[RPG] Ground glass to the eyes

combatcombat-maneuverpathfinder-1e

There is a Combat Maneuver called dirty trick which allows a character to – amongst other things – throw sand at another character's face to blind them for some time.

A player wanted to throw ground glass to an foe's eyes, and I guess the difficulty would be the same as for throwing sand, and I think I'd allow for a save to not get blinded permanently.

As there is no "Very dirty trick", and I'm afraid he might wander around with a pouch of ground glass, is there any rule to handle this in the RAW ?

Best Answer

The Dirty Trick maneuver has some limitations. If your player wants to attempt Dirty Trick frequently, then you should make sure to consistently enforce the rules.

  1. Dirty Trick can only impose temporary penalties. In your player's case, you can say that the target is temporarily blinded, and then may spend a move action to wipe the glass dust out of their face. Or they wait it out. Either way, the enemy is not permanently blinded.

    This condition lasts for 1 round. For every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD, the penalty lasts 1 additional round. This penalty can usually be removed if the target spends a move action.

    If you possess the Greater Dirty Trick feat, the penalty lasts for 1d4 rounds, plus 1 round for every 5 by which your attack exceeds your opponent’s CMD. In addition, removing the condition requires the target to spend a standard action.

  2. There is no saving throw involved. It's a combat maneuver that the player would attempt versus the enemy's CMD.

  3. Attempting a Dirty Trick normally provokes an attack of opportunity, unless the player's character has the Improved Dirty Trick feat or a similar ability.

  4. Dirty Tricks cannot cause damage. Even though having glass dust in your eyes is probably painful, no damage would be involved if it's done via a Dirty Trick.

If you want the thrown glass powder to cause actual hit point damage, or involve some sort of saving throw, then you may want to treat it as an alchemical weapon instead of a maneuver.

For example, the "Dust Knuckles" item involves throwing dust toward the eyes of your opponent. The target may make a reflex save or be blinded for 1 round. Glass dust sounds very cheap to make, so if you treated it as an alchemical weapon, then I imagine it would have a very low save DC.

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