LOL I would hardly call my response "shooting the OP".
And yet, IME, another reason why JC is
not the best game designer out there.
Let's place three rogues hidden in a forested area:
#1 is hidden behind some bushes within the bright light of a torch held by a character. So, the character can try to see #1 with a normal Wisdom (Perception) check.
#2 is hidden up in a tree at the edge of the dim light provided by the torch. The character makes a check to spot #2 with disadvantage.
#3 is hidden behind a rock in the darkness beyond the light spell, so the character automatically fails the checks to spot him.
View attachment 116655
Note: the outer circle is 60 feet, the edge of DV typically.
Throw just DV in:
#1, bright light, no change
#2, dim light is now "bright", no disadvantage
#3, darkness is now dim, so with disadvantage
With just DS (JC-version):
#1, bright light, no change
#2, dim light is
still dim light, so disadvantage
#3, the darkness
beyond the dim light is now "bright, so no auto-fail and no disadvantage
So, by his (JC) interpretation, with DS, you have normal bright light, dim light, and darkness--which within 120 feet is
also bright light... So, a rogue hiding in the bright light or darkness can be seen with normal perception, the one in dim light is a perception check with disadvantage?
That means the region between bright light and "bright" DS darkness is "dim light". How can your vision be bright, dim, and then bright again?
Yeah, that makes
so much sense... Sigh.
Back to the OP: If a light is on in a room, it radiates light as well as that light illuminating the area. If magical darkness were cast over the light, it
still radiates light, but now the illumination is suppressed. DS allows you to see through into the darkness, so you would see it radiating light as always just as you see a candle radiating light normally.