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Does the psionic power Touchsight grant line of sight, when you might otherwise not have line of sight?

The power description mentions line of effect, and has some other language commonly found in conjunction with line of sight, but does not seem to be clear as to whether it grants effective line of sight or not.

The d20 SRD version of the text of the power is provided below for convenience:

You generate a subtle telekinetic field of mental contact, allowing you to “feel” your surroundings even in total darkness or when your sight would otherwise be obscured by your physical environment. Your touchsight field emanates from you out to 60 feet. You ignore invisibility, darkness, and concealment, though you must have line of effect to a creature or an object to discern it. You do not need to make Spot or Listen checks to notice creatures; you can detect and pinpoint all creatures within 60 feet. In many circumstances, comparing your regular senses to what you learn with touchsight is enough to tell you the difference between visible, invisible, hiding, and concealed creatures.

Augment: For every 2 additional power points you spend, the radius of your touchsight field increases by 10 feet.

For example:

  • The power *Energy Retort*requires line of sight.
  • The feat Burrowing Power references powers that require line of sight.
  • A number of spells require line of sight. Tactical Teleportation (from the Complete Mage) is one such.
  • The Knight class feature Test of Mettle requires line of sight.
  • The Tome of Battle maneuver Shadow Jaunt requires line of sight.

Does the psionic power Touchsight grant line of sight, when you might otherwise not have line of sight, thus permitting use of the above examples, or any other abilities which require line of sight?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ To make it simple, am I getting it right, the question asks if Touchsight effectively is Blindsight or Blindsense? \$\endgroup\$
    – annoying imp
    Oct 27 '17 at 5:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ @annoyingimp I suppose that is one way to look at it. The power calls out needing line of effect, but doesn't call out needing line of sight. On the other hand, it also doesn't call out that it positively or effectively grants line of sight, either. So I'm trying to clarify if using Touchsight is the same as having line of sight or not. \$\endgroup\$
    – nijineko
    Oct 27 '17 at 16:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ Could you possibly clarify what part of your question isn't covered by answers present? Do you need LoS for something other than targetting or arguments aren't strong enough, maybe? \$\endgroup\$
    – annoying imp
    Feb 26 '18 at 5:33
  • \$\begingroup\$ @annoyingimp There are other effects or actions which can require line of sight based on the text for those items. The question was raised as to whether the sense of touch granted by Touchsight actually counted as line of sight, when only line of effect was explicitly called out. So it is more about whether a character that is under the effect of Touchsight can take actions or use effects which explicitly require line of sight or not. \$\endgroup\$
    – nijineko
    Feb 27 '18 at 3:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ Then I should suggest you to add examples to the question, as a general answer will be: it depends on the effect. To say more, I'm not aware of significant amount of things which depend on LoS. May it be you are interested in something specific? \$\endgroup\$
    – annoying imp
    Feb 27 '18 at 6:48
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It probably does, at least effectively

As it states that Touchsight lets you ignore concealment, it seems the power locates exact position of the target, so it probably should be sufficient as a substitute for having line of sight for purposes of targetting.

It most likely acts as psionic equivalent of Blindsight spell: also 3rd level, matching durations.

Yes, it also says it lets you detect and pinpoint creatures, neither of which equels having line of sight (first being aware of a creature and second knowing squeres it occupies on the map). But I think that part is there as an explanation of why you shouldn't make Listen or Spot checks and supplements previous benefits not overrides them.

Conserning your examples

  1. Energy Retort. Power needs line of sight because manifester needs it to target something with a ranged attack. It is a targetting issue and a clear yes. Touchsight works.
  2. Burrowing Power. This does not work. And that's not because Touchsight's equivalent of line of sight isn't good enough. Its because touchsight can't give you its equivalent of line of sight to the point to wich you have no line of effect.
  3. Tactical Teleportation. This again is a targetting issue. I'm certain to a reasonable degree that you can 'see' walls, floor, and obstacles with Touchsight as well as you can 'see' creatures. So I see no problems with targetting a square (or grid intersection, if you please) with it.
  4. Test of Mettle. This is a simple targetted effect. If you may target someone with Magic Missle or Charm Person why not with a Test of Mettle?
  5. Shadow Jaunt. See #3.

When Touchsight != Line of Sight

I feel I should say why the power grants line of sight effectively. What I'm trying to say by this statement is that mechanically you act as if you had line of sight when the line of sight is the only thing that matters. You can't probably distinguish color with Touchsight, you aren't subject to Gaze Attacks through it, and so forth. If you need to actually see something for whatever reason Touchsight won't help you.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ @nijineko As you can see, all your examples are about targetting something with something else. This is why I asked for them. \$\endgroup\$
    – annoying imp
    Feb 28 '18 at 18:11
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Sort of...

The line

"You ignore invisibility, darkness, and concealment, though you must have line of effect to a creature or an object to discern it."

lists what you may ignore. Cover is not included in that list.

The DM might rule that given the phrasing of the entry, only total cover, or even being in a closed box, would foil touchsight, but that's up to them.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Partial cover doesn't block line-of-sight, so it doesn't need to be on the list. \$\endgroup\$
    – Topquark
    Aug 28 '17 at 0:53
  • \$\begingroup\$ As far as I can tell, none of the things you may ignore would normally block line of sight to begin with - in game terms. \$\endgroup\$
    – Weckar E.
    Sep 27 '17 at 11:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ @WeckarE. The part about "when your sight would otherwise be obscured by your physical environment" could yield situations where line of sight might be obscured, but a "telekinetic sense of touch" might still provide an effect which is basically the same as line of sight for targeting and location purposes. \$\endgroup\$
    – nijineko
    Oct 27 '17 at 16:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Chemus Updated the question with some specific examples. \$\endgroup\$
    – nijineko
    Feb 27 '18 at 12:26

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