Help Illuminate Light

[two]

" This spell causes an object to glow like a torch, shedding bright light in a 20-foot radius (and dim light for an additional 20 feet) from the point you touch. The effect is immobile, but it can be cast on a movable object. Light taken into an area of magical darkness does not function. "

The light spell. You know. The only everyone uses and does not think about.

Well, last night, one of my players cast light, and they were walking through a dark forest. I thought to myself "Ok, they are a walking beacon for any bad guys out there."

Two encounters later, the player asked how and why they were so easy to spot in the forest.

I pointed out the obvious: they are surrounded by 40' of bright or dim light.

He then responded in the following way.

"The light spell has a specified range of 40' for its effect. If you are standing 41' away from the casting point of the light spell, you can't see a thing. It is dark if you are looking at the center of the spell. There is one foot of blackness between you and the radius of light."

I was like, "huh?"

But his point was that the light created by the light spell is in fact bounded by the 40' radius of the spell. No light escapes outside of it, as it were. So, while they are visible to creatures within the 40' radius, they are not visible to anyone outside of it.

This made no sense to me at the time, but thinking about it... He might actually be right.

If no light escapes the 40' radius, it is the same as walking around with a metal barrier surrounding you at 40' radius. Light can not escape past the barrier, thus light can't bounce off enemy's eyes, thus they can't see you.

I am not sure this is how it was intended... but by the rules, I think it is correct.

In other words, if you cast light in one end of a 100' long hallway, somebody standing at the other end of the hallway sees nothing strange. It is just as dark as before. If they look at the other end of the hallway (where the light spell was cast) it looks utterly dark.

Hmm...

Is this really what the rules state?

I guess the point is, the radius of the light spell ... needs to be taken seriously...? If it states it creates light 40' away from the center, than it does, but not 41' away from the center?

 

[frankthedm]

The player is full of it. The spell has no way to conceal itself. It operates on the exact same lighting conventions of a torch.

Light
Evocation [Light]
Level: Brd 0, Clr 0, Drd 0, Sor/Wiz 0
Components: V, M/DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Object touched
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell causes an object to glow like a torch, shedding bright light in a 20-foot radius (and dim light for an additional 20 feet) from the point you touch. The effect is immobile, but it can be cast on a movable object. Light taken into an area of magical darkness does not function.

A light spell (one with the light descriptor) counters and dispels a darkness spell (one with the darkness descriptor) of an equal or lower level.

Arcane Material Component
A firefly or a piece of phosphorescent moss

 

[Elethiomel]

Yes, plus even if the light was bounded by the 40' radius (which it isn't, because elves get bright light for 40' and dim light for 80'), it casts light onto objects, that reflect that light. This reflected light would be visible from further away. And yeah, frankthedm is still right - it's like a torch. Treat it like a torch in all respects except that it doesn't burn stuff up, and it causes an object to glow rather than casting light from an actual flame.

 

[Henry]

Common sense should prevail over rules. If a person is carrying a torch, you can see the light from VERY far away. In a high concealment area (a thick forest) it might not go far, but on a plain or flat area, it could be seen even as a dot for a mile or more.

That's carrying it about as far as using a bucket of snails to trigger great cleave...

 

[frankthedm]

That's carrying it about as far as using a bucket of snails to trigger great cleave...

Oh no, this is far more rediculous. At least the cleave issue might have worked by the rules.

 

[MarkB]

What would help is if the rules included specific examples of how far a distance various sizes of light source are visible from, perhaps in the DMG terrains section.

 

[James McMurray]

On a dark night you can see a candle from miles away. If there's any sort of light between you and it that distance plummets dramatically. I don't think WotC could realistically capture that in a table.

 

[Ltheb Silverfrond]

I think the player would have been right if the light spell said "Effect: 40' radius of light" or some similar text. It's effect is not a radius of light, but rather causing an object or point in space to emit light. It also does not stipulate that the light cannot extend past that 40' boundary.

 

[TheGogmagog]

I can't think of how this complicates the question but I realized something odd. The spell Darkness doesn't create an equal & opposite effect. Light creates light as a torch (20' for humans and halflings, 40' for everyone else) plus the area of shadowy illumination. Darkness has a fixed range 20' of the darkness source.

I agree with the other posters who concluded the range to see an illuminated area, or light source is infinite without 'total concealment'. Take a look up at night some time, stars are only obscured by space dust or clouds.