adjudicating 'darkness'... what did I do wrong?

[Herobizkit]

OK... in a nutshell, here's how the encounter went down:

(Possible spoiler ensues, so be warned...)

There is an encounter in a certain 1st-3rd level module released fairly recently that has a bunch of goblins and hobgoblins in a 40' area with an opening in the centre leading downward. There is an additional exit leading to goblin reinforcements on the same level, plus the one the PCs are approaching.

PC's open the door. The player playing a Drow (yup, that's right) drops his 20' radius darkness on the entire area.

No one can see in. No one can see out.

What should happen next?

I ruled that the goblins go into a fit and start running about randomly, while the hobgoblins (no stranger to drow) drop and begin to belly-crawl towards the central shaft.

But now the PCs are trying to shoot into the darkness to try and hit something, while one PC actually wades into the darkness and start swinging. They argue that the darkness gives a 20% miss chance (as per the spell), but how do you have a 20% chance to miss something you can't even target? Then the PC tries to 'back out' of the room. But how can he, now that he doesn't know where the exit is because of the darkness?

HOW the HELL would YOU run this encounter?

 

[Caliban]

OK... in a nutshell, here's how the encounter went down:

(Possible spoiler ensues, so be warned...)

There is an encounter in a certain 1st-3rd level module released fairly recently that has a bunch of goblins and hobgoblins in a 40' area with an opening in the centre leading downward. There is an additional exit leading to goblin reinforcements on the same level, plus the one the PCs are approaching.

PC's open the door. The player playing a Drow (yup, that's right) drops his 20' radius darkness on the entire area.

No one can see in. No one can see out.

What should happen next?

I ruled that the goblins go into a fit and start running about randomly, while the hobgoblins (no stranger to drow) drop and begin to belly-crawl towards the central shaft.

But now the PCs are trying to shoot into the darkness to try and hit something, while one PC actually wades into the darkness and start swinging. They argue that the darkness gives a 20% miss chance (as per the spell), but how do you have a 20% chance to miss something you can't even target? Then the PC tries to 'back out' of the room. But how can he, now that he doesn't know where the exit is because of the darkness?

HOW the HELL would YOU run this encounter?

You are confusing the 3.0 Darkness spell with the 3.5 Darkness spell.

They nerfed the spell in 3.5. It's not really "Darkness" any more, it's a magical dimness.

The spell now creates a "shadowy illumination", not true darkness. That is why there is a 20% miss chance instead of a 50% miss chance. It's not dark, just kinda dim.

You can actually cas the Darkness spell into an area of normal darkness, and it will illuminate it.

So everyone can see the shadowy forms of their opponents, and suffer none of the penalties of darkness, just a 20% miss chance.

 

[Demoquin]

What would happen if it was 'total' darkness 50% ? Or something like obscurring mist where they gain complete cover X amount of feet away?

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Yea, this spell is a pain in the tail to adjudicate, because the name is now wrong. It should be "Shadowy Illumination" because it causes, well, shadowy illumination ... which even has an entry in the book, sort of, in the movement and exploration chapter.

The problem is, if you adjudicate it as REAL darkness, the pitch-black-can't-see-nuthin' type ... it's probably the best 2nd level spell money can buy. It's great combat control. Everybody in it is reduced to 1/2 speed, can't hit anything, doesn't know where anybody or anything is, takes -4 to strength and dex checks, lose dex to AC and an additional -2 on top of that. You're casting it, so you just punk it onto the enemy spellcasters in the back, or around the edges of the room, and drive everybody into the center for your barbarian to grind up and spit out.

PLUS, it's MAJOR spell advantage, using core books. The only way to get rid of it is to cast a higher-level spell. If you can cause a foe to blow a higher-level spell slot to counter your own spell, you're at an advantage.

(And if there's a 2nd level Light spell in the Complete books, let me know, because my GM is really busting my hump with Darkness lately, using it in this manner. We've been spending most of our time flailing about blind, lately.)

Darkness-cum-Real-Darkness joins the ranks of excellent 2nd level spells like Spiritual Weapon and Silence that cause people to burn out higher level slots dealing with them that don't have much of a real counter beyond that ... and has the added bonus of lasting a very long time.

--fje

 

[Caliban]

What would happen if it was 'total' darkness 50% ?

The game slows to a crawl. Everyone without Uncanny Dodge loses their Dex bonus to AC, ranged attacks are nearly useless, everyone is reduced to half speed (which may prevent 5' steps) and can't run, everyone has a 50% miss chance, and you have to start making opposed Listen/Move Silently checks (and look up the modifiers to them) to locate your opponents so you can attack them.

Or something like obscurring mist where they gain complete cover X amount of feet away?

The game slows down, but not as much. No one losed their Dex bonus to AC (except possibly against ranged attacks from "total concealment" range), ranged attacks are hindered but still usable if you are close enough, no one has their speed reduced, and you don't need to make opposed checks to locate people unless they are far enough away for total concealment.

Some vindictive/realistic DM"s may also have you make Spot checks to tell friend from foe in areas of shadowy illumination or obscuring mist.

 

[Liquidsabre]

Core rules for 3.5e darkness have it producing shadowy illumination. The spell actually creates light in an environment that is quite devoid of all lumination.

I have altered the spell IMC so that the spell cannot alter pre-existing light conditions darker than shadowy illumintation. So the silliness of the spell actually creating light in true-dark conditions can be avoided. What this means though is the spell works properly again. It dims regular daylight conditions to shadowy illumination while at the same time when cast in true-dark conditions it suppresses lower level light spells and natural lighting effects (torches, lanterns, etc.) as normal for the spell. In addition, this now allows the natural pre-existing true-dark conditions to pervade. This keeps the spell useful to darkvision and dark-dwelling creatures and hazardous to light-dwelling/light-sighted creatures, as the spell probably should be.

So in your case above I would have run the encounter thus:

The darkness spell is cast. The natural true-dark light condition remains unchanged. All darkvision creatures within the globe can see normally (black & white 60-ft darkvision) but suffer the magical 20% miss chance within the radius of the globe of darkness, as normal for the 3.5e spell for creatures with darkvision. Any lower level light spells and mundane light effects remain suppressed while within the confines of the sphere of darkness, again as normal for the 3.5e spell. That's pretty much it. Though the spell still remains a great way to get a little concealment (20% miss chance) and foil sneak attack attempts (concealment) from creatures with darkvision.

 

[shilsen]

The game slows down, but not as much. No one losed their Dex bonus to AC (except possibly against ranged attacks from "total concealment" range), ranged attacks are hindered but still usable if you are close enough, no one has their speed reduced, and you don't need to make opposed checks to locate people unless they are far enough away for total concealment.

Minor quibble - Considering that the description of Obscuring Mist makes it sound like a fog and it is even referred to as such, I think that your movement would be hampered as when moving in foggy conditions (re. PHB table 9-4).

 

[nameless]

The important thing to remember when adjudicating the new darkness is how it affects light sources. If the only light sources in the room are in the darkness, they are suppressed. So anything not in the darkness radius has full concealment, with the 20% miss chance for the stuff in shadowy illumination.

 

[Caliban]

Minor quibble - Considering that the description of Obscuring Mist makes it sound like a fog and it is even referred to as such, I think that your movement would be hampered as when moving in foggy conditions (re. PHB table 9-4).

Huh, hadn't noticed that.

 

[Rashak Mani]

If your adjudicating REAL Darkness you should remember that people still can hear and feel ground tremors. The guy wading into the Darkness should know the way back more or less because of the noise his friends are making. If they aren't making it he can shout to them to get a response.

Also the important thing would be to get out fast of the Darkness... the hobgoblin had a smart idea but they would be vunerable for many more rounds. Eventually characters wading into the darkness would stumble on them and get grappled.

You could separate the players as well.. so they don't know what the characters in the dark are doing. Have them hear only what the character shouts.

I HATE the new "darkness"... it pathetic at 20% and doesn't help block the view. I'd rather have a 5 ft long curtain of real darkness in many situations... than this ridiculous shadowy illumination. In our Drow campaign its rarely used due to this.