My group has only two characters out of 7 (including NPCs) that don't have Darkvision, and both characters that have the Light cantrip are an elf and half-elf. The Eldrich Knight took it because he knew that Darkvision has benefits and drawback. The Dragon Sorceress took it as part of her Magical Initiate Feat, because her patron (I require a patron, even though the Feat doesn't) was the Light patron from an earlier Unearthed Arcana that we both liked, plus the RP setup of her new patronage left her with a fear of the dark.
D&D 5E A whole group with Darkvision!
Enevhar Aldarion
Hero
Just to change up their adventuring, give them a mission/job to escort a very important human or two through enemy territory or something, where they have to travel at night or underground. This would require them to use a light source or two so that the NPCs could see.
MichaelSomething
Legend
Twenty charging Orcs don't care if you have darkvision....
Warmaster Horus
Explorer
Unless stealth is absolutely necessary my darkvision PCs use torches or the like because darkvision only provides dim light equivalent (disadvantage to Perc Checks) in darkness. Toss some trip wires with decent spot DCs and remind players that their Passive Perceptions are at -5 in total darkness...
Skyscraper
Explorer
Comments (I've only read half this thread, some of this may have been covered):
1) I love 5E, but it fumbled on a couple of things IMHO, and giving most monsters and most PC classes darkvision is one of them. It ends up that having darkvision is the default condition, and not having it is a rare disadvantage that some races suffer from. This is regrettable design.
2) I've homebrewed my races, and most don't have darkvision anymore. (Among a few changes I made.)
3) I think that the type of game you want to play should inform how frequent darkvision should or can be in your game, if you're inclined to homebrew. For example, i my game, darkvision is only useful every once in a while, because most encounters occur during daytime while the adventurers are on the move. If they manage to find a suitable place to sleep in, they won't be disturbed, and they usually avoid travelling by night (which is wise). If all my game sessions occurred in dark dungeons, or during nightime under moonless skies, then darkvision would become a central ability and the lack thereof would become very significant. So my decision to homebrew races that mostly don't have darkvision, results in the rare dark-dungeon encounters having a special feel to them.
4) In most dark environments, PCs light torches and they manage well with that. Having had darkvision would not have changed much in many circumstances.
5) Out of 4 PCs, one has darkvision. So most of the group doesn't have it, but the one that does, well his PC feels special for having it. I feel that having reversed the default condition of almost everyone having darkvision, where the one player whose PC doesnt have it feels lousy, to a new default condition where almost no one has it, is a success.
1) I love 5E, but it fumbled on a couple of things IMHO, and giving most monsters and most PC classes darkvision is one of them. It ends up that having darkvision is the default condition, and not having it is a rare disadvantage that some races suffer from. This is regrettable design.
2) I've homebrewed my races, and most don't have darkvision anymore. (Among a few changes I made.)
3) I think that the type of game you want to play should inform how frequent darkvision should or can be in your game, if you're inclined to homebrew. For example, i my game, darkvision is only useful every once in a while, because most encounters occur during daytime while the adventurers are on the move. If they manage to find a suitable place to sleep in, they won't be disturbed, and they usually avoid travelling by night (which is wise). If all my game sessions occurred in dark dungeons, or during nightime under moonless skies, then darkvision would become a central ability and the lack thereof would become very significant. So my decision to homebrew races that mostly don't have darkvision, results in the rare dark-dungeon encounters having a special feel to them.
4) In most dark environments, PCs light torches and they manage well with that. Having had darkvision would not have changed much in many circumstances.
5) Out of 4 PCs, one has darkvision. So most of the group doesn't have it, but the one that does, well his PC feels special for having it. I feel that having reversed the default condition of almost everyone having darkvision, where the one player whose PC doesnt have it feels lousy, to a new default condition where almost no one has it, is a success.
The easiest way to challenge a party with Darkvision is to just not use "the dark" as a challenge in of itself. If you can challenge them when they are above-ground and in the light... you know how to challenge them when they are underground and have Darkvision.
I mean, what are you really losing? You lose a couple PCs having to carry around light-sources... and you lose a range out from which monsters can try and Hide without needing any line-of-sight blocking terrain in front of them. Oh well. Was that ever a massive issue for your groups that it ended up being an impressive display of roleplaying ingenuity to work around? Personally, I don't see it. (Pun intended)
I mean, what are you really losing? You lose a couple PCs having to carry around light-sources... and you lose a range out from which monsters can try and Hide without needing any line-of-sight blocking terrain in front of them. Oh well. Was that ever a massive issue for your groups that it ended up being an impressive display of roleplaying ingenuity to work around? Personally, I don't see it. (Pun intended)
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