D&D 5E Effect of Darkness spell in combat

[Dausuul]

I think we're agreeing… you can surround a target's head with darkness (blinding them), but still be able to see part of their body. That should give you advantage when attacking them, right?

Only if they're nice enough to stand in that exact spot for the rest of combat. If the target moves, it will either plunge fully into the darkness, or emerge from it and be able to see, because the lower edge of the darkness is not a flat plane--it's a sphere, it curves upward.

 

[Juriel]

Yes... but the need to guess where your target is makes darkness a killer for ranged attacks. You can cast darkness and then step 5 feet away from where you were, and your odds of being hit drop to essentially nil.

I dunno... This forces us to look at the stealth rules again (whether everyone knows where everyone else is unless they're hidden), and no-one wants to do that.

 

[MarkB]

OK, so whether you're inside the sphere, your enemy is, or it's just between you & your enemy, the effect is the same. You are both equally affected and can't see each other. Which gives the attacker both advantage (because the target can't see you) and disadvantage (because you can't see the target), canceling each other out.

So the darkness has no effect on any attack rolls for anyone inside or outside of it, except everyone has to guess where their targets are? Is that right? Kind of lame, if so.

One thing to bear in mind is that even a single source of disadvantage cancels out any number of sources of advantage, and vice versa. So, far from having no effect on the combat, the Darkness effect completely disables any effect or ability that grants advantage, and any effect or ability that imposes disadvantage.

 

[designbot]

Thanks. Just had an idea—maybe I could raise the darkness a bit off the ground, so the targets' heads would be enveloped, but not their feet. Then I could see the target, but they couldn't see me, granting advantage.

I see why this might be difficult now… it's a 15-foot radius, not a 15-foot diameter. I'd have to cast it at a spot like 18 feet up in the air.

 

[gyor]

Rogues also get blindsight or something eventually.

Plus area effect spells like fireball should not be effected.

.

 

[Psikerlord#]

Yes, you read it right, everyone inside darkness attacks normally (because they have both advantage + disadvantage).

It would make more sense for everyone to just have disadvantage, but it could have been done this way intentionally, so it's not just a miss-miss-miss for multiple turns.

Plus, as said, Warlock with Devil's Sight is absolutely ROCKING in Darkness. And because Darkness travels on an item, you can cast it on your pact blade / hat and carry it with you. Or even cover the item, if your partymembers would like to actually see something.

Yep warlock devil sight is probably itsbest at will style invocation. As for others adv/disad cancelling, I think id give overall disad on all blind attacks.

 

[Nevaeh Umril]

Yes, you read it right, everyone inside darkness attacks normally (because they have both advantage + disadvantage).

It would make more sense for everyone to just have disadvantage, but it could have been done this way intentionally, so it's not just a miss-miss-miss for multiple turns.

Plus, as said, Warlock with Devil's Sight is absolutely ROCKING in Darkness. And because Darkness travels on an item, you can cast it on your pact blade / hat and carry it with you. Or even cover the item, if your partymembers would like to actually see something.

Sorry to rekindle an old thread, however I just stumbled across the question and think that the blindness advantage you are referring to would occur under a different scenario. Example: If someone cast Blindness on a target and that target failed their initial saving throw. The blind individual would suffer disadvantage on all attack rolls and fail all saving throws that require site to succeed and all those attacking the effected target would have advantage on their attacks because their vision is not obscured.

Since both targets are within the Darkness spell both would be considered blind and neither of them would have advantage on attacks (unless one of them had something like the Warlock Invocation ability Devil's Sight which was mentioned by Hjorimir in a previous post) and would also incur a disadvantage on all combat attacks.

Furthermore, up to the DM: The way I view it would be if a target within the Darkness was able to discern through audible or other sensory means where their target might be standing (example: hears clanking of the enemies armor or footsteps of the opposing target) they could then attack the target with disadvantage. Otherwise if the two targets are not even close to each other, i.e. more than 5ft appart (outer edges of the darkness) they can swing but would auto-miss.

Those outside the Darkness would also suffer disadvantage on attack roles against those within the Darkness. The only exceptions that come to mind would be for attacks which have an area of effect that exceed the 15' radius spell of the Darkness spell, i.e. Fireball which is a 20' radius. In this situation all those within the Darkness spell would automatically fail the Dexterity save for half damage and suffer the full effects of the spell. An Evocation specialist wouldn't even be able to shape the spell since he/she can't view the friendly target(s).

 

[WhosAChaoticGoodBoy]

That seems right. One other thing darkness will do is prevent the use of any ability that affect "a creature that you can see" i.e opportunity attack, spirit guardian etc..

I was wondering about this, actually. The 'Blinded' creature only 'fails any ability check that requires sight'; our group doesn't assume opportunity attacks are an ability check, but I was wondering if that's how they defined it somewhere.

Also in general, my group agrees that RAW two blinded creatures swinging at each other is mechanically normal (i.e, advantages and disadvantages cancel out), but I feel like Darkness should do something other than benefit those with Devil's Sight/Truesight...

Maybe nullify DEX-based AC boosts? (because you can't dodge what you can't see)

 

[afdarcy]

I was wondering about this, actually. The 'Blinded' creature only 'fails any ability check that requires sight'; our group doesn't assume opportunity attacks are an ability check, but I was wondering if that's how they defined it somewhere.

Opportunity attacks can only be made against creatures you can see (no ability check involved):

You can make an opportunity attack when a hostile creature that you can see moves out of your reach.

Spell descriptions may specify targets that you can see and in those cases are also affected by the Blinded condition.

 

[mellored]

Everyone get's advantage and disadvantage, unless they have a special sense (warlocks love this).
No one get's an OA.
Anyone can spend an action to hide, which means they have to guess. (Rogues love this).