D&D 5E Darkvision in a Gothic Setting

[TenkayCrit]

Hello everyone! I am about to start running Curse of Strahd with my group and I wanted to know how other DMs deal with the Darkvision racial trait in a gothic setting like CoS.

Darkness plays a huge roll in creating tension and fear of the unknown. Darkvision really seems to undermine the fear. I want my players to have to rely on torches and be surprised,not just be able to see the baddy coming from 60 feet (or more) away.

I thought about two possible solutions: banning races that have darkvision, or just removing the darkvision racial from the campaign. I don't want to limit their choices to just hunsns, halflings, and dragonborns, but I also don't know how I feel about removing racials on thematic grounds. Ex: a dwarf/dark elf who can't see in a cave makes no sense.

What do you guys think?

 

[Jediking]

Don't ban the races. Do not. It's much easier to take out darkvision than take out 65%* of the races.

And seeing in darkness can still give disadvantage on Perception rolls that rely on sight. And maybe give advantage on enemy Stealth rolls. If there is only one Human or Halfling (or whatever doesn't have darkvision) in the party, they will need a light somehow, which can affect the whole party.

Darkness is as scary as you make it. Set the tone. Simple traps with lower DCs to spot suddenly become a challenge when trying to spot them with disadvantage. Minions will shoot at advantage and then dart away and take passages that can't be fully seen into. Are they hiding? Getting friends? Setting an ambush?

Remember that colour isn't seen with darkvision, nor can people see fine details. Shades of gray, shadows far away, needing to get close or bend down to see things. When your back is turned, you can't see what's coming even in broad daylight.


*Wild guess.

 

[Ancalagon]

Lots of mist too can "replace" darkness...

 

[discosoc]

It's a magical place, so do something like have darkvision only work out to 10 feet. Make it clear to the characters that this isn't normal, and it will help put them in the same boat as everyone else, while still making the darkvision useful.

 

[DEFCON 1]

My two campaigns are both only with humans. I made that as one of the rules of the game that players could only be humans... partly because of the darkvision thing, but also because of the atmosphere of what it means being "other". Almost the entirety of the populace of the valley is human except for a small segment of dusk elves... and they are purposefully written as being "different". Plus of course you then have the vampires, revenants, zombies and whatnot. I wanted to maintain that separation between the populace (which include the PCs) and all the weirdness of everything else. That is harder to do when you have a party full of dragonborn, tieflings, halforks, gnomes, aaracockra, etc. etc. The populace spends more time looking askance at the party instead of what's going on around them.

Other DMs won't care about that stuff, and that's their right. But if something like the darkvision issue matters to you as part of increasing the gloom of Barovia... then I don't see any problem with restricting it-- making the entire party human or otherwise.

 

[Oofta]

Consider changing darkvision to low-light vision. Dwarves/elves/half-orcs/etc can see in dim light normally but need at least a little light to see by.

 

[Satyrn]

I like the disadvantage in darkness even with darkvision idea.

(when doubled with advantage on Stealth checks, that makes it extra mean when the characters are being stalked)

 

[Psikerlord#]

My latest campaign in a low magic world is human PCs only. Even the "optional" elf and dwarf races have normal vision. There is a throw away fluff line that they have better night vision than humans, but proper darkness blinds them just the same.

It's an atmosphere thing. Much creepier (and dangerous - drawing attention to yourself) exploring dungeons etc with only your torchlight to guide you.

I personally have no issue with dwarves and dark elves not being able to see underground. It's purely a fluff aspect and easily accomodated, they need torches or glowstones or something, just like humans.

Some monsters on the other hand can see in darkness, and this is one of the things that makes them scary (course they also see less well in sunlight)

 

[Uchawi]

Just add more definition or depth to dark vision. For example, dark vision can only work in complete darkness, and any light spoils it. Guess how brave the dark vision race is going to be wandering off by themselves, or the lack of light impacts the detail you may pick up in a black and white world. And then change some monsters that adapt to dark vision as a defense mechanism, so they basically are camoflauged. Undead are a perfect fit. By changing some basic assumptions for mechanics in the game like sight, you create some uncertainty on how it may work, and that can add to the tension.

 

[Gradine]

It's a magical place, so do something like have darkvision only work out to 10 feet. Make it clear to the characters that this isn't normal, and it will help put them in the same boat as everyone else, while still making the darkvision useful.

Quoted for excellence. Remember that Barovia is a demi-plane in and of itself, so it doesn't necessarily have to follow the basic rules of physics. Its daylight is already different from normal daylight, so why shouldn't its darkness be also? This has the added benefit of making the darkness more terrifying and alien, as characters used to being able to see well enough in the dark suddenly can't.