Darkvision Vs. Cloud of Darkness

[Atreides]

Darkvision: A creature that has darkvision can see in dim light and darkness without penalty.

Darkness: Characters who have normal vision or low-light vision can’t see creatures or objects in darkness. Characters who have darkvision can see without penalty.

Cloud of Darkness: The burst creates a cloud of darkness that remains in place until the end of your next turn. The cloud blocks line of sight, squares within it are totally obscured, and creatures entirely within it are blinded until they exit. You are immune to these effects.


So can a character or monster with Darkvision penetrate a Cloud of Darkness?

 

[Ryujin]

No, because it's magical darkness.

 

[Atreides]

Is there a definition somewhere that differentiates between 'magical' darkness and 'normal' darkness?

I know that from 1E to 3.5E the Drow clouds were immune to Infravision/Darkvision - so by tradition one would presume that is the same here in 4E - and so far I have run it in that fashion.

I just don't know what rules text is out there that actually justifies that view point - so if someone can point to something, please do.

Thanks!

 

[corncob]

No, because it's magical darkness.

Magicalness is irrelevant. creatures with darkvision can't see into the cloud because it blocks line of sight. Inside the cloud, you're blind on top of that. Nothing short of blindsight or tremorsense will work.

 

[Turtlejay]

Cloud of Darkness: The burst creates a cloud of darkness that remains in place until the end of your next turn. The cloud blocks line of sight, squares within it are totally obscured, and creatures entirely within it are blinded until they exit. You are immune to these effects.

You answered your own question here. Powers indicate in their description how they behave in relation to the general rules. Generally, characters with Darkvision (rare in 4e) can see in the dark. This power, as indicated by you, is an exception. If it just made things dark, it would say so. Instead, it says what happens right there in the description. It does not make it dark, it blocks line of sight and blinds the creatures inside it. Such a cloud *may also be dark*, but the key features are:

1)apply blindness
2) block line of sight

Jay

 

[Ryujin]

Magicalness is irrelevant. creatures with darkvision can't see into the cloud because it blocks line of sight. Inside the cloud, you're blind on top of that. Nothing short of blindsight or tremorsense will work.

The "magicalness" of this darkness is defined by it's qualities of blocking line of sight and causing blindness. I was going for the simple answer