D&D 5E Everyone has Darkvision - too generous?

[Warmaster Horus]

Darkvision turns natural darkness to dim light and dim light to bright light in its' range. Visual perception is at Disadvantage in total darkness. My party usually runs with Dancing Lights or the like in complete darkness unless they're trying to be particularly stealthy. There's also usually a halfling, dragonborn, tiefling or human in the group, too, who needs light.

 

[CapnZapp]

I'd tweak it a bit:

Low-Light Vision: To you, the vision range of all light sources is multiplied by 10 (this does not actually make the light source brighter). For example, if a party member is carrying a torch, you can see out to 200 feet with no penalty, and another 200 feet as if the area were dimly lit. If there is any ambient light, such as starlight, you can see clearly with no penalty at any distance.

The nice thing about this version is that it doesn't require handing out extra bonuses to offset the loss of darkvision. You still have to carry a light source, but if you have one, low-light vision is much better than darkvision. It also supports the specialties of various races. For a wilderness archer (elf), low-light vision is better because it gives you the range to take full advantage of a longbow, and there will usually be some ambient light. For a subterranean melee warrior (dwarf), darkvision remains superior.

Nah, that would require an elf hunter to still carry a light.

Besides, it makes no sense. The reason an owl can hunt at night is because the natural light level is enough. (Though Owls illuminating their prey using laser beams from their eyes would be cool)

BTW, if you by "extra bonuses" mean the bit about bow range, feel free to drop it.

Elves (like half-elves) are cool enough even with a straight swap darkvision for lowlight vision.

My main idea was to bundle the vision into Keen Senses, which would mend that SCAG variant half-elf option.

 

[Dausuul]

Nah, that would require an elf hunter to still carry a light.

Besides, it makes no sense. The reason an owl can hunt at night is because the natural light level is enough. (Though Owls illuminating their prey using laser beams from their eyes would be cool)

Huh? I have no idea what you're getting at here. My version of low-light vision is very similar to yours, except that I re-worded it and increased the range multiplier from x2 to x10.

That increase is what allows it to stand on equal footing with darkvision. If the multiplier is only x2, darkvision would still be better in most cases. A x10 multiplier makes low-light vision competitive - the need for a light source or ambient light is offset by far superior range.

 

[dmnqwk]

I would say you are a Dwarf player who hates Elves from your initial choice. I would also guess you like Half-Orcs for a bit of variety.

If you'd simply said "Elves need penalising for being too strong" that would be one thing but you're basically saying Elves having Darkvision makes them overpowered compared to +2 Str and Con plus Medium Armour proficiency on a Dwarven Wizard.

If you're just going to steal from half elves and elves without recompense you should probably come up with a reason to your players, otherwise you're limiting their character selection, so while I do agree low-light vision is fine you need to ensure you're not screwing them over.

At the same token, why do you feel Half-Orcs get to keep Darkvision, I mean Orcs dont live underground they live on the surface normally, so shouldn't they lose it the same as Half Elves?

I would personally change Elven Darkvision to Excellent Vision. This would ignore the disadvantage on ranged attacks or penalties associated with low light.

 

[Dausuul]

I would say you are a Dwarf player who hates Elves from your initial choice. I would also guess you like Half-Orcs for a bit of variety.

Wha? He's giving elves compensation in the form of halved penalties on Perception for distance*, and doubling the normal (but not max) range of ranged weapons. Or were you talking to me? In that case, I should point out that I frequently play elves and pretty much never play dwarves. I regard my version of low-light vision as balanced with darkvision, but would be interested to hear counter-arguments.

It is true that CapnZapp would take away darkvision from half-elves without compensation, but half-elves are one of the most powerful races in 5E (alongside mountain dwarves and variant humans).

[size=-2]*Though this probably ought to be changed to "halving the effective distance for Perception penalties," since the most common form of Perception penalty is disadvantage on the roll, and "half disadvantage" doesn't make a lot of sense.[/size]

 

[dmnqwk]

I do love Half Elves in 5th edition (nothing says skills like a Half-Elven Lore Bard Criminal!) but I don't think taking from Half Elves is fair if you don't take from Half Orcs as well.

As for power levels, it all depends on what you're doing. Lucky is one of the most powerful abilities and belongs to Halflings, who also get the poison resistance or the ability to hide behind another player to sneak attack. I think all the races are fairly balanced depending on what you're going to play.

 

[jgsugden]

I prefer to have more vision choices in my games, but the players often find it confusing to have too many so I stick to the main rules. However, I like the following:

Darkvision - Characters with this ability generate a light that only they can see. It extends in all directions to the distance indicated for the ability. Creatures that live underground may have this vision (such as dwarves). It is always active.

Low light vision - Double the range of dim light from light sources. The original area of dim light emited from a source is treated as bright light. This is common amongst woodland monsters and creatures such as elves that don't prey on other beings often... It is always active.

Infravision - You can see into the infrared spectrum at any distance, allowing you to see heat sources in the dark. The infrared range is hard to discern in normal light, making it most useful in the dark. I replace darkvision with infravision for night hunting preying creatures like orcs, gnolls, goblins and kobolds. It allows them to discern the location of their prey in a valley while standing on a nearby ridge at night. Settlements worried about these raiders often use fire to wash out infravision and limit the ability of enemies to see the settlements clearly using infravision. Some spells are created to interact only with the infrared vision as discussed in ultravision below, but it is more rare. The eyes of creatures seeing in the infrared range emit dim red light when the ability is used (eyes glowing in the dark that can be seen from a distance, but illuminate only a few inches), which can be turned on and off.

Ultravision - Mostly useless, as few things show in the ultraviolet range that are not visible with normal vision, but intelligent underdark races with ultravision make use of the extended sight range and use magical (and a few mundane) techniques to communicate in the ultraviolate range in a way that only those with ultravision can see. Magics are often modified so that those with ultravsion can see a situation more clearly (Invisibility spells that do not hide from the ultraviolet range of light which create spectral purplish images of the invisible creatures, illusions labeled in writing at the ultraviolet range as illusions, light spells that only emit light at the ultraviolet range, etc...). This vision can be turned on and off, but when on it emits dim purple light making the eyes visible in the dark.

Supravision - Shorthand for Ultravision + Infravision. Creatures of magical natures may have this vision, such as dragonborn. It can be activated or turned off and when active, the eyes emit a dim white light.

Diabolic Vision - The vision of devils, anything that has ever been touched by a creature with a soul is infused with some of the light from that soul... that light lingers forever. As a result, pretty much everything emits soul light that devils can see and pretty much everything is visible to them... except things that drain souls and life. While a wraith can be seen in normal light, a wraith in the darkness is invisible to a devil. This is always active.

X-ray vision - This allows you to see through light concealment as if it were not there. It is rare.

True Sight - This gives all of the above because, well, magic. True sight has a spell level assigned to it and can only see through illusions of an equal or lower level.

 

[ccs]

I'm slightly annoyed that virtually everyone in the party can see without needing a light source. It blows many a cool mental image of exploring ruins, caves, etc via flickering torch light/floating light spells.
(this could happen in earlier editions as well)

BUT: I don't miss infra/ultra/low-light visions (and the discussions that came with some of them) enough to reinstate them....

Besides, DV only extends so far, counts darkness as dim light, & is seen in shades of grey. So my solution is the same as its ever been. Make bigger encounter areas &/or provide reasons why you should be using light sources.

 

[LapBandit]

I've made the following changes in my campaign:

Darkvision became Low-Light vision
Superior Darkvision became Darkvision

Night outside is Low-Light.
Inside anywhere without at night is Darkness.

It keeps things simple and makes light important.

 

[Azurewraith]

It bugs me that most races have dark vision its annoying but i cant say ill end up changing it. I dont really miss low light vision either i just dislike dark vision as it can ruin so much as css said i think any race with dark vision gets light sensitivity