Darkvision and mirrors?

[Someone]

Some moderator please lock the thread. Mirrors in D&D are at risk of dissapearing in a puff of logic.

 

[lukelightning]

Some moderator please lock the thread. Mirrors in D&D are at risk of dissapearing in a puff of logic.

You think that's bad, how about this: How come mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down?

(yeah, I know that's a trick question...)


I'm flip-flopping on the issue and now say that mirrors work fine with darkvision (but still with the distance limit). This is so magical mirrors still work in the dark.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Can you see around a corner with a mirror using darkvision? Assume there is no light source around the corner.

Discuss.

IMC, yes. Mirrors do not simply reflect light; they allow one to see into the Plane of Mirrors where each person's reflection dwells. Reflections are generally chained to perform the actions normally associated with reflections. There are exceptions.....such as the Mirror of Opposition.

So, mirrors allow you to see with darkvision to the same limit as with normal vision, because there is something there to see. Likewise, an invisible creature has an invisible reflection, and a creature has a reflection in an invisible mirror.

Oh, and mirrors reflect left-to-right because your reflection is your opposite, who hungers to escape the Plane of Mirrors and take your position in the real world (thus trapping you as a reflection).

RC

 

[Someone]

You think that's bad, how about this: How come mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down?

(yeah, I know that's a trick question...)

Because they are Evil.

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

If mirrors work with darkvision, how do pre-adolescent dwarves at camp scare themselves with Bloody Mary?

Because she's beardless.

 

[tzor]

You think that's bad, how about this: How come mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down?

Because left and right / sinister and dexter is a relative dimension while up and down is absolute. Left and right actually are not reversed, front and back are and because you want to make definitions of left and right relative to the object whose front and back are reversed then the left and right become reversed instead.

A similiar problem occurs with heraldry where you look at a shield but it is described from the POV of the person wearing it. So the "left" side of the shield is actually on the right side when you look at it.

 

[Wingar Greeter]

Our game rules

I have some pretty strict rules for Darkvision.

Darkvision does not use light and therefore can not see colours of any kind.
There are no reflective surfaces in darkvision. All surfaces are matte including mirrors.
There are no transparent materials in darkvision. All surfaces are opaque including water.
Since you can not see colour, you can not see the pigmentation used in print. If you want to read, it better be carved.
If you're using darkvision, you're in dim light which adds disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.

Even if the whole party are dwarves, bring a damn torch.

 

[Echohawk]

I read through most of this thread before realising that it was more than a decade old. (I failed my Perception check.)

Then I decided to check if there is a more definitive answer to this question for 5th Edition. It turns out that googling "darkvision mirror" gives this exact thread as the first suggestion. So, for everyone else who may have ended up here hoping for 5th Edition advice, I'm happy to reassure you that things are no clearer two editions later .

Darkvision has already been errated once in 5th Edition, but only to make the definition in the sixth printing of the Player's Handbook match the definitions everywhere else. I did find some more recent Internet discussion of this topic, which makes an argument that if there is enough light for you to be able to see the mirror and the mirror stand, then there is enough light for you to be able to see a reflection in the mirror. Of course, not all "darkvision" necessarily works the same way, and this remains basically the DM's prerogative to decide in 5th Edition.