Darkness and Vision in Savage Worlds

[Werebat]

So I'm experimenting with the "Deluxe Explorer's Edition" Savage World rules I own, and trying to build a character.

I wanted to make something like a warlock, using the "superhero" Arcane Background (because it seemed more warlock-ish for some reason).

The general concept is a blind guy who has darkness-themed powers and can "see" in the dark.

I thought to mix the Blind Hindrance with the Darksight power (as well as the Obscure power), but I'm unclear on a few things.

Darksight negates penalties that come from darkness, but does this include Blindness? It seems like it should as "sonic vision" is mentioned as a trapping. If it works, then whenever he uses the power and gets a raise he suffers no penalties from darkness (but he needs an 8 to get a raise, right?)

Also, what is the penalty for being in pitch blackness? Blindness gives a -6 penalty, and the Obscure power gives a maximum penalty of -6 due to messing with vision, but the Darksight power (and elsewhere) mention that the penalty for being in "pitch darkness" is only -4. Which is it? Or is Blindness considered to be worse than being in pitch darkness, for some reason?

 

[innerdude]

Conceptually what you've described works great; the use of the power offsets the hindrance.

As far as how the bonuses interact, I don't know for sure. You might want to go ask that question over on the Pinnacle Entertainment Games forum. The game makers are great about answering questions about the rules.

 

[Zadmar]

There are various ways you can handle it, a few of them were described by Clint Black in this post. However perhaps a better option for the character you described would be to simply reverse the penalties for lighting, so that the darker it is the better he can see.

It's also worth considering that Blind is worth a -4 racial ability, while Darksight gives a bonus worth a +1 racial ability, or +2 on a raise. If the character's trappings for Darksight also allows him to ignore the penalties of Blind, then you're nearly quadrupling its bonus - you really should give some additional drawback to balance that out.

The penalty for complete darkness is -6. What Savage Worlds calls "pitch darkness" actually refers to situations where "a character knows roughly where a victim is (he can hear him, target is in a confined space, a glint of light shines off his blade, etc.)".