D&D 5E A whole group with Darkvision!

[Bladecoder]

Hi,
Now I realize that the players did this on purpose to give them an clear advantage during exploration, but none the less it still bothers me some what. I feel as if it gets rid of an added problem in combat that they dont have to worry about anymore, and I dont want to just through magic darkness at them all of the time. So does anybody have any suggestions on how to add disadvantages to a group with full darkvision while exploring? Also to be clear I am doing this to add to my players fun, as most fun things in D&D stem from conflict. So if you have any suggestions on how I should deal with this situation, leave a comment below. Thanks in advance!

 

[Psikerlord#]

Yeah, I prefer to remove darkvision from all PC races from the get go. The game is simply more interesting when you cant see in the dark without torches etc.

 

[Horwath]

Hi,
Now I realize that the players did this on purpose to give them an clear advantage during exploration, but none the less it still bothers me some what. I feel as if it gets rid of an added problem in combat that they dont have to worry about anymore, and I dont want to just through magic darkness at them all of the time. So does anybody have any suggestions on how to add disadvantages to a group with full darkvision while exploring? Also to be clear I am doing this to add to my players fun, as most fun things in D&D stem from conflict. So if you have any suggestions on how I should deal with this situation, leave a comment below. Thanks in advance!

It is not that big of a deal.

Game already has mechanics to make you want to use light sources.

In darkness with darkvision all is lightly obscured. That means disadvantage on all checks relying on sight. And as 99,99% of traps do not make a sound before triggered(if then even) that is -5 passive perception or disadvantage on active rolls to find traps. Let your players know that they will step in quite alot of them.

Ambushes; in general ambusher do not move, but wait at their chosen ambush site. So no sounds, you need to spot them. again -5 passive perception or disadvantage on active roll.

Darkvision is black and white only. Some detailes or clues could be missed without light. Think of like red-green color blindness.

Add disadvantage on usage of thief tools without light for disabling traps. Locks are mostly tactile, you could do that blind when you know what you are doing.

 

[Shiroiken]

It is not that big of a deal.

Game already has mechanics to make you want to use light sources.

In darkness with darkvision all is lightly obscured. That means disadvantage on all checks relying on sight. And as 99,99% of traps do not make a sound before triggered(if then even) that is -5 passive perception or disadvantage on active rolls to find traps. Let your players know that they will step in quite alot of them.

Ambushes; in general ambusher do not move, but wait at their chosen ambush site. So no sounds, you need to spot them. again -5 passive perception or disadvantage on active roll.

Darkvision is black and white only. Some detailes or clues could be missed without light. Think of like red-green color blindness.

Agreed. Also, IIRC, you can't read with only Darkvision, so the Wizard can't prepare spells and messages written on the walls will be missed.

 

[Caliban]

Those dirty powergaming PC's. Everyone having Darkvision is something only groups of NPC's are supposed to do!

 

[Bitbrain]

Here's the thing though (and when the two DMs for my group realized this fact, they were positively giddy), Darkvision is really just low-light vision.
Yeah, you can see in dim light within 60 feet, but beyond that range (or while actually in darkness), you still have disadvantage on the perception rolls.

the main DM for our group has since taken to throwing creatures at us which attack during the in-game night hours.

 

[Gardens & Goblins]

Theme the campaign around killer mime artists with zebra mounts and panda animal companions.

 

[Caliban]

The time to get annoyed is when the entire group takes two levels of Warlock for the Devil's Sight invocation. See perfectly out to 120' in normal or magical darkness, no disadvantage on perception checks. Then put on Goggles of Night so you can see 180' in darkness (120' without disadvantage, 120' to 180' with disadvantage).

 

[Horwath]

Agreed. Also, IIRC, you can't read with only Darkvision, so the Wizard can't prepare spells and messages written on the walls will be missed.

You can read with darkvision, but in black and white only. Now as I mentioned something can be written in red on green background and you would see it all as the same shade of grey.

You would need good black/white contrast to be able to read. Most paintings with many colors would be blur of grays.

But good quality paper/parchment with strong black ink would be 100% readable.

 

[Horwath]

The time to get annoyed is when the entire group takes two levels of Warlock for the Devil's Sight invocation. See perfectly out to 120' in normal or magical darkness, no disadvantage on perception checks. Then put on Goggles of Night so you can see 180' in darkness (120' without disadvantage, 120' to 180' with disadvantage).

actually, Devils sight does not give you darkvision(the default that is). So item would either do nothing, or if describing devils sight as darkvision, it would give 180ft of perfect sight in darkness.

I lean towards former as Devils sight is good enough already.

Also if 5 people want to "burn" 2 levels to see perfectly in the darkness I would not have a problem. Could be nice RP twists, epecialy if everyone had a different patron