by 50 percent but give +1 to Wisdom (Perception) checks against those making a Dexterity (Stealth) roll against you. Vertical pupils increase the normal range of a ranged weapon by 50 percent and give advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks to jump but −1 to Wisdom (Perception) checks against those making a Dexterity (Stealth) roll against you. Those who don’t know you and see your pupil shape tend to associate it with otherworldliness or evil, so this gives you a −1 penalty on Charisma (Persuasion) checks but +1 on Charisma (Intimidation) checks.

Side Placement. Your eyes are on the sides of your skull in front of your ears. This gives you advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks against those attempting a Dexterity (Stealth) roll against you and disadvantage on all melee attack rolls. This also gives you disadvantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks with those who don’t know you due to many people’s discomfort around those with unexpected appearances and your inability to look others in the eye with both eyes during conversation.

Real-world Examples

Keratoconus, Blepharoptosis, Lid Retraction, Canthal Dystopias, Entropion, Ectropion, Cryptophthalmos, Coloboma, Microphthalmia

Assistive Options

Dark glasses, helmet visors, or other eye coverings can mask some of these eye differences.

Magical Assistance

The Seeming spell can alter a person’s appearance to mask this and other cosmetic eye differences.

One or both of your eyes are colored outside the usual range of hues typical for your ancestry. Choose or roll on the following table.

The player and GM can choose the color or roll it randomly at https://www.random.org/colors/hex, ignoring results that would be typical unless only one eye is affected. While this coloration is relatively easy to cover, those who see it who aren’t familiar with you in some cultures may associate it with otherworldliness and evil, so this gives you a −1 penalty on Charisma (Persuasion) checks but +1 on Charisma (Intimidation) checks.

Real-world Examples

Jaundice, Primary Acquired Melanosis, Subconjunctival Hemorrhage, Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Marfan’s Syndrome, Anemia

Assistive Options

Eye Dye: This translucent pigment can change lighter colors into darker but not the opposite. Such dye lasts 4d6 + 30 minutes and tints the entire eye with the color. The dye irritates the eye, so when it wears off, the eye will be bloodshot for 2d4 hours after. Where available, a vial of 20 uses typically sells for 1 gp.

A specialized artisan can craft a pair of sunglasses costing 200 gp to conceal your eyes.

A substance leaks out of your eyes. Roll on the table below for the nature and effects of the substance.

Acid. Acid leaks out of your eyes at a rate of (IE) ounces per day. Your eye socket is immune to this acid, but your skin is not, so you have scars around your eyes and need a way to constantly flush it out or collect it to keep it off your skin. If collected, a flask of 32 ounces equals one use as a weapon.
Blood. Blood drains out of your eyes at a rate of (IE)² ounces per day. Because of this blood loss, you need to eat more to compensate, consuming an additional (IE) days’ worth of food per week to avoid exhaustion.
Ink. Ink leaks out of your eyes at a rate of (IE) ounces per day. Your face is stained, and if you’re not careful, so are your clothes and other items. The ink can be collected for writing, but it has stained your lenses; consequently, you’re resistant to the blinding effects of bright light (not to radiant damage), but in low light or darkness, your vision is reduced by 20 feet, even if you have Darkvision.
Oil. An oil similar to lamp oil drains out of your eyes at a rate of (IE)² ounces per day. If collected, it can be used for lanterns and other practical uses, but if not collected or washed away consistently, it gets on your hands, clothes, and items, making it difficult to hang onto anything. Consequently, anytime you’re handling an object during a tense situation (e.g., a weapon in combat), you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to avoid dropping the object.
Pus. A foul-smelling ochre pus flows from your eyes at a rate of (IE)² ounces per day. The smell gives you a −(IE) penalty on Dexterity (Stealth) and Charisma (Persuasion) checks. If collected, 32 ounces of the pus can be thrown at a target and cause the same effects to that target as a Stinking Cloud spell.
Tears. Tears drain out of your eyes at a rate of (IE)² × 8 ounces per day. Because of this fluid loss, you need to drink additional water to assist with the loss to avoid Dehydration and exhaustion.
Venom. A toxic substance leaks from your eyes at a rate of (IE) ounces per day. You are not immune to this substance, so if not contained somehow, in any situation where you take damage that is not psychic or bludgeoning, you need to succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw with a −(IE) penalty to avoid getting it in a wound. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) poison damage on a failed saving throw, or half as much damage on a successful one.
While referred to here colloquially as venom, this reflects real life examples, where an irritant or contagious liquid is expelled.

Real-world Examples

Conjunctivitis, Keratitis, Blepharitis, Corneal ulcer, Dacryocystitis, Subconjunctival Hemorrhage, Haemolacria

Assistive Options

While no specific assistance normally exists for this condition, you will at least need an absorbent cloth to wipe discharge from the eyes. Collecting it will require a creative solution.

Magical Assistance

Characters with eye discharges benefit from eye gnats, but they come at a price. The Prestidigitation spell can clean the affected area but does not stop the discharge.

You have a limited range of colors that you can see, if any. This typically results in the inability to distinguish complementary colors, especially red and green (80 percent), but less often, yellow and blue (15 percent) and rarely, complete (5 percent). This will affect some Wisdom (Perception) checks and possibly Charisma (Performance) (for visual arts such as painting) if color distinctions are important or Charisma (Deception) if trying to replicate a uniform with a disguise but does not have a more general effect on the game. Because you’re used to detecting position and shape more than color, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks to see camouflaged objects.

Real-world Examples

Colorblindness is usually genetic, most common in males.

Assistive Options

Some red-green colorblind individuals wear glasses with a red tint over one eye. It helps emphasize certain tints but makes it more difficult to distinguish others, so the net result is nominal at best.

You can see (1d100 × 50) feet relative to your current location in a direction that changes every day after a long rest (Roll 1d8, 1=North, then clockwise, so 8 = Northwest), but you can’t see your immediate surroundings, nor do you know the direction or distance you’re seeing. Regarding your immediate surroundings, you have Blindness (IE 4). Your spellbook is made from heavy paper that allows you to inscribe spells with a stylus to be read by texture in your own personal texture code.

Real-world Examples

This is a fantasy trait with no real-world equivalent.

Assistive Options

Detailed awareness of the surrounding area might give clues as to where you are seeing, but no device can correct for this.

Magical Assistance

The Clairvoyance spell or equivalent can be used to temporarily correct for this by setting the sensor to the caster’s face.

You have a translucent covering growing over your eyes that clouds your vision. This gives you −(IE) to all vision-based actions, and you need to succeed on a DC 8 + (IE) Wisdom (Perception) check to read most non-tactile writing. If you’re only affected in one eye, you have a −(IE) penalty on actions within 10 ft. including melee attack rolls, jumping, and anything else dependent on depth perception of nearby objects or locations. It does not affect depth perception or ranged attack rolls beyond 10 ft. Your spellbook is made from heavy paper that allows you to inscribe spells with a stylus to be read by texture in your own personal texture code.

Real-world Examples

Cataracts (Caused by Diabetes and Glaucoma among others)

Assistive Options

A character can undergo a surgical procedure called couching, which uses a needle to move the cataract away from the field of view but doesn’t remove it. This requires a successful DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check. An adjusted roll of 10−14 results in success, but the recipient will gradually have permanent Blindness (IE 4) within 1d6 × 28 days due to complications unless followed up with healing magic applied directly to the eyes. A roll of 9 or less results in the recipient having permanent blindness (IE 4) immediately.

Your vision is impaired to the point that it can’t be corrected or is absent completely (IE 4), and you have learned to navigate the world with little or no reliance on your eyes, depending on other senses instead.

We highly recommend this article for more on blind characters in RPGs.

Because you have grown accustomed to this condition a long time, if you can explain to your GM how you’re using your other senses to assist with your Blindness, you have a −(IE) on sight-related attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws including ranged combat beyond 10 ft. but a +(IE) bonus when using other senses to compensate, not because they’ve become stronger, but because you’ve learned to use them more effectively. In addition:

You do not have disadvantage to hit invisible creatures.

You are proficient in the use of a stylus for reading and writing. If you have a spellbook, you can copy spells into your spellbook by pressing a stylus into its parchment pages. This method inscribes your spells for easy reading in your own personal texture code. (Since a metal stylus is a hand tool for writing, it can be crafted by any smith for a cost of 2 sp.)

If you’re only blind in one eye, the penalty only applies to that side.

Real-world Examples

Retinitis Pigmentosa, Macular Degeneration, Diabetic Retinopathy, Glaucoma

Assistive Options

Canes, quarterstaffs, and walking sticks help determine surroundings, reducing the IE penalty by 1, and trained animals can also assist, but mostly, you depend on your other senses to assist with your blindness, using those senses to gather similar information about the environment that a seeing person would.

Magical Assistance

Spells and other effects that allow the caster to perceive visual information through another source than the eyes can temporarily assist with this disability and remove the penalty, although due to the difference in perspective direction, your proficiency bonus on physical ability checks is halved, rounding down, if precise movement is necessary, to be discussed between the player and GM. Detection spells allow you to sense the detected item or creature as a feeling of location without seeing the object itself or its surroundings, experienced by other senses as an echo, a tug, a temperature change, or even an aroma.

Your eyes are optimized for seeing underwater, so in air, they dry out easily and refract light differently, causing everything to be blurry, especially far away. This gives you disadvantage on all ranged actions and attacks that require aiming but no vision penalties when underwater. You also need to blink more often, which doesn’t affect game mechanics, but those who don’t know you will notice when you interact with them. This disability does not have an IE and is usually permanent. If the player and GM choose this as a temporary condition, it should not use immersion in water as a trigger (which would negate the disability) but could be triggered by moon phases, tidal fluctuations, or other sea-related factors.

Real-world Examples

Significant nearsightedness, the Moken people of South-East Asia. This trait should not be confused with fish eye disease, which causes clouding of the cornea and no advantages to seeing underwater.

Assistive Options

Wearing goggles filled with saline water can correct for this condition, but they slip off easily and require 2 actions to replace the water in them and refit them to the eyes. Anytime you take damage or make a roll based on Strength or Dexterity, you must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw to keep the goggles on.