D&D 5E Replacing Darkvision with other special senses

[Charlaquin]

"Low light vision" is less valuable, and personally I ignore it in my campaigns. It would be a waste.

Yes and no. Ignoring the disadvantage on Wisdom checks for dim light is less valuable than Darkvision in that it doesn’t allow you to get away with sneaking around dark places without a light source, but to be honest, that’s part of my motivation for replacing Darkvision for most peoples - I think light sources are an important resource management element that I think 5e makes a bit too easy to circumvent. But, capitalizing on it requires either having a party that all have Darkvision or splitting the party, which my regular players are very hesitant to do. At the same time, it’s potentially more valuable than Darkvision when the party is using light sources like torches in that it effectively extends the range at which you can see without penalty by torchlight or lamplight. I also personally want to make elves a tad bit less supernatural, which seems to be the opposite of your goal.

For the Elf, I would rather see the radiate an aura of light, even with optional flavor of spontaneously manifesting luminous tattoos if the player was into magical tattoos.

Relatedly, I feel the High Elf should get Mage Armor at will, that can appear as if any armor but traditionally appears as either silky Elven Chainmail or as a luminous aura of light.

This would be a good option for more Alfar or Shide-like elves, if that’s a thing you want. For me, this is something I might consider for the more Faewild-associated elves like Eladrin, but as mentioned above, I prefer my standard elves to be a bit less overtly supernatural, so this wouldn’t really work for my goals.

For the Wood Elf, I like the Shakespeare flavor that they are strictly nocturnal, so I am ok with them having Darkvision.

The thing is, nocturnal animals tend to have better vision than diurnal animals in conditions of limited light, but some amount light is still required for vision. For this reason, I prefer natural nocturnal creatures to have some form of low-light vision rather than full-on Darkvision, and to reserve Darkvision for more overtly supernatural means of perception. Just a personal preference though, as Darkvision does work fine to emulate natural night vision, so long as you require there be some sort of light for it to function, even if it’s not bright enough to function as “Dim Light” as the rules define it.

 

[Charlaquin]

Of course, Elf gets Detect Magic as a sense.

I would like more options to choose from.

So a player who wants Mage Armor can choose that. And a player who wants Detect Magic can do that.

I tend to associate Mage Armor more with High Elf and Detect Magic more with Eladrin. But it is fine to let the player choose. And add Misty Step to the list of choices.

So, something along the lines of the Warlock’s Eldritch Sight Invocation? I could get behind that for Eladrin. Again, a bit supernatural for elves by my preference, but that could be a decent native ability for Eladrin.

 

[Haldrik]

So, something along the lines of the Warlock’s Eldritch Sight Invocation? I could get behind that for Eladrin. Again, a bit supernatural for elves by my preference, but that could be a decent native ability for Eladrin.

I like more the mythic elves that personify magic, and like less the mortal elves of Tolkien. D&D has room for both concepts.

So, Eldritch Sight is highly appropriate for the mythic elves, such as those inspired by Norse alfar or French faie or Scottish sith.

I am comfortable with a list of options to choose from, including magic ones and mundane ones. Let players pick depending on character concept. I like associating each option with a specific elven culture, such as Misty Step being a Fey Eladrin Elf thing, and longsword fightingstyle being a Material High Elf thing. (I feel the Longsword feature should be more powerful, such as treating it as a finesse weapon or so on.) Then, a High Elf can choose Misty Step if the player wants, but this choice implies exposure to Eladrin Elf culture, and can be fun for a player backstory to explain how this happened.

 

[Haldrik]

This would be a good option for more Alfar or Shide-like elves, if that’s a thing you want. For me, this is something I might consider for the more Faewild-associated elves like Eladrin, but as mentioned above, I prefer my standard elves to be a bit less overtly supernatural, so this wouldn’t really work for my goals.


The thing is, nocturnal animals tend to have better vision than diurnal animals in conditions of limited light, but some amount light is still required for vision. For this reason, I prefer natural nocturnal creatures to have some form of low-light vision rather than full-on Darkvision, and to reserve Darkvision for more overtly supernatural means of perception. Just a personal preference though, as Darkvision does work fine to emulate natural night vision, so long as you require there be some sort of light for it to function, even if it’s not bright enough to function as “Dim Light” as the rules define it.

Heh, still not a fan of low-light.

Brainstorming. What if, the Wood Elf can see thru the eyes of any living plant within a 30 foot radius (maybe increasing to 100 feet at level 5, 300 feet at level 11, and 1000 feet at level 17). The Wood Elf wouldnt move or manipulate the plant, but would be able to see from its point of view, as a kind of sentry. I am not quite sure how useful it would be, but it would be flavorful. It emphasizes the bond that the Wood Elf has with natural lifeforces.

 

[Raduin711]

I think I like the idea of Gnomes having a superior sense of smell, which is how they are able to identify illusions so well. Even if an illusion includes a scent, it's never quite...

up to snuff.

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

I don't like the idea of races having tremor sense or blind sight. There's no reason for them to be immune to stealth like that. It seems overpowered to me.

 

[NotAYakk]

I don't like the idea of races having tremor sense or blind sight. There's no reason for them to be immune to stealth like that. It seems overpowered to me.

I agree. Even if it takes a "ping" action.

My attempt had limited tremorsense; a bonus against stealth and not being able to see things. But people could still walk quietly and sneak by a dwarf.

Blindsight 5' is different than general blindsight in that it only matters against stealth in bitch black or against the invisible.

 

[Eltab]

A few other things (rules-free at the moment):

Bat sonar - a blindsense?
Troglodytes have Enhanced Smell and can use their stench as a kind of code
Psionic "Detect Thoughts"-like sense
Spend an action to get Advantage (or "Take Ten") on a Perception check

Now I want to dig out my old Gamma World notes and see what Enhanced Senses would let your character do...

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

My first thought with the Underdark subspecies was to give them blindsight 60' rather than super-darkvision, playing on how real-life animals that live in isolated cave systems (or just purely underground in general) sometimes go beyond "underdeveloped eyesight" to being out-and-out blind. But I think that would mean that they could ignore their Sunlight Sensitivity by just...keeping their eyes closed? And as much as I personally don't care for Sunlight Sensitivity, it seems like a trait that's pretty important to the peoples that have it, and having an innate trait that counteracts that weakness with no effort required, especially in a way that's that silly, is probably a bad idea. So that might be a dead end.

Blindsight is very powerful, and probably not necessary: the only "cave creatures" that might realistically have it to that extent are bats. Darkvision in its current form works OK I think because it means that underground races can get by without a light source, but still have a use for one.

Aasimar can innately cast Light, so they have no need for darkvision: why skulk around in the darkness when you can bathe the world in holy light?

Only really seems odd from an optimisation perspective if you are assuming that they should get something else better instead.

(The real spicy vision mechanic for Aasimar would be to give them 5-10' or so of truesight - a bunch of Celestials have truesight, so a highly-restricted version of that effect feels right for a people with celestial blood. Would truesight break anything in the early-game badly enough to take it off the table as an option?)

Truesight is pretty powerful, even if you have to approach the disguised object or person. A reduced power version might be advantage on checks and saves against illusions or magical disguises.

"Low light vision" is less valuable, and personally I ignore it in my campaigns. It would be a waste.

If you have a lot of dungeon crawls, it probably would be, but it fits the flavour of elves being a little nocturnal and living outside in forests.
Low light vision not only increases the effective range of light effects like darkvision, it has no range limit in low light conditions.

 

[RangerWickett]

What if, the Wood Elf can see thru the eyes of any living plant within a 30 foot radius

So ... potatoes? They're the only plants with eyes, right?

Can they hear out of corn?

I kind of like the idea of elf farmers trying to breed other crops with metaphorical sensory organs.

I wonder what they can do with eggplant? suggestive eyebrow wiggle