And no, "the others have darkvision too" argument does not hold water. In fact, that argument only reveals that you're STILL not fully cognizant of how remarkably far light will spread if it is utterly dark. You WILL be spotted if you have a light, which is very bad news, since it will make any intruder aware of the existence of a possible target/threat and thus go into "stealth mode", making it that much more difficult to spot them in time.
Low-Light Vision
Characters with low-light vision have eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far as normal in dim light.
Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day.
Then you'll be delighted to know that's what I wrote tooOverall, I am not a fan of 4E, but they did some things right. One of these things was low-light vision; in 4E low light vision let you see in low light conditions as in daylight. That resolves all issues outdoors (as the night outdoors generally is low-light and not darkness) and is very simple to use indoors. The "light sources reach twice as far" version is much harder to use.
But for those that have an issue, which version of low-light vision do you prefer?
1) Double the range of vision for bright light/dim light
2) Dim light = bright light; darkness = darkness
If I had to choose only one of your selections (say I couldn't use the 3rd ed definition for some reason), I would definitely go with your #2, since it is the simplest and quickest, and I'm assuming it still grants the most important benefit (the moonlight-in-forest benefit).
Not trying to nitpick you, but this also bypasses the real issue.One way to solve this dilemma is that races with darkvision don't see low light. At all. Yes, they see color in full light, and they see further when ambient light is present, but they cannot tell if the area nearby is in low light or no light. Thus, using a low light source of light, the rogue can still sneak. The problem is that the rogue won't be able to see beyond his limited light source.
Yes, from a scientific standpoint it is far-fetched.
Hope you see I'm not directing this towards you specifically Starfox. Best regards