Dark Vision?

[Raudbjorn]

Hai guis, this is my first post here, of hopefully many to come I'm really desperate for help here because of a rules issue that has arisen that threatens to kind of tear a huge gap in my d&d group. The issue is because of the dark vision mechanic. The GM has decided that the dark vision drow racial ability would ruin "the suspense", so down-graded it down to low-light vision. He also argued that having 2 people(there are 6 of us total, including the DM), that could see the battlefield, and therefore forcing him to put down tokens for NPC that should remain unseen to the rest of the group would indirectly influence their decisions(such as movement towards them), even though they were supposed to be unaware of them. Well, 3 of us are taking a stand, the fact provided by every Drizzt novel ever,i.e. the lore, which is the basis of our roleplay says they should be able to see in darkness, and the fact that this is actually covered in the rules: "Targeting what you can't see"; page 281 in the player's handbook. Any advice on how we can reconcile this would be GREATLY appriciated

 

[DracoSuave]

Well, Darkvision does have the ability to reduce concealment... which is why -very few- races have it. Drow being one of them.

But that doesn't matter... what matters is -Stealth- vs -Perception- for enemies that are not in total concealment. Which means that said models, being stealthy types, probably bearing Darkvision themselves, wouldn't be standing out in the middle of nowhere, sneaking out in what is, to them, plain sight.

In other words, if you belong to a people who can see in the dark, you don't sneak -in the open-, because that's not sneaky to you.

Which means they'll -still- use cover and terrain to hide, which means they -still- make their Stealth checks, which, if they make, means they're still hidden from you.

It just means the places they get concealment from you are less than for others.

 

[Shin Okada]

Leave darkvison as it is. In 4e, speaking is a free action. And you can take free actions out of your turn. That means, the one with darkvision can cry "an enemy is over there!" even before his initiative comes. Thus, PCs without darkvision will get information that some enemies are somewhere in the darkness.

And seriously, aren't most of the PC parties using Sunrod unless ALL the members have darkvision?

A Sunrod covers most part of the battlefield in almost all the encounter in 4e. Unlike 3e, light source and visibility are not that much of a problem anymore.

 

[Raudbjorn]

This isn't a simple as one of the PCs walking into a room and everyone of them knowing the location of every NPC inside it once the tokens are put down? ...that's the way it usually goes, right? -Since the walls around it automatically give 100% concealment, shouldn't they be "unware" of them as well?

 

[Tarrl]

This is where the VTT would be soo cool. As a Drow you could see on your monitor, but the others could not. It would be up to the person who could see to share where the monsters are. Makes it easy on DM and fun for all involved.

 

[DracoSuave]

This isn't a simple as one of the PCs walking into a room and everyone of them knowing the location of every NPC inside it once the tokens are put down? ...that's the way it usually goes, right? -Since the walls around it automatically give 100% concealment, shouldn't they be "unware" of them as well?

If and only if stealth checks are successfully made.

No Stealth check = you are aware of an enemy in that location.