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Spells such as Find Familiar and Beast Sense cause the caster to be blinded and deafened to their own senses when perceiving through the senses of the familiar/beast. Does that count as the blinded and/or deafened condition? Does Lesser Restoration remove that blinded or deafened condition? Why or why not?

Obviously the intention is probably not going to allow this, but I'm interested in the RAW interpretation here.

To imagine the possible effects, consider the following:

Scenario 1: The spell fizzles.

Scenario 2a: The caster can see or hear simultaneously from two different perspectives for the duration of the spell.

Scenario 2b: The caster can see or hear simultaneously from two different perspectives, but using the senses immediately reapplies the blindness/deafness.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I wonder, if you had another way of seeing such as the Robe of Eyes, could you still use the robe to see 360 degrees around your body while you warged into your familiar? The text simply says you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses. \$\endgroup\$
    – ClericoftheWest
    Commented May 6 at 18:21
  • \$\begingroup\$ "The eyes on the robe can't be closed or averted. Although you can close or avert your own eyes, you are never considered to be doing so while wearing this robe." It kinda sounds like even closing your own eyes would not end the effect of the robe, so the question becomes does the robe count as your own senses or the robe's senses? \$\endgroup\$
    – Kakuna Rattata
    Commented May 22 at 0:41

2 Answers 2

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The Lesser Restoration spell would essentially do nothing.

While all the checkboxes for Lesser Restoration are checked, we can check the wording of Find Familiar:

Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

Emphasis mine. While the Lesser Restoration spell would in fact remove blindness, the effect that is causing the blindness is still happening. The order of operations would therefore likely look like this:

  1. You use your action to see through your familiar's eyes, etc etc
  2. Your friend casts Lesser Restoration on you
  3. The Blinded condition ends
  4. The Blinded condition immediately comes back, because the spell effect that is blinding you is still happening
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  • \$\begingroup\$ Quite technical, but also makes sense. +1 \$\endgroup\$
    – Nobody the Hobgoblin
    Commented May 6 at 17:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ @NobodytheHobgoblin Yeah, in my mind it's like trying to heal a wound while the sword is still stuck in their belly. I do think your answer is more to-the-point though. \$\endgroup\$
    – TheLittlePeace
    Commented May 6 at 17:31
  • \$\begingroup\$ @TheLittlePeace I actually like your answer better, it doesn't have issues with interpreting the terms "blind" and "deaf". \$\endgroup\$
    – justhalf
    Commented May 7 at 14:44
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No, as you still can see and hear

Find familar says:

Additionally, as an action, you can see through your familiar's eyes and hear what it hears until the start of your next turn, gaining the benefits of any special senses that the familiar has. During this time, you are deaf and blind with regard to your own senses.

You are not blinded or deafened. You just are using another set of organs to see or hear.

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    \$\begingroup\$ The point is that your perspective had changed to that of the familiar. You're not ACTUALLY blind, but effectively you are no longer perceiving through your own body, so the ruling is that you function as if "you are deaf and blind" (with regard to your own senses). You aren't actually blind nor deaf, but with regards to your original body, you function as if you are. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nelson
    Commented May 7 at 3:30

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