D&D 5E Fixing Eldritch Blast

[MarkB]

The difference between the players and the DM is, the players are confined to the rules. The DM is not. As a DM I can run the game as I see fit, which includes interpreting, changing, or ignoring rules.

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Maybe run it by your players first though, especially if they've chosen Darkness spells and expect them to work as written.

 

[neogod22]

Maybe run it by your players first though, especially if they've chosen Darkness spells and expect them to work as written.

I don't run anything by my players. That start arguments and stop the game. I'm the judge. I make a decision and they live with it.

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[FrogReaver]

I don't run anything by my players. That start arguments and stop the game. I'm the judge. I make a decision and they live with it.

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LOL. Your players have all the power.

 

[mellored]

I don't run anything by my players. That start arguments and stop the game. I'm the judge. I make a decision and they live with it.

Feel free to play as you want. Rule #1 is to have fun.

I was just pointing out what the book says.

 

[neogod22]

Feel free to play as you want. Rule #1 is to have fun.

I was just pointing out what the book says.

I know what the rules say. The problem is, the rules aren't perfect, and it's part of the DM's job to make sense of them. Especially the vague rules.

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[Mistwell]

You can target it, though, assuming it's not hidden. Invisibility does not hide your location by default, it just allows you to hide anywhere.

Nobody is talking about invisibility. We're talking about total concealment and blindness, which is different. Again, even if you could use hearing to identify where someone is, there is nothing about hearing which identifies WHO someone is. And nothing to identify objects - like walls. You will still have to guess who is friend and who is foe, and where things are, no matter how you slice it.

I mean, you guys are literally arguing darkvision is mostly meaningless, that light sources are mostly meaningless, that everyone can see everything all the time just by hearing. That's not the rules as written. The rules don't make your hearing into radar. You still must be able to identify where a target is by normal logic and language. They don't need a rule for that - it's the friggen game that you have to say what you do where you do it!

 

[MarkB]

Nobody is talking about invisibility. We're talking about total concealment and blindness, which is different. Again, even if you could use hearing to identify where someone is, there is nothing about hearing which identifies WHO someone is. You will still have to guess who is friend and who is foe, no matter how you slice it.

Only if you lose track of them once the Darkness descends. Which, by the rules, you don't unless they hide.

 

[neogod22]

Only if you lose track of them once the Darkness descends. Which, by the rules, you don't unless they hide.

You lose track of them as soon as the spell goes up.

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[Mistwell]

Only if you lose track of them once the Darkness descends. Which, by the rules, you don't unless they hide.

DM: What do you do?
PC: I attack the nearest bugbear.
DM: Where is that?
PC: Wherever I hear it.
DM: You hear three creatures near you, fighting. You have no idea which is an ally, and which is a bugbear. They're not hidden, you just don't know which is which.

This is how illusions work as well by the way. By your logic, if something appears to be something else, it doesn't matter, you identify what it is purely by hearing. Which is...nonsense. Your logic also says darkvision is useless, and light sources are useless, most of the time. There's just nothing at the table that works about the way you guys are reading the rules. Your hearing is not a substitute for vision.

 

[MarkB]

DM: What do you do?
PC: I attack the nearest bugbear.
DM: Where is that?
PC: Wherever I hear it.
DM: You hear three creatures near you, fighting. You have no idea which is an ally, and which is a bugbear. They're not hidden, you just don't know which is which.

This is how illusions work as well by the way. By your logic, if something appears to be something else, it doesn't matter, you identify what it is purely by hearing. Which is...nonsense. Your logic also says darkvision is useless, and light sources are useless, most of the time. There's just nothing at the table that works about the way you guys are reading the rules. Your hearing is not a substitute for vision.

I never claimed it was logical, it's simply what's written. Unless a creature takes an action to hide, you continue to know where it is even when you lose sight of it. I have never suggested that you can identify something by hearing - simply that, once you have identified it, before the Darkness was cast, you never lose track of it unless it hides.

I am not advocating that this is a good thing, or how the game should work. I think the stealth rules could definitely do with another pass or two to tidy them up. I especially don't like the way that darkness, by providing both advantage and disadvantage at the same time, simply acts to eliminate the advantage/disadvantage mechanic from a combat. But this topic is already a diversion from the original thread topic, so it would be a disservice to other posters to further derail it with a detailed discussion about revising the stealth rules.