Would a sun sensitivity outfit help with the Shadowbound oracle’s curse

blindoraclepathfinder-1e

I'm wondering whether this sun sensitivity outfit could help an oracle with the Shadowbound oracle's curse since it essentially gives the oracle light blindness.

Admittedly, the outfit says specifically it helps with light sensitivity, not light blindness, and I don't know if the divine/supernatural origin of the effect, in this case, would be relevant. Still, it seems like it would probably be helpful, right?

Best Answer

The sun-sensitivity outfit only cares if the light is magical, not whether the source of light sensitivity is, so on that count, you’re good.

On the other hand, the effect of the shadowbound curse is not named “light sensitivity,” as specified by the sun-sensitivity outfit, and the effect isn’t quite the same since you are blinded, not merely dazzled, when suddenly exposed to light. As such, this is—at best—a question for a GM ruling, as the rules don’t support you.

Personally, at least when I am attempting to rule based on the rules and not houserule things entirely, I rule that the sun-sensitivity outfit protects against the dazzled effect of the shadowbound curse, but not the blindness. Further, since combat suddenly negates the benefits of the sun-sensitivity outfit, I rule that you’re now subject to being blinded, whereas otherwise you might be acclimated and just dazzled. That makes the sun-sensitivity outfit dubious for most shadowbound oracles.

However, I mostly game in a 3.PF environment, where the 3.5e supplement Sandstorm is in play, as are its 10-gp sun lenses,

This item, made of thin slabs of mica or volcanic glass affixed to curved frames, can protect your eyes from being dazzled by bright light, such as glare (see page 18). If you are already dazzled when you don the lenses, you are treated as if you had entered an area of shade; you recover from the dazzled condition 1 hour if you continue to wear the lenses.

(Sandstorm pg. 101)

As such, most shadowbound oracles would prefer this cheaper and more effective item—though it still does not protect against blindness when suddenly plunged into light. Frankly, I find this state of play acceptable—oracle curses are not all made equal when it comes to how easily their effects can be mitigated or negated, but there are some still much easier than this. The risk of blinding from shadowbound is still plenty of drawback enough to make the curse interesting, and if I was really worried about min-maxing I wouldn’t really be worried about shadowbound oracles at all.

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