darkvision & black puddings

I am DM'ing a group of half-drow who all have darkvision and the next session they are most likely going to enter a room that was painted black and completely empty except for a few black puddings. If the party relies strictly on their darkvision would the black puddings have total concealment since darkvision only shows black and white?

First off, what's stopping the black puddings from eating the paint? Better to simply coat the walls with obsidian - That way, it makes more sense and enterprising PC's can pull away big chunks of obsidian as treasure.

Secondly, total concealment is really pushing it - But simple concealment (20% miss chance and can hide) is quite reasonable.

why do you think total concealment is pushing it? the black puddings are completely blended into the black environment, basically making them invisible to anyone with darkvision...

i like the obsidian idea... would black puddings really be interested in eating paint though?

evets said:

why do you think total concealment is pushing it? the black puddings are completely blended into the black environment, basically making them invisible to anyone with darkvision...

i like the obsidian idea... would black puddings really be interested in eating paint though?

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Im guessing that you would be able to see movement and the feint outline of the puddings. I personally would go with dc 30 spot check, same for listen.

It's not a question of whether Black puddings are interested in eating paint - they aren't even self-aware; they're colony ooze creatures. If the "paint" was succeptible, they'd dissolve it just by moving over it with their acid touch.

I would say partial concealment, but total or invisibility might be too much, unless a magical effect somehow turned the puddings invisible (say through a spell or such).

I'd just give them a +5 circumstance bonus on their hide checks.

evets said:

why do you think total concealment is pushing it? the black puddings are completely blended into the black environment, basically making them invisible to anyone with darkvision...

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They're further out than the wall. If black puddings were perfectly black, and the walls were perfectly black, the black puddings would be invisible, but neither of those is likely to be true.

If you want invisible black puddings, simply have them attack while PCs are wading through water.

and give them the fiendish template like MC did in the

That really depends on how darkvision works. While it is indeed black & white, there's nothing that indicates that it has any relation to the colors that one sees with regular vision. In fact, in my campaigns, it doesn't - some things look very different in darkvision than they do in normal light.

J

I would give them circumstance bonuses to hide, and be suer you take distance into consideration for spot penalties. Once in combat, I might give them 20% concealment at best for melee. For ranged combat, I would probably consider giving them more concealment.

Darkvision does black & white, but I figure that a black pudding isn't an exact color and consistency in color. In normal light, it is very dark, and appears black. But, in contrast to obsidion, or black paint, maybe it is more a deep brown (Chocolate pudding!) or something like that. I also tend to think of darkvision as providing varying shades of gray, but that might be more me than the book. In any event, once you have something eating your leg, you are just looking for contrast to figure out where to hit it. That is why I wouldn't provide real heavy concealment bonuses in melee.