Help on fighting in the darkness

[Luca]

Hi guys, i'm sorry if this topic was already discussed, but i can't find anything on both dnd manuals or this forum (is the search tool disabled???).

When my players run a combat, often someone (usually the players) uses some kind of power, spreading darkness in a large burst and delivering damage to a certain number of foes in that area. I'm wondering how I should menage such a situation, where the foes need to get the hell out of there but they can't see anything. Players argues about my monster have a some kind of GPS when they just leave the area, and I can understand their frustration and the sense of decreasing their powers...
Sometimes the situation is reversed, and PCs need to get them out of a similar burst effect.

 

[Oompa]

I look at the situation..

Sometimes a monster backs up quickly and walks into even more danger, sometimes it backs up easy without endangering itself..

It also depends on how how intelligent the creature is..

About what powers are you talking?

And the search function is only avaible for community supporters..

 

[Luca]

I'm speaking for example of the "Hunger of Hadar" warlock power, described at page 134 of the PHB.
It says:
«Effect: The burst creates a zone of darkness until the end of
your next turn, blocking line of sight. [...]»

 

[Gregor]

According the power as written in the PHB, Hunger of Hadar creates a zone of impermeable darkness that blocks line of sight.

In terms of getting your monsters out of the zone, without seeming cheesy or cheap, which I think is your concern, is to keep in mind that they are effectively blind while in the zone. You could have your monsters make perception checks to try and navigate a way out, but being blind they take a -10 to the check. As Oompa mentions above as well, consider the intelligence of your monsters. If they were standing in a room and are aware of how it looks and its features, then its a relatively easy matter for them to know where to go once a small burst of darkness lands on them. I don't think that is a stretch. Plus, the zone is doing damage, its only rational for your monsters to try and get out as quickly as possible. Unless your monsters are mindless undead, I can't see any real reason for why your monsters would just stand in harmful darkness.

The other thing to keep in mind is that your monsters inside the zone now have total concealment from your PCs (and vice versa), so the PCs cannot directly target your monsters while they are in the zone. While they can throw in some other burst and blasts which could indirectly hurt the monsters, they can't accurately fire arrows or stuff like that into the zone. Now, considering the intelligence of the monsters again, why would your monsters not just step out of the zone in a way that places the zone between them and the PCs - its basically just a new piece of cover that completely blocks line of sight.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

Just attack the darkness with magic missile.

 

[Piratecat]

Just attack the darkness with magic missile.

Jerk. You stole my joke!

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

In the rule book there is just the blind condition... but you may want to check out the House Rule thread on the topic.

 

[chitzk0i]

Almost any way you describe Hunger of Hadar, I'm pretty sure the monster will know where the nearest edge is. And an edge will be close, since Hunger is only a burst 1.

Even if you do rule that the monsters don't know where the edges are, I think most monsters will have enough sense to a) either pick one direction and walk in it until they see light again or b) hear the PCs' battle chatter/their confused allies' cries and go that way.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

Jerk. You stole my joke!

And you stole it from the Dead Alewives. =)