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Message: <blockquote data-quote="flametitan" data-source="post: 6929601" data-attributes="member: 6822731">I would argue (1) does not apply. The spells says things "cannot see through" it, rather than "cannot see into it," and even the latest wave of errata has not touched the darkness spell specifically, though it has touched on darkness generally.Unless we can find a Sage Advice ruling that says otherwise (Crawford tweet or article) I'd say your party is also blinded.Fair point, but I just remembered there's the dodge action anyway to at least grant advantage on DEX saves.Unless that party gives it chase with the fly spell (and they'd have to know the direction it's going, and I'm pretty sure floating does not make noise), it will take (with no dashing): 4 rounds to leave light crossbow range without disadvantage (but about 16 to leave long range), 5 to leave Lightning Bolt, but it would admittedly take 30 to leave sharpshooter Range of a Longbow.With dashing, we can roughly half that (Still a long time for a beholder to escape a sharpshooter). If the party tries to fly after it,then it can turn around and antimagic them to the ground temporarily.Now, if your party's level 14, I'd say they've already got the ability to win the fight handily even without Darkness, so let's put them back to say, 8-10. Using your ASIs on your prime ability and the fighter taking Crossbow Expert/sharpshooter (as the three attacks seems to outweigh the +1 to hit/damage), the archer's got a +10 on AC 18, which is pretty good at about 65%, or a +5 with SS, which is roughly a 40% chance of hitting. The wizard, having spent their ASIs on INT, only has a +7, or a 50/50 shot of doing 8.5 damage.Yeah, probably best not to float away.That said, a beholder's not stupid. Arrogant, but not stupid. Odds are it can find somewhere else to lair, find new thralls to make, etc. It holds no personal attachment to where it lives. So it probably won't mind making a retreat if it's better to hold its skin than to stay there.The validity of this tactic is still up in the air until I can find a proper ruling for shooting out of the darkness.However, if something inside darkness is blinded when looking out, then it likely will have disadvantage on its perception, or a -5 to passive perception. With a 16 and proficiency at the level range I suggested, then your passive perception's about 12 (14 with a 20), so it's not going to hurt. I'd also imagine that a beholder's lair is made up of multiple passages, so if it hides, you end up having to look for the right tunnel corner it slipped around. With a character with expertise, this isn't so valid, as then the passive result bumps up back to 16.And if your reading of the rules is RAW, then this discussion goes out the window.</blockquote>

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