Darkness - What is "shadowy illumination"?

[Bad Paper]

I'll just go on the record here

and say that you guys who houserule it to solid darkness or anything other than the 3.5 description are asking for trouble. It's a great spell, and the change from 3.0 to 3.5 was an improvement. If "shadowy illumination" hurts your sensibilities, call it "anti-illumination" instead. Or just "darkness." And no, it doesn't make natural darkness brighter.

Here's a nice combo for you: warlock with Devil's Sight, Darkness, and Enervating Shadow. yay!

 

[Storyteller01]

If I recall, the original darkeness had a nice balance; you had to touch an object to make it work. It's difficult to create the darkness ambush without either risking yourself, wasting several spells pre-emptively, or figuring out how to throw an object in the correct square while surrounded by a giant black globe.

As for 3.0 darkness slowing down combat, higher level AOE spells tend to limit it's use without much lag. Especially once metamagic feats are thrown in.

 

[Hypersmurf]

and say that you guys who houserule it to solid darkness or anything other than the 3.5 description are asking for trouble. It's a great spell, and the change from 3.0 to 3.5 was an improvement. If "shadowy illumination" hurts your sensibilities, call it "anti-illumination" instead. Or just "darkness." And no, it doesn't make natural darkness brighter.

Out of curiosity, in the same paragraph, you say that anything other than the 3.5 description is asking for trouble, and also that it doesn't make natural darkness brighter. I'm having trouble understanding the contradiction.

The spell radiates shadowy illumination. A candle radiates shadowy illumination. What do you consider the difference to be?

-Hyp.

 

[cmanos]

AoW, Three Faces of Evil, one fight with Darkness-as-Darkness took most of a session ...

You see, we had absolutely no problem with this. The tieflings tossed out the darkness at us and the darknness pebble landed at the feet of the person with the everburning torch we picked up from the Cairn. As the spells were the same level, we ruled that they negated each other while the two effects existed in the same area. Once the person with the torch moved, the darkness would come back.

 

[werk]

Out of curiosity, in the same paragraph, you say that anything other than the 3.5 description is asking for trouble, and also that it doesn't make natural darkness brighter. I'm having trouble understanding the contradiction.

The spell radiates shadowy illumination. A candle radiates shadowy illumination. What do you consider the difference to be?

-Hyp.

Candles don't make lit rooms darker. Same with darkness.

Like I said, I've never played it that way, but also didn't have any problems when I ran it that way.

Seems like most peoples' complaints are because people don't play the spell as written, or they just can't wrap their brains around shadowy illumination.

 

[Dracorat]

Candles don't make lit rooms darker. Same with darkness.

Someone needs to read the spell again...

Normal lights (torches, candles, lanterns, and so forth) are incapable of brightening the area, as are light spells of lower level.

 

[Klaus]

This discussion would go away by simply renaming the spell and adding a fluff sentence:

Candlelight

The spell causes the affected area to be illuminated at candlelight-level. Bright areas have their light level reduced, whereas dark areas are brightened up to candlelight-level. The illumination is flickering and cast off the same tones as a candle.

 

[werk]

Someone needs to read the spell again...

I don't think you understood my response to hyp.

...but thanks for the correction.


Klaus,

That correction would fix things if that is the way you want the spell to work. We just use it that it only darkens areas, never illuminating totally dark areas. It would be better named shadow sphere or dusk ball or nigh-dark or something like that.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I don't think you understood my response to hyp.

Well, neither did Hyp, 'cos I was going to say something similar.

Candles don't make lit rooms darker; Darkness does, because it makes mundane light sources ineffective.

But nowhere in the Darkness spell does it say that the shadowy illumination only applies in lit areas. Darkness is not a normal light, nor a light spell of lower level, so it is not incapable of brightening the area of the spell. If we have something that radiates shadowy illumination brought into an area that is not otherwise lit, you can see dimly. Darkness radiates shadowy illumination; so if it is brought into an area that is not otherwise lit, you can see dimly.

-Hyp.

 

[Dracorat]

I don't think you understood my response to hyp.

...but thanks for the correction.

No worries, and I think I came across a little more snippety than I meant to. Sorry bout that.