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<blockquote data-quote="HeapThaumaturgist" data-source="post: 2686105" data-attributes="member: 12332">Yea, this spell is a pain in the tail to adjudicate, because the name is now wrong.&nbsp; It should be &quot;Shadowy Illumination&quot; 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.&nbsp; It's great combat control.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; The only way to get rid of it is to cast a higher-level spell.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; 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</blockquote>

[QUOTE="HeapThaumaturgist, post: 2686105, member: 12332"] 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 [/QUOTE]

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