What do you think conditions appear as in-game?

[Requilac]

Most of us here have played 5e long enough to know what each condition does for the mechanics of the game. They effect the game way in an undeniably concrete way. If you are frightened you can't move closer to your source of fear, if you are blinded you automatically fail ability checks which rely on hearing, if you are incapacitated you can't take actions, etc. But ultimately what I have recognized is that exact manner in which these conditions appear in game is very vague. This topic was recently brought up at my table when a blinded character was describing their actions. We all apparently did not have the same mental image of how this condition manifested. The DM thought that being blinded meant that the target was completely incapable of seeing anything (like an opaque sheet was covering their eyes), but I thought that they were just having extremely blurry vision, another person assumed that the character could technically see but was too confused to make sense of their environment well, another guessed that the blinded character's eyes temporarily lost its ability to see color and in three dimensions (making everything difficult to process). These all had the same effect in game, but it raised my interest to this. Not everybody imagines the way conditions manifest the same way. How do you see the way conditions manifest in game? Here is how I envision all of them

Blinded: A blinded creature isn't necessarily completely incapable of seeing, but their vision is much too blurred for them to make out anything. Sort of like trying to see through a dense, milky fog. You can see shapes move, but your mind can't seem to process what exactly you are seeing.

Charmed: I know that I should probably imagine a charmed target as someone that is just enraptured, or something more befitting for a temptress to apply then cthulhu, but I can't help but seeing something horrific. Although in D&D you do have enchantment spells, most of these are actually more focused on driving the target insane or taking control of their mind and not so much as simply charming them in a relaxing/sexy way. Thusly, I imagine someone who is charmed as experiencing some sort of psychosis. The target is desperately trying to resist being charmed and is visually struggling, but they are rapidly losing control of their ability to think. Sort of scary, but definitively befitting for crown of madness, dominate person and confusion.

Deafened: I don't necessarily see a deafened person as completely incapable of hearing anything, but they sure are struggling with it. I envision it sort of as the after-affect on hearing when a grenade blows next to someone in one of those old war movies. Their head is ringing and they can hear noises as if it was distant but can't tell what they are hearing.

Exhausted: I think this seems to indicate tiredness, but I always though of exhaustion as more of sluggishness. Your movement is just becoming slower and slower and your ability to react is failing. Walking feels heavy and difficult. More of a sense of lethargy than an actual need of sleep.

Frightened: This may sound weird, but I don't actually associate this condition with actually fear. I see it as more of a catch-all for an effect which heavily induces any sort of strong negative emotion such as gloom, disgust or horror. The target always doesn't want to step closer to the inducer, but they might just be too grossed out or uncomfortable to come closer, not necessarily too afraid too.

Grappled: When it comes to this I imagine that this is sort of like a weaker version of restrained where only one part of the body is held back. A leg, an arm or other appendage may be restrained, but the rest of the body is free to move.

Invisible: I don't necessarily think there is no visible sign of an invisible creature necessarily. You could probably see a vague outline or perhaps some of energy field around them (like a black hole), but it's very difficult to hone in on. More like you just happen to be perfectly camouflaged to your environment and not actually impossible to see.

Paralyzed: A paralyzed target is literally physically incapable of moving. They may have the awareness to try to move, but ultimately their limbs just don't rise. That doesn't mean all their body systems shut down though. Heart and lungs will still work and any other organ which is constantly active, but muscles are going to stiffen up and not move like they are supposed to. To a certain extant their eyes can move around. Sort of like the paralysis caused by sleep paralysis.

Petrified: I don't imagine the target immediately becomes a rock. I see petrified more as their body is all stiffening up and becoming completely taught but inactive. No movement can be made and the person is completely incapable of moving in any manner. Even the eyes and heart aren't doing anything. You are basically dead for a little bit before you actually turn to rock slowly. The process is slow though so I don't think that someone becomes completely made of rock until years have passed.

Poisoned: This represents basically any feeling of being sick, even ones not caused from poison. This varies widely from anything from "down with cold", to anemic to suffering intense gastrointestinal pain. The effect itself actually lasts for a very long time, so once you succeed on the saving throw against being poisoned you haven't actually purged it from your system, you just sort of learned to "suck it up and deal with it".

Prone: Despite the name, I don't think a prone target is usually flat on the ground. Typically I just imagine them as being lower to the ground in some sort of uncomfortable position. They could be on their knees, crouching down on the ground, knocked on their butt or anything in between, but they aren't necessarily lying down.

Restrained: This massively varies too but I would say that a restrained target has all its arms and legs grappled in some manner. The important limbs just can't move functionally because something is in their way. Like a higher level of grapple basically.

Stunned: I think I am not envisioning this right, but whenever I imagine a stunned target as a person who can move if they tried but they are too in shock to actually do anything. Sort of like their mind is in a haze or they are a "deer in the headlights". They could do something if they tried, but their brain is just failing them and not sending the necessary signals.

Unconscious: I rarely envision an unconscious target as actually asleep. To me this more represents when a person loses control of their body and their mind wanders elsewhere. I think it looks a lot closer to someone having "their head in the clouds" or experiencing a dissossociative episode. They could be asleep of course, but I think it is a lot closer to a sort of out out of body experience than anything else.

[Asmotherion]

On the Charmed condition:

I Role Play it as follows, on PCs. I give them some information, and, if they try to "doupt" the information, they automatically fail the check. I also tell the charmed creature that the "charmer" seems friendly, pleasent, or otherwise non-offensive and helpfull.

[Vessyra]

...if you are blinded you automatically fail ability checks which rely on hearing...

Typo

Blinded: I see blindness as simply not being able to see anything, as the entire world being nothing but darkness. Of course, this can change given what gives the condition, but in general I see it in the same way as your DM.

Charmed: I'd always seen it as suddenly realising that that charmer is the person that you trust and care for more than anyone. The whole horror thing is an interesting take, though. I'll have to put it into one of my games. When it comes to dominate person (which isn't a charm effect, but it was brought up) I see it as losing control your body.

Deafened: I imagine the ringing as well, for most effects that give deafness. With the deafness of blindness/deafness, and the silence spell, I instead see it as one moment you can hear things, then suddenly you everything goes quiet.

Exhausted: I see it... as muscles being... to tired... body's telling me to rest...

Frightened: I've always seen it as "Oh no oh no oh no what was I thinking going dragon hunting oh no oh no". So, I see it as fear.

Grappled: I typically imagine someone grabbing the shirt (if it's a person) or wrapping tentacle/mouth/claw around to chest. The arms are still free to move.

Invisible: I typically imagine a set of footprints in the ground, with nothing visible above them. A friend of mine sees a imagines a slight shimmer in the air

Paralysed: I imagine muscles that have stiffened up also.

Petrified: I see a statue. If it's an effect that just changes the flesh, then I see a statue wearing clothes.

Poisoned: you feel like vomiting. As Belkar put it, "I think that my intestines are trying to declare independence".

Prone: I see the target as flat on the ground. However, on the knees or on the butt would count and I think that I once described it that way.

Restrained: I imagine that the person's upper arms are pinned to his/her sides, but the lower arms can still swing a weapon/cast a spell, albeit not very effectively.

Stunned: it varies a lot. Sometimes, I imagine someone in shock. Other times, it's a cartoonish birds-flying-around-the-head. On other times, you're just standing there drooling as your brain isn't sending down the right signals. (The last one is mostly for mind flayer attacks)

Unconscious: I imagine the target as asleep. Unless they're at zero hit points, in which case they're slowing bleeding to death.