Blindness/Deafness: See No Evil, Hear No Evil
Usable By: Bard, Cleric, Sorcerer, Wizard
Spell Level: 2
School: Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: 1 minute
Components: V
You can blind or deafen a foe. Choose one creature that you can see within range to make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, the target is either blinded or deafened (your choice) for the duration. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make a Constitution saving throw. On a success, the spell ends.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 2nd.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Blinded creatures can’t see, automatically fail ability checks requiring sight, make attack rolls with disadvantage, and grant advantage to enemy attacks against them. Deafened creatures can’t hear, and automatically fail any checks that require hearing. These conditions are exactly what you get from Blindness/Deafness: a creature will be blinded or deafened on a failed save. Wild!
At the end of the day, you’re paying a 2nd level slot for one of these two conditions on a save or die. The target repeats saves each turn, and it doesn’t ask for your concentration. Up-casting it has the major upside of hitting extra creatures with the condition, changing the nature and fail cases of the spell radically. All these words, despite being so simple, I think are perfectly acceptable and fairly effective.
Tons of characters get access to Blindness/Deafness: bards, clerics, sorcerers, wizards, fiend, undead, and undying warlocks, and circle of spore druids. Its ubiquity I think is largely positive, as it acts most often as an easy and clear save or die that brings a decent amount of utility to sheets with it. Blinding a creature is normally way better than deafening one, as the blinded condition grants a massive advantage in combat and can be commonly used out of combat in high stakes missions and exploration encounters. Deafened, meanwhile, is about as useful on yourself as it is on an enemy. Denying hearing can be a tool leveraged as a part of sneaking into a building, but how much better is that than blindness? Meanwhile, a good chunk of spells require a creature to be able to hear you for it to function; Vicious Mockery, for example, can’t work against a deafened creature. Facing off against sirens? Being deaf isn’t going to make you any less effective at killing them, but it sure will prevent their charming magic from taking root!
If you know you like save or dies, and accept that sometimes you’ll spend a 2nd level slot and nothing will happen, Blindness Deafness is fairly cheap and effective. If you want to find out if you like save or dies, this is a pretty cheap way to test the waters with them. Having it on your sheet in the mid to upper tiers can open up some interesting opportunities both in and out of combat with its up-casting, which is a major boon for it. You’re going to default to Blindess 99% of the time, but it doesn’t hurt that the spell will come in clutch in a once in a campaign sonic encounter too. It's not the most impactful spell ever made, but it does its job perfectly well.
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