Blinded 5e condition
How the blinded condition works in the 2014 rules (SRD 5.1) and the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2), what changed, and which spells and monsters cause it.
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Blinded in the 2014 rules (SRD 5.1)
- A blinded creature can't see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight.
- Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature's attack rolls have disadvantage.
Blinded in the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2)
While you have the Blinded condition, you experience the following effects.
Can't See. You can't see and automatically fail any ability check that requires sight.
Attacks Affected. Attack rolls against you have Advantage, and your attack rolls have Disadvantage.
What changed in 2024
- The 2024 text names its two effects (Can’t See and Attacks Affected). What they do is unchanged.
How Blinded works
A blinded creature can’t see. It automatically fails any ability check that requires sight, its attack rolls have disadvantage, and attack rolls against it have advantage.
The bigger problem is everything else that needs sight. Most spells target “a creature you can see”, so a blinded caster can’t aim Hold Person or Magic Missile at anyone, and opportunity attacks only work against a creature you can see leaving your reach.
Sources and cures
- Spells: Blindness/Deafness (Constitution save, 1 minute, no concentration), Color Spray (no save, by hit points, for a round) and Sunbeam (Constitution save, 6d8 radiant).
- Monsters: a cloaker or darkmantle that attaches with advantage wraps the victim’s head, blinding it and stopping it from breathing.
- Cures: Lesser Restoration ends blindness, and so does Heal. Most blinding spells also allow a save at the end of each of your turns.
- Darkness isn’t blindness. A creature trying to see into heavily obscured areas, including magical Darkness, is effectively blinded for that purpose, but it doesn’t have the condition, so there’s nothing to cure.
What changed in 2024
Nothing. The 2024 condition has the same effects in new words: you can’t see, you automatically fail ability checks that require sight, attack rolls against you have advantage, and your attack rolls have disadvantage.
Common questions
Can a blinded creature cast spells?
Yes, but not spells that need a target it can see, which rules out most single-target spells. Spells on itself and area spells aimed at a point still work.
Can a blinded creature make opportunity attacks?
Not against creatures it can’t see. An opportunity attack needs a hostile creature you can see moving out of your reach.
Is fighting in darkness the same as being blinded?
Close. A creature looking into a heavily obscured area, including magical Darkness, effectively suffers from the blinded condition. If neither side can see the other, advantage and disadvantage cancel and attacks are rolled normally.
What removes the blinded condition?
Lesser Restoration or Heal, or waiting out the effect. Most blinding spells let you save again at the end of each of your turns.
Does blinded affect saving throws?
No. It affects attack rolls and ability checks that need sight. Saving throws, including the Dexterity save against a Fireball, are rolled normally.
Does blindsight help a blinded creature?
Yes. Blindsight lets a creature perceive its surroundings within its range without sight, so most DMs let it target and attack what’s inside that range normally. Beyond that range it’s blinded as usual.
Blinded compared with similar conditions
| Condition | How it compares |
|---|---|
| Invisible | The same rule from the other side: attacks against an invisible creature have disadvantage and its attacks have advantage. |
| Restrained | Identical attack effects, plus speed 0 and disadvantage on Dexterity saves, but the creature can still see. |
| Stunned | Advantage for attackers too, plus no actions at all and automatic failure on Strength and Dexterity saves. |
| Blindness/Deafness | 2nd level: blinds one creature for up to a minute without concentration; it saves again at the end of each turn. |
| Darkness | 2nd level: a 15-foot sphere of magical darkness even darkvision can’t see through. Blinding in practice, not in rules terms. |
Spells and the blinded condition
From the SRD 5.1 spells: 9 spells can leave a creature blinded, and 2 spells can end or prevent it.
Spells that cause it
- Color Spray 1st level
- Blindness/Deafness 2nd level
- Contagion 5th level
- Sunbeam 6th level
- Divine Word 7th level
- Prismatic Spray 7th level
- Holy Aura 8th level
- Sunburst 8th level
- Prismatic Wall 9th level
Spells that end or prevent it
- Lesser Restoration 2nd level
- Mass Heal 9th level
Monsters and the blinded condition
Monsters whose attacks or traits cause it (15)
- Giant Frog CR 1/4
- Darkmantle CR 1/2
- Dust Mephit CR 1/2
- Giant Toad CR 1
- Gibbering Mouther CR 2
- Rug of Smothering CR 2
- Shambling Mound CR 5
- Cloaker CR 8
- Behir CR 11
- Remorhaz CR 11
- Mummy Lord CR 15
- Purple Worm CR 15
- Solar CR 21
- Kraken CR 23
- Tarrasque CR 30
Monsters immune to it (11)
- Shrieker CR 0
- Flying Sword CR 1/4
- Grimlock CR 1/4
- Violet Fungus CR 1/4
- Gray Ooze CR 1/2
- Animated Armor CR 1
- Gelatinous Cube CR 2
- Ochre Jelly CR 2
- Rug of Smothering CR 2
- Black Pudding CR 4
- Shambling Mound CR 5