D&D General How do you really handle illumination in your games?

[Li Shenron]

I generally want to make illumination matter, and since it's a complicated topic I typically go back and review the rules frequently, almost every time when preparing a new adventure.

But then while running the game I often totally forget about it, and end up essentially handwaving it.

It's easy not to forget about the obvious cases, such as when someone/something is invisible or trying to hide and sneak, as well as taking into account cover and other physical concealment that might obscure vision (fog, foliage...).

What I keep forgetting, is to handle regular areas of bright light vs dim light vs darkness. I would really like to make light sources ranges matter, but most of the time I just end up assuming that if one PC has any light source, then everyone can basically see a whole dungeon room at once.

Note that I play exclusively in person, so I don't have the aid of "fog of war" features from a VTT.

How precisely do you enforce illumination rules in your games, and how do you manage to keep everything in mind?

 

[cbwjm]

You sound exactly like me, I want it to matter but completely forget about it. I think often the case is that someone, in 5e, casts light and then from then on we assume that there is enough light to not worry. I think at most I say that it messes with darkvision so if someone has cast light, the elf in the party can't see quite as far.

I'm running dolmenwood, I'd like to include light sources as a way of making the players worry about what's going to happen when their torches run out but one of the players is an enchanter who can produce a flame for light at will so that's unlikely to be an issue.

For combat, maybe a simple, if they're in melee then no penalties if they have a light source but anything ranged is at a penalty, shooting at someone in a light source is at no penalty, arrows from the dark should be scary. This means you don't have to worry about bright light to 10 feet, dim light to 20 feet and the penalty for being further than 10 feet from the light source, we play theatre of the mind so tend not to use anything quite so exact anyway.

 

[Distracted DM]

I also try to make light matter- but in DND5e between darkvision, devils sight, and (IMO most problematic) unlimited cantrip castings, it can be tough to completely turn the lights out on the party.

The best advice I can give to making dim light table-relevant is to always ask "ok youre sure you want to rely on darkvision and take the disadvantage/penalty to all visual checks?" Usually the player will reconsider with that question.

 

[Corinnguard]

I also try to make light matter- but in DND5e between darkvision, devils sight, and (IMO most problematic) unlimited cantrip castings, it can be tough to completely turn the lights out on the party.

The best advice I can give to making dim light table-relevant is to always ask "ok youre sure you want to rely on darkvision and take the disadvantage/penalty to all visual checks?" Usually the player will reconsider with that question.

What if you had someone who was playing a Gloom Stalker Ranger? Their Umbral Sight feature allows them to become 'invisible' to those relying on Darkvision to see in the darkness. This would be one instance where you have to know if someone is using a torch or a spell to shed some light to see by.

 

[Lanefan]

I generally want to make illumination matter, and since it's a complicated topic I typically go back and review the rules frequently, almost every time when preparing a new adventure.

But then while running the game I often totally forget about it, and end up essentially handwaving it.

It's easy not to forget about the obvious cases, such as when someone/something is invisible or trying to hide and sneak, as well as taking into account cover and other physical concealment that might obscure vision (fog, foliage...).

What I keep forgetting, is to handle regular areas of bright light vs dim light vs darkness. I would really like to make light sources ranges matter, but most of the time I just end up assuming that if one PC has any light source, then everyone can basically see a whole dungeon room at once.

Note that I play exclusively in person, so I don't have the aid of "fog of war" features from a VTT.

How precisely do you enforce illumination rules in your games, and how do you manage to keep everything in mind?

If they're in any sort of hurry I tell them (and-or draw out on the board) only what they can see within the range of their lights; "no end found" is a very commonly-heard phrase here. Oftentimes in larger spaces this leads to their throwing a light source ahead in order to light up more area.

If they have a bit of time and it's apparently safe I'll describe the whole area on the assumption they'll fairly quickly fan out enough to see all of it.

I rarely if ever worry about "dim light" vs normal light, though, as it's usually so trivially easy to move the few feet so as to make dim light into normal light.

 

[James Gasik]

Generally, every time I say to myself "ok, I'm going to super enforce vision ranges", it almost always ends up being more trouble than it's worth. You'll have one guy who can only see 20' with a light source, another guy who can see 60', a third guy who can see 120', and a fourth guy who also can only see 20' with a light source, but has access to some other special sense via a familiar or species trait, and keeping track of who can see who gets obnoxious. About all I can really do most of the time is keep track of the disadvantage/-5 passive Perception for Darkvision users. It can even get obnoxious with monsters, especially since they typically need light sources as well, even with Darkvision to avoid being surprised, and every so often, a player will get cute and figure out how to deny enemies the benefits of darkvision or PC light sources!

At some point, I always toss my hands up in the air and decide the juice isn't worth the squeeze- the last time this happened, they were exploring a cave system and I was trying to keep areas they couldn't see into hidden by covering them with paper, but once one person was like "oh, I can see into X area", I had no choice but to reveal the area, and gently remind players who can see what- which quickly became moot when the guy who could see started instructing the arcane casters where to lob area spells.

It really feels like the only way you can attempt to enforce illumination is if you use a VTT or Theatre of the Mind (I don't like the former, as I prefer everyone play at the table, and the latter, well, then I have just as much neck pain tracking where everyone is in relation to one another).

So these days, I simply ask the group what they are using for light, and stop worrying about it.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I tend to handwave it mostly, I guess I don't really run the style of campaigns where it's really important to delve into deep dungeons and scan every square.

I think on some level, the rules are both too strict and too lenient. I mean, absolute darkness is really frigging dark, you can't see anything. But it also doesn't take much light to see a lot more, even if you lack the details you have at daylight, the shortcomings probably matter a lot less for melee combat then it does for, say, building with little colored plastic bricks (or picking a lock), but they would matter a lot for trying to sneak around.

We use the Foundry for our (online) gaming needs, and it has a system to manage lights, but I also think it's too strict. It just feels like if there is any light at all, you could probably make out features like the general shape of a room far easier than you could identify features (and distinguish a statue or a column from a creature), but you're just seeing utter black.

 

[sevenbastard]

I rarley do more than cursory enforcement at the table.

At first I loved that VTT made light amd vision matter, until I realized it made Datk Vision even more powerful because when the rules were enforced PC without it were at such a disadvantage.

 

[Distracted DM]

What if you had someone who was playing a Gloom Stalker Ranger? Their Umbral Sight feature allows them to become 'invisible' to those relying on Darkvision to see in the darkness. This would be one instance where you have to know if someone is using a torch or a spell to shed some light to see by.

I'm not entirely clear on your question- I assumed we were talking about light and vision mattering to PCs. With regards to NPCs, I almost always give them torches or lanterns, because that's how the world works in my head. The NPCs in my world aren't trying to get around someone having to hold a torch, including those with darkvision. But re your question, I don't get it- what's the difference between a torch and the light spell to a gloomstalker ranger?

 

[Justice and Rule]

When I'm at a physical table? I make note of things and maybe vaguely take heed of what is or isn't lit ("Oh, you'll need to move about the room with the torch to see the entire mural").

For VTT, it does the work for me, which is nice. Playing online has some disadvantages, but it also comes with some really cool features. Really want to try and build a physical digital tabletop this upcoming year to get the best of both worlds.