Fighting in darkness

[candidus_cogitens]

Doing battle in total darkness. My party is going to be doing a lot of battle with Tiefling's who can cast a magical Darkness that no one in the party is powerful enough to dispell.

How could they go about engaging in combat with villains that they can't see. Apparently, they have to do a touch attack even to try a guess about whether the enemy is in a given square. After you do a touch attack, though, your turn's over and the enemy can move again and you don't get a chance to swing at him, even if your guess was right!

Is it impossible??

 

[Crothian]

I don't know where you got the touch attack.

You guess where the target is (maybe a listen check or something) and then you strike. If you guess right you still have a flat 50% chance to miss, assuming your attack roll hits anyway.

 

[gfunk]

Basically, it boils down to this:

1. The DC for hearing someone in combat or casting a spell is 0. The DC to pinpoint an invisible creature's location by Listen is the base DC + 20. Therefore, assuming the Tiefling is in melee with the PCs, if they roll a 20 on their Listen they should know which square he is in. 50% miss chance still applies of course.

2. If you are struck by an attacker who is invisible, you will always know which square he struck from. Therefore, assuming he does not move, you can hit him with a 50% miss chance on your turn. Of course, this does not apply to creatures with 10' or greater reach.

3. If you really have no idea where an invisible attacker is, you can grope about 2 5' squares as a standard action. If the invisible creature is in the square, you have a 50% chance of feeling them.

Other related points:

1. Darkness is a touch spell which cannot be cast on a point in space. Therefore, if the Tiefling touches himself, the Darkness moves with him. Tieflings have no special way to see in darkness, so they will be as potentially blind as the PCs.

2. Take the Blind Fighting feat. This reduces the miss chance to 25% and invisible attackers don't get a +2 to hit you. If you have Sword and Fist, the Blindsight 5' radius feat is even better.

3. Darkness can easily be countered with Daylight. Even if a 20th level Sorcerer cast Darkness, it will be automatically dispelled if a 3rd level Cleric cast Daylight.

4. Use spells that summon creatures that can see in the dark. For instance, Summon Monster IV can summon an Imp that can pinpoint the Tiefling's location.

5. Use area of effect spells, like Fireball. The area is big enough to damage the Tiefling anyway.

 

[kreynolds]

The DC to pinpoint an invisible creature's location by Listen is the base DC + 20.

That would be Spot, not Listen.

 

[gfunk]

That would be Spot, not Listen.

Well, according to the SRD, it's both:

"A successful check lets a character hear an invisible creature “over there somewhere.” It’s practically impossible to pinpoint the exact location of an invisible creature. A Listen check that beats the DC by 20 reveals the invisible creature’s location."

 

[kreynolds]

Well, according to the SRD, it's both:

What section is that in? It's not under the Listen skill.

EDIT: Nevermind. Just found it. It's under the Invisibility special ability.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Also note that any creature you summon (or have as a companion) with the scent ability can pinpoint a creature when it moves within 5 feet, and ignores the penalties for invisibility. So any of the celestial/fiendish summoned animals, or a druid or rangers animal companions will be able to fight a foe in total darkness with minimal difficulty.

Note also that the spell 'faerie fire' does not have the light descriptor, and therefore is not suppressed by the darkness spell. Note also that it cancels all concealment that a target has from darkness. Finally note that it's a 10' burst. As soon as you guess his location, you can faerie fire him and you now do not suffer the 50% miss chance.

 

[Plane Sailing]

That would be Spot, not Listen.

Not in complete darkness, it wouldn't!

 

[Plane Sailing]

Whirlwind attack (if available) can be quite effective when fighting in darkness - at least you get an opportunity to attack all the squares around you!

another possibility is to attempt to grapple an invisible foe then everyone else homes in on your shouting and joins in the grapple

 

[Thanee]

Ready action is your friend against invisible attackers.

If they do ranged attacks, however, you are in trouble!

You can only ready a partial charge then and hope for a decent listen check (20 + some for distance) to pinpoint them!

Better pray for good listen rolls!

Bye
Thanee