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

[Moorcrys]

I think the sunlight sensitivity should be a larger issue than something that can be minimized by buying some kick-ass sunglasses. IMHO getting rid of a race-balancing penalty like that requires some investment by the Player. That being said, Feats are expensive and hard to get, so I'd throw in some additional benefit for taking it on top of removing the sunlight sensitivity penalty. It wouldn't be earth-shaking, but it would add a little bit of flavor to the Feat and give the PC drow a small, cool extra bennie.

 

[Meliath1742]

:thumbup:

 

[Queer Venger]

Drizzt dealt with it by being a novel character who does not have to deal with game mechanics and game balance.

Really, just striking it off because the players says my drow has been on the surface for X years is even worse than striking it off by throwing some spare change to buy some googles at it

I can imagine how much fun it is to be a player at your table. If one of my players comes to me with an original, interesting and well thought out concept for a character I am not going to on it and tell them to take penalties. The beauty of D&D is that we have rules for playing the 'other' the outcasts, the adventurer who goes against convention. Yes, it is a novel and novels can break the rules because they are fiction and not game modules, but remember that fiction inspires imagination, which is one of the main reasons we all gravitate to this hobby.

Crystal Shard explains that Driz'zt has spent several decades in the surface world, that he has adapted somewhat to sunlight, (but not the brightest sunlight). So on a cloudy day in the tundra I would give the drow ranger no penalties, so long as he had a hood or other means of protecting his eyes. In the brightest of days I would give him disadvantage, even with eye protection. These are just ideas so players can enjoy the game, not to send them away to come back with a character that I LIKE.

 

[Agamon]

I can imagine how much fun it is to be a player at your table. If one of my players comes to me with an original, interesting and well thought out concept for a character I am not going to on it and tell them to take penalties. The beauty of D&D is that we have rules for playing the 'other' the outcasts, the adventurer who goes against convention. Yes, it is a novel and novels can break the rules because they are fiction and not game modules, but remember that fiction inspires imagination, which is one of the main reasons we all gravitate to this hobby.

Crystal Shard explains that Driz'zt has spent several decades in the surface world, that he has adapted somewhat to sunlight, (but not the brightest sunlight). So on a cloudy day in the tundra I would give the drow ranger no penalties, so long as he had a hood or other means of protecting his eyes. In the brightest of days I would give him disadvantage, even with eye protection. These are just ideas so players can enjoy the game, not to send them away to come back with a character that I LIKE.

To pick a nit, Drizzt was on the surface for only a dozen years by the start of the Crystal Shard. But I agree with your assertion. The dark elf in our party isn't hindered on an overcast day or in complete shade (meaning his entire field of view is shaded from the sun). Direct sunlight is what causes a problem. And any glasses not strong enough to impair vision (enough to, say, give disadvantage on attacks and checks ) don't help much.

 

[Wolfskin]

I don't know if someone mentioned this so far, but a while ago on twitter someone asked Mike Mearls if losing Improved Darkvision would be an acceptable tradeoff to get rid of Sunlight Sensitivity, to which he answered "yes".

This would follow the Drizzt logic of "I spent so many years on the surface world that I'm no longer hindered by sunlight, but in turn I can't see in the dark as good as I did in the Underdark".

 

[Mirtek]

If one of my players comes to me with an original, interesting and well thought out concept for a character I am not going to on it and tell them to take penalties.

And if the player comes with a halfing whose backstory includes being a body builder you let him add a racial Str bonues? Or a dwarf who is a sprinter gets his base speed increased to 30 feet?

These are just ideas so players can enjoy the game, not to send them away to come back with a character that I LIKE.

We have the game designers racking their brains to come up with well balanced races that are equal to each other so that no one just steals the show and all players can enjoy the game equally without being inferior. A hefty penalty like sunligh sensitivity is there for a reason.

2) Smoked-glass goggles [...] They also totally negate darkvision

In how many situations would that ever come up to matter enough to be included?

 

[77IM]

Pretty rarely I will admit. The only ones I can think of is fighting near the mouth of a cave during the day -- the interior might still be dark in certain spots -- and sudden unexpected magical sunlight effects.

This is really more of a hedge against abuse of the goggles while underground, like, "Well the dilophosaur can't spit poison in my eyes because I'm wearing my goggles like I always do." Yeah, not when you want the darkvision.

But you are right, it is probably an unnecessary complication for most games I would run.

 

[Mirtek]

Pretty rarely I will admit. The only ones I can think of is fighting near the mouth of a cave during the day -- the interior might still be dark in certain spots -- and sudden unexpected magical sunlight effects.

This is really more of a hedge against abuse of the goggles while underground, like, "Well the dilophosaur can't spit poison in my eyes because I'm wearing my goggles like I always do." Yeah, not when you want the darkvision.

But you are right, it is probably an unnecessary complication for most games I would run.

Or maybe your fighting inside the foyer of a mansion and then the enemies suddenly drop the curtains to ambush you in the dark.

Just saying that 99% of situations darkvision matters are situations the PC wouldn't be wearing the googles, so adding that as a "balacing factor" is moot

 

[True_Blue]

I honestly will just get rid of the Sunlight Sensitivity if anyone expresses interest in playing a Drow race. I feel a disadvantage like that really isn't good for a PC race.

I really don't foresee a lot of people rushing to go play a Drow if its taken away. I still think plenty of races would be picked before the Drow for a lot of classes.

 

[kenmarable]

One of the characters in my 5e campaign is a drow wild sorceror.
The party has been doing a lot of (daytime) wilderness adventuring.
The player and I are both getting a bit bored of him always rolling everything with disadvantage.

So, as I understand it, the sunlight sensitivity is impacting the fun of the game you are playing? Then of course let the player have a workaround! Debating whether a player should have to change characters or whether mechanical disadvantages should be compensated, etc. is completely missing the point in my mind. Is it getting in the way of the fun? Without it, is the character not so overpowered as to impact the fun of everyone else? If the answers are "yes", then find a way around it without hesitation!

The rules are there to serve the fun, not the other way around. Worring about balance is pointless - except when it impacts the fun of the game. Sounds like it is not fun for you or the player, and if finding a workaround doesn't wind up ruining the fun of the other players, then who cares??

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

Help!

Now, the real question - how?

Of course, this being an imaginative game, if sunlight sensitivity is getting in the way of the fun, you could just go Drizzt and "you've been in the daylight enough that you're fine now, penalty is gone" but there's options that are a lot more fun.

It sounds like the option 1 of darkened lenses seems like the best option, but you would prefer some sort of ongoing cost or other balance? Is it either because you want to make sure the character keeps paying for it, or just think the other options would be better for the game?

One way to balance the lenses is, being someone who wears glasses, I can't imagine going into combat and having them actually stay on my face. You could have it be an issue of whenever takes a melee hit there's some chance of them flying off and hitting the ground (and possibly breaking). To avoid extra rolling, which you seem to want, you could have something like any hit that succeeds by more than a certain number knocks the glasses off as well - or even 50/50 chance like odd to hit rolls knock them off or something. Sure, there's nothing like that in 5e, but if it has the outcome you want and keeps things moving without extra bogged down rolls, go for it. Or even any critical hit on the PC breaks the lenses, etc.

Or even some of the inuit sunshades people have posted could work and just have disadvantage to visual perception checks or reflex-like saves or some such - whatever makes sense having limited peripheral vision. That's one of the cool things about 5e is that you can just decide things like disadvantage on the fly based on real world common sense rather than strict rules.


But bottom line, I wouldn't worry about the naysayers stating the PC should just deal with it - if it is spoiling the fun, especially for you both, then ditch it without guilt.

I'm actually technically on the albino spectrum, suffering (as do many of my family) from ocular albinism a.k.a the real-world version of Drow Sunlight Sensitivity

Thanks! That was quite informative. I can see in some of these worlds drow possibly evolving similar eye traits, or even if not, it's useful to hear your experience. Thanks!