Bright Light / Dim Light

[Truename]

Thanks a lot. I tried to post something VERY similar yesterday but my internetconnection seems to be a little ill.

My DM and I still wonder how the mechanics should work: as proposed he took the mini for an invisible enemy from the battlegrid, but what if you fight in darkness or if one PC and one NPC are invisble?
It is not possible to hide the positions and have effects like: If they are standing in the same square they become visible;

Do you have any problems or thoughts about it?
Is there already a thread about it? (Cause I really don't find a search button anywhere)

You can still tell what square an enemy is in, even when invisible, unless they're using stealth. It's rare for my monsters to do that, but when they do I take the token off the battlemat. If the monster is just invisible (not hidden using stealth), I leave the token in place.

 

[mischa84]

So you take the monster from the map if it beats on PCs passive perception and tell the others where it is? What if a PC hides? How do you handle it then that some of the NPC know its position, others don't?
The only possible explanation seem to be using free actions of your NPCs to declare a PCs location to others.

It is maybe possible but what if one Pc and one NPC is hiding and hidden from each other; especcially using invisibility?
It is said that one gets visible if someone tries to enter his square.
You will never now if the two hiding creatures stumble into each others field.

Much more the problem if the party has higher stealth than perception skills and encounters a bunch of monsters with higher stealth than perception skills at night or in a dark room (and without darkvision). It is not possible to play that at all.

 

[fissionessence]

What happens when a creature (including a PC) is standing outside the light source? Can they see the stuff that's within the area of light?

~

 

[Truename]

So you take the monster from the map if it beats on PCs passive perception and tell the others where it is? What if a PC hides? How do you handle it then that some of the NPC know its position, others don't?
The only possible explanation seem to be using free actions of your NPCs to declare a PCs location to others.

It is maybe possible but what if one Pc and one NPC is hiding and hidden from each other; especcially using invisibility?
It is said that one gets visible if someone tries to enter his square.
You will never now if the two hiding creatures stumble into each others field.

Much more the problem if the party has higher stealth than perception skills and encounters a bunch of monsters with higher stealth than perception skills at night or in a dark room (and without darkvision). It is not possible to play that at all.

I think you're making this more complicated than you need to.

1- If a monster is hidden from the PCs, I take it off the map. I keep track of its location on my own copy of the map so I know where it is. This is annoying to do, but I rarely have my monsters hide from the PCs.

2- If a PC is hidden from the monsters, we leave it on the map. When playing the monster, I pretend I don't know where the PC is.

3- If any PC can see a monster hiding, I assume he tells the other PCs where the monster is and I leave the monster token on the map. (The same is true for sentient monsters that communicate.)

4- If a monster is invisible or totally concealed, I still put the token on the map. I only take tokens off the map when a monster uses stealth to hide and its roll beats all of the PCs passive perception checks.

 

[satin]

Other than outdoor adventures during twilight, have you seen any significant use of low-light vision in your campaigns?

I'm deciding whether to adopt one of the house rules about adding 1/2 radius or a couple squares of dim light. We've got a PC with low-light vision in our party, and after several sessions of dungeon-crawling with torches and such, have yet to run into a situation where the low-light vision was useful.

Seems kind of odd to me. Or at least counter-intuitive.

 

[Smeelbo]

Nearly all the rooms and corridors in my dungeons are dimly lit, at best. Halfings lack low light vision, which neatly counters the +2 attack for Combat Advantage. So yes, it makes a lot of difference.

Smeelbo