Darkvision Ruins Dungeon-Crawling

Does Darkvision Ruin Dungeon-Crawling?

  • Yes

  • No

  • I can't see my answer


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Sure.
One person on watch has to cover a full 360-degree view around.
Two people on watch, back to back, each have to only cover 180-degrees of view.

So, two on watch isn't just two people doing the same job redundantly. They each also have their focus effective doubled.

Plus they can tell ghost stories to keep each other awake.
 

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Sure.
One person on watch has to cover a full 360-degree view around.
Two people on watch, back to back, each have to only cover 180-degrees of view.

So, two on watch isn't just two people doing the same job redundantly. They each also have their focus effective doubled.
Perception checks don't work that way. If I tell the DM I stare in one direction, I don't get advantage for doing that. What you describe still isn't helping a person see better. His vision isn't improving. Dim light is still going to give disadvantage.
 

Perception checks don't work that way.

You and I both know that Perception checks work the way the group wants them to work.

What you describe still isn't helping a person see better. His vision isn't improving. Dim light is still going to give disadvantage.

The problem is that you have mis-identified the task. The task isn't "see". It is "detect the enemy, by any senses available, so we are not surprised by them." Increasing ability to focus aids in the real task at hand.
 

I mean, to be fair, the only reason that whole "two people standing watch" thing is an issue at all is because D&D 5E only has two big levers for adjusting modifiers (Adv/Dis). In most other systems, a small +1 or additional bonus is a fine way to represent having two people standing watch, with them being around to keep each other alert and reduce the field of vision they need to monitor.
 

I mean, to be fair, the only reason that whole "two people standing watch" thing is an issue at all is because D&D 5E only has two big levers for adjusting modifiers (Adv/Dis). In most other systems, a small +1 or additional bonus is a fine way to represent having two people standing watch, with them being around to keep each other alert and reduce the field of vision they need to monitor.
yeah, adv/dis is a great gameplay tool for making things easy on the GM and fun in play, but nuanced it is not.
 

The problem is that you have mis-identified the task. The task isn't "see". It is "detect the enemy, by any senses available, so we are not surprised by them." Increasing ability to focus aids in the real task at hand.
It is see. The disadvantage in 5e is to visual perception checks. To negate that disadvantage, you need to help the person see better. Hearing, smell, etc. aren't penalized
 

How far do those actually cast light, though, and how big are they? Small handheld oil lamps usually have a flame the size of a candle flame. They're handy for reading or darning your socks by, because you can set them down on the table and sit right next to them. Torches and lanterns utilize a bigger flame and/or reflectors to cast light farther.
They cast enough light for providing decent illumination inside normal room. When we talk about dungeons, that's enough, since you usually don't have big open spaces or long straight hallways. You have rooms, hallways with intersections or divided by doors etc. Even in natural caverns, you have lots of smaller alcoves and galleries, passages that twist and turn. Torches are better in big open galleries ( still, stalactites and stalagmites impede FOV), but they are generally best used in outdoor environment. Lamps do just fine. Lanterns are better, but they are not strictly medieval tech (there are more 18th ct, but hey, fantasy).
That's still not help. The person on watch with disadvantage to sight is also actively listening, and without a penalty since the penalty is only to visual perception. The other person closing his eyes just means that he has zero chance of seeing something rather than disadvantage, and the same listening ability as the first guy.

You can't help someone else see better with the help action.

Perception isn't about visual only. It's sight, hearing, smell, touch. Observer is mostly focusing on visual inputs. They are still using hearing, but it's secondary. One that focuses solely on hearing can spot sounds way better than one who also searches visually. How he helps? FE he can hear some murmur in particular direction and point it to one that's looking. In the end, it's up to DM at the table to decide if someone can help or not.
 

Given human practical vision view, three is probably the ideal from one location, since we tend to progressively lose detail beyond 120 degree angle (men slightly worse than women).
 

... partly the vampires taking advantage of the 30 days of night.
I've never been that far North, actually. But the radioactive mutants thriving in Fairbanks...
Fairbanks is surrounded by wetlands, but is in the center of a desert — all the snowmelt from the Central Alaskan Bowl flows through it. It also sits on a low grade uranium ore deposit... background is triple norm. It also doesn't get sunless days. Many people in Fairbanks are odd in many ways.
 

I mean, to be fair, the only reason that whole "two people standing watch" thing is an issue at all is because D&D 5E only has two big levers for adjusting modifiers (Adv/Dis). In most other systems, a small +1 or additional bonus is a fine way to represent having two people standing watch, with them being around to keep each other alert and reduce the field of vision they need to monitor.
A little off track here, but we could say that darkvision ruins the Help action too.

Alba: psst. Give me a hand over here.
Brohq: Who said that?
Alba: Me, genius. Now get over here.
Brohq: Where's here?
Alba: I thought you were a "scout." Just follow my voice.
Brohq: Just because you can see in the dark . . . Alba? Alba!?
Alba:
Brohq: Great. I can't see, Alba's dead, and I'm going to be eaten by a grue.
Alba: Sorry. I saw a patrol up ahead.
Brohq: Well, that makes one of us.
Alba: Just get over here. I need you to spot for me.
Brohq: Spot!? I can't . . . see . . . in . . . the . . . dark!
Alba: Well, neither can they. So just watch over there for lights or movement. Something might pop up.
Brohq: I think I saw something.
Alba: Where? I was focused on the . . .
Brohq: Right there! ::Sticks pointing finger into Alba's point of view::
Alba: I don't . . . Oh. I see him now. Thanks for the help.
Brohq: Don't mention it. If you need me to find . . .
Alba: Shh! I need you to be quiet, because there seem to be some darkness-dwelling creatures coming toward us, and they might have better ears than you do.

I expect that to be much less interesting in a fully dark-sighted party.
 

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