Deflect Arrows and Darkness

[MarauderX]

A monk is hangin' out in a magically darkened room when an evil drow shoots an arrow at him. Will the monk see it coming, and can he use his Deflect Arrows feat to swat the arrow down?

Would the same be for a monk in normal darkness (like underground)?

 

[AuraSeer]

If the monk has darkvision or a light source, he can see the attack coming. If not, he can't.

Magical darkness works the same way, since it's no longer impenetrable. It makes an otherwise lit area become shadowy (granting partial concealment), but it does not totally blind characters.

 

[Camarath]

The monk can not use Deflect Arrows if he is flatfooted or is not "aware of the attack". Explanations of awareness in the rules seems to primarily deal with determining who gets to act in a surprise round so it is unclear what exactly is meant by aware. I think that if you retain your dex bonus against an attack you count as being aware of that attack. So I think that if the monk is not flatfooted and retains his dex-bonus against the attack the monk may use the Deflect Arrows feat. If the monk is in combat and has already acted and also has the Blind-Fight feat then he would be able to deflect a ranged attack from an attacker he could not see.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Magical darkness works the same way, since it's no longer impenetrable. It makes an otherwise lit* area become shadowy...

* open to interpretation...

-Hyp.