D&D 5E Sudden Realization On Darkvision Wording

[Shiroiken]

The range is 60'.

If you are in dim light, you see for 60' as if it were bright.

If you are in darkness, you see for 60' as if it were dim light.

You can have a mix, however. If you're holding a torch, for example, you'd see 40 ft as bright light (the bright and dim light of the torch) and 20 ft as dim light (darkness beyond the torchlight).

 

[UngeheuerLich]

This is the second most ignored rule in all of D&D history, after material spell components.

Yes. And this oversight makes darkvision OP/ species without them UP.

Rules make sense. Maybe it should be spelled out in the trait though explicitely.

 

[overgeeked]

And much more of a headache to adjudicate. And to play with, since different DMs had different misunderstandings about how infrared light actually works.

How is that substantially different than now with different referees having different misunderstandings about how darkvision actually works?

 

[MarkB]

Yes. And this oversight makes darkvision OP/ species without them UP.

Not really, they're still OP even without the oversight. They'd only be not-OP if dim light disadvantaged attack rolls.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Not really, they're still OP even without the oversight. They'd only be not-OP if dim light disadvantaged attack rolls.

No. It is totally ok. 60 ft range is not that much. Being half blind in total darkness is not good either.
I do think however some species should be reduced to low light vision 60ft. And darkvision should lose the trait.

Giving disadvantage on attack rolls might be ok. Or giving advantage for the attacker might be even better.

 

[DEFCON 1]

The easiest way to get around the "problem" that Darkvision is "overpowered" is to just cut back on the number of encounters where things are hiding in the darkness. It's an overused trope anyway.

Less things trying to hide, less number of times Darkvision gets used to make it easier to find them.

Heck... at this point if I truly want to create an encounter where the party gets jumped by something coming out of the darkness, I don't even bother with natural darkness and light anymore. There's all kinds of darkness magic and shadowwalking abilities I can give creatures that the party has little to no chance of noticing before they get attacked and suffer from Surprise. I never really worry about Darkvision at all anymore.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The easiest way to get around the "problem" that Darkvision is "overpowered" is to just cut back on the number of encounters where things are hiding in the darkness. It's an overused trope anyway.

Less things trying to hide, less number of times Darkvision gets used to make it easier to find them.

Heck... at this point if I truly want to create an encounter where the party gets jumped by something coming out of the darkness, I don't even bother with natural darkness and light anymore. There's all kinds of darkness magic and shadowwalking abilities I can give creatures that the party has little to no chance of noticing before they get attacked and suffer from Surprise. I never really worry about Darkvision at all anymore.

A gloomstalker ranger against the party would be fun.

 

[pukunui]

A gloomstalker ranger against the party would be fun.

Oh man, I've banned gloomstalkers from my games because I hate the whole "invisible to darkvision" thing ... but this is basically how I play shadow creatures. The way I see it, just because a PC can see through the shadows doesn't mean the shadows aren't there, so a shadow or shadow demon should still be able to hide in those shadows ... essentially becoming invisible to a creature with darkvision as they just blend in with the shadows that the PC is seeing through.

 

[aco175]

I can see having dim light go out another 60ft if things like a full moon warrant it, but as written it just ends at 60ft.

There also is nothing written that blocks or disrupts darkvision. It is not like when you are camping and walking around with your 'night vision' and it is destroyed by the campfire. PCs seem to be able to look out over the campfire and see normally the first 30ft and with DV the other 30ft.

 

[pukunui]

The real wonky thing is the warlock's Devil's Sight invocation. Unlike actual devils, who can simply see through all kinds of darkness, warlocks get to see normally in full darkness. So if the lighting is dim, they have to put up with it being dim. It's only if it's pitch black and then all of a sudden they can see as if everything was brightly lit and in full color.

(I have a player who loves to use the Devil's Sight plus darkness combo. His current PC is a half-elf, so she can basically ignore dim light as well, but the whole Devil's Sight thing can be weird. The PC also happens to have a sentient sword with Truesight ...)