[RPG] Can a wizard prepare new spells while blinded

dnd-5espells

For a wizard, preparing new spells at the end of a long rest seems to require studying their spellbook (emphasis added):

You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of wizard spells requires time spent studying your spellbook and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

Assuming a wizard's spellbook is a mundane book or other written medium, does this mean that they cannot prepare new spells if they are blinded at the end of a long rest? What if their spellbook is something more exotic, such as a spellshard?

Best Answer

By RAW, you can't prepare new spells unless you have some special means around the blindness

The description for changing your prepared wizard spells states that you have to memorize the incantations and gestures required. If you can't read the spellbook due to blindness then you can't do this. Braille is not mentioned in the rules and you'd need a good reason to have any kind of book you can read without needing sight.

However, if you have a familiar you can see through their eyes and read the spellbook that way. If you have some other means of seeing despite being blind the same logic applies.

A spellshard can project the contents of the spellbook into the users mind so it does not require sight.