D&D 5E Drow "Sunlight Sensitivity" workarounds?

[77IM]

I'd allow the goggles but give the "fragility" a mechanical definition. This makes sense in-universe, without being too good.

Whenever the character takes falling damage, crushing damage (like from an avalanche or rock trap), or a critical hit, he has to make a Dex save (DC = half damage taken) or the goggles break.

Or you could make a "breakage check" for the goggles after every encounter. Roll a d20. On a 1, they broke. If it was a really rough encounter maybe increase the DC to 5 or 10.

Or you could have the character make a "maintenance check" with every long rest. On a failure, the goggles are loose and next time the character takes damage, they break. This way you only have to worry about it occasionally.

You could give the character a temporary Flaw: fragile goggles. Then when he needs Inspiration, his goggles break. (The FATE solution.)

Either way, at 100 gp a pop the price of goggles could add up fast.

 

[ccooke]

The goggles suggested in this thread should have some cost to their use - disadvantage on Wisdom(Perception) checks looks reasonable.

 

[Meliath1742]

I would be of the mindset that the flaw was seriously considered by "Mike and the Gang" and deemed appropriate for drow. It should be part of role playing this exotic race. If the player can come up with some type of work around it would still be part of the character but should not completely eliminate his weakness...or what's the point in playing something different.

 

[metalman42]

I say go with the goggles and let them live it up. Then, when the Drow attack, everyone's wearing a pair. (And the ones made in the Underdark are way cooler, so they'll want to steal a pair!)

 

[I'm A Banana]

1) High-Quality Smoked Glass Goggles. Fragile and finicky, but ideal.
Cost: as magnifying glass.
These goggles completely eliminate the wearer's light sensitivity trait while worn. Their fragility lives in the plot, not the rules. They probably block darkvision, but the wearer can just take them off for night uses.
...
My question: what can the enterprising DM do to encourage players away from the stable, sure-bet that are the fantasy sunglasses represented by option (1)?

I could rule it's beyond the skill of the local craftsmen, but telescopes exist and the player isn't being unreasonable; they're traveling to a large city with alchemists and astronomers next, so I can't delay forever.

I could come up with some sort of drawback -- suggestions? It's not enough that they look goofy in smoked shades, since the character is drow; they've already accepted visual prejudice as a thing. And I can't balance them with a wisdom(perception) penalty, since sunmmlight sensitivity already gives them that!

I want this to cost ongoing resources, at least until the player can obtain the sort of magical resources it'd take a character of another race to get darkvision

Cool, so you want getting rid of this to cost 'em!

I think the ideal scenario would be a cost that they would have to subtract every round. Usually, sunlight sensitivity means that in sunlight, you're taking a penalty every round. So if that penalty isn't going to be disadvantage, it should be something else.

Some ideas:

• If the goggles remove disadvantage for your attacks, perhaps they also obscure your vision enough that enemies get advantage on all of THEIR attacks while you're wearing 'em. The glass is kind of opaque, but that obscures incoming attacks as much as it clarifies outgoing attacks.
• Make the fragility part of the items' rules, rather than part of just its fiction. If the character gets hit with a crit, they break. Gotta deal with disadvantage now, and gotta pay out the gold to replace them when you get back to town (assuming that the town has the specialized resources to make the item).
• Though it's not every round, another way to make their fragility and "finicky" nature evident is to make sure that only specialized shops can carry them. You won't find it in just any general store -- you'll need a place with (1) skilled glaziers and (2) a lot of Sunlight Sensitivity to get rid of. Since most of our PC races don't have it, there's a good chance that it's both rare and kind of hostile (for instance, perhaps a hobgoblin glazier has the skill and the intent but, y'know, they're a hobgoblin, so getting those glasses means dealing with the Hobgoblin Imperium or somesuch). Make finding someone willing to sell this to the PC a bit of a special case to begin with.
• Back to every round, you could have these glasses give an AC penalty of some sort. A -2 to be an "anti-shield" for instance. Bounded Accuracy means that even mild AC penalties are going to be recurring annoyances. Again, the smoked glass causes problems in reacting to incoming attacks.

Personally, I'd probably take the AC penalty + "breaks on a crit" + the "they're tough to find" context. The glasses are useful, but you don't want to use them all the time, and if they break, you might be having some problems getting a replacement.

 

[The_Gneech]

The goggles suggested in this thread should have some cost to their use - disadvantage on Wisdom(Perception) checks looks reasonable.

I'd agree with this. The goggles cut the super-bright light, but they also hamper peripheral vision and make it harder to see details. You could have 'em cut the extended darkvision too, by the same reasoning. Of course, in the dark, the drow character would just take them off.

-The Gneech

 

[the Jester]

How about a feat that the player can take at later levels? Didn't Drizzt over come his sunlight sensitivity?

Driz'zt is perhaps the second biggest Mary Sue in D&D history, losing only to Elminster, and is a terrible model for anything in a balanced game. I don't think you'll find a lot of sympathy to the "But Driz'zt can do it!" argument, though I may be wrong.

However, it occurs to me that I left out a (snarky) potential solution- take out the pc's eyes, and then he's never got to worry about sunlight again!

 

[Agamon]

This has been a minimal problem in my group, thanks to smart playing. The party tends to travel at night. It's currently the beginning of spring in a northern climate, so they need to dress warmly, but even when it is day, it tends to be cloudy or snowing. Four levels in, they've only fought once in daylight, and the drow player stuck to casting save spells (he's a cleric).

The party has angered a powerful drow who will be sending an assassin to take them out and take what was stolen from her. He'll probably have some sort of magic cloak that negates the sunlight sensitivity that the PC can use if they manage to take him out.

Then again, the game will likely be moving to the Underdark soon, so it might not be necessary.

 

[77IM]

I was thinking about this some more, and combining several options from upthread, here's how I'd rule it.

1) Slit goggles cost 1 gp. They remove the disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks when you are looking directly at a single creature or object. Targeting multiple foes or general Wisdom (Perception) checks to notice things you aren't looking at are still disadvantaged.

2) Smoked-glass goggles cost 100 gp and negate Sunlight Sensitivity but only within 30 feet. They also totally negate darkvision. A 1000 gp version negates Sunlight Sensitivity out to 60 feet.


So in both cases the drow character has some interesting trade-offs and tactical decisions to make. Does a wizard really want to get within 30 feet of his target, or is he OK with not casting spells at multiple people? I think that's more fun than the strategic decision of "hey guys let's not adventure in the day time so much, OK? Please???"

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I'd just tell them to deal with it since they wanted to play a drow. Or if I could be talked into goggles I'd say they are bulky and cut down on vision enough that foes beyond the first have advantage on attacks against the user.