D&D General How strict are you with vision in your game?

[jmartkdr2]

Sorry, but im not too familiar with the -5 penalty from Darkvison and the +2 AC penalty for shooting at enemies fighting allies...in what book is this found?

Attacking a target behind another creature grants the target half-cover (PHB 196). It might grant more. Half-cover grants the target +2 AC.

For theater of the mind games, +2 AC to the target for shooting into melee is a good compromise. Technically this should only apply if your ally (or some other creature) is between you and the target, but TotM games are usually looking for shortcuts and characters in a melee would be moving around a lot, so assuming half-cover is generally seen as fair, believable, and simple enough to keep things moving. Although 'hitting an ally on a nat 1' is another popular option.

 

[Maxperson]

How strict am I with Vision in my game? Very. He's an android with lots of knowledge and intelligence. If I wasn't strict with him, he'd run roughshod over the me and the rest of the group.

 

[GlassJaw]

Lax because the vision rules suck.

 

[Maxperson]

Im running the Dungeon of the Mad Mage slog, and on Owlbear Rodeo (which is a fantastic VTT by the way!), i accidently uncovered more of a non-lit corridor well mainly because i honestly wasnt paying attention to vision. I did tell my players when they delved into the dungeon that it was unlit, and the rogue in the group who usually scouted ahead is an assassimar. Regardless of who went up front, or what race, i just want to know (especially for those of you who have un-lit dungeons in thier games), if your super strict about darkvision and uncover more than you should just to save time and hassle, or do you incramentally micro manage players vision in a dungeon (or wherever actually)?

Also let me knwo if your playing in person or online, and if that makes a difference in your vision policy?

Okay. Serious answer now. In 5e Darkvision isn't nearly as good as it used to be. With the disadvantage on visual perception checks, my players have taken to using torches even when they all have darkvision, because they miss a LOT if they rely on it. 5e has relegated darkvision to emergency use only.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Online I also use Owlbear Rodeo but do not have the time, energy or desire to count out to 12 squares away from every icon with applicable sight for the situation (the normal 60' of vision distance). I'll just reveal the map as we go along and guess at distances when erasing the fog of war. As a story-first DM, the nitpickier exploration mechanics I just handwave and I just go with the narrative sense at the time.

 

[toucanbuzz]

I'm very near-sighted about vision despite my attempts to be far-sighted with the issue.

With that out of my system, although I usually use grid-combat, I apply theater of the mind reasoning to vision as I don't want to be constantly counting squares. Same with exploring, which is off-grid.

 

[Stalker0]

Very lax, generally its more of an encounter highlight once in a while, but most of the time I pretty much handwave it.

 

[Laurefindel]

Pretty lax, with lots of ad-hoc adjudications.

Mostly because my experience says people see better in the dark than what the rules tend to describe, and because I rule differently obscurement caused by lack of light (i.e. darkness) from obscurement blocking sight (i.e. fog cloud).

And I tend to allow rogues to use sneak attack in darkness when it makes sense. One shouldn't have to stick to the darkest alleys to be safe from backstabbing assassins. Well-lit streets are way more dangerous!

 

[Charlaquin]

I enforce vision-based penalties, but I abstract the distances. A torch lets you see normally at close range and with disadvantage at medium range. Darkvision upgrades the functional quality of the light at close and medium range by one level. Superior Darkvision does the same up to long range.

 

[Klaudius Rex]

I use dynamic lighting on Roll20 and it makes the dungeon crawling aspect of the game and anything that involves sightlines much more fun. In my current game, all but one of the party have darkvision and one person having to carry a torch makes it more difficult for the party to be sneaky unless they really think about where that person is at any time.

I have made tokens that can be dragged out by the players for spell templates or lighting effects and that makes a big difference to speed of play.

That sounds cool!...can you send me some of these templates and such, please? I’m new to VTT