Humans and low light/darkvision...

[Dingleberry]

If you think that's odd, I probably shouldn't tell you that the wyrmling eye is removable, and the player can still see through it remotely, provided he's wearing the magical blue eyepatch made by the aforementioned brass dragon from the hide of the aforementioned wyrmling.

 

[kreynolds]

Wierd...so...can he remove...you know...anything else? EWWWW!!! Nevermind!

 

[bret]

If you think that's odd, I probably shouldn't tell you that the wyrmling eye is removable, and the player can still see through it remotely, provided he's wearing the magical blue eyepatch made by the aforementioned brass dragon from the hide of the aforementioned wyrmling.

His name wouldn't happen to be G'Kar, would it?

 

[Wolf72]

Or ...

you could take a cue from Skills and Powers (as much as I didn't like players option, but that's a different story)

and make a feat:

Elf-Blood/Orc-Blood
prereq: you may only take this feat at 1st lvl, Human

you gain 30' lowlight or 30' dark vision. Somewhere in your family tree there is an elf/orc

didn't players option have the ability to (customizing characters with skill points) buy that option (or something close to it)


****
if you're introducing this feat in a pre-existing campaign, alllow your PC's to change or credit their very next feat with this one.

 

[Rashak Mani]

Discover some Elvish blood and become half-elf...

or get a BAT familiar... with empathy and the sonar you will have 120' blindsight which is good versus invisibility as well as darkness.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Discover some Elvish blood and become half-elf...

or get a BAT familiar... with empathy and the sonar you will have 120' blindsight which is good versus invisibility as well as darkness.

Having a bat familiar does not grant Blindsight in any way, shape, or form. While the Bat itself has sonar, the mage does not. The best you could hope for with a bat familiar would be to ask the bat which square your opponent is in, then strike blindly (with sword or spell) at that square. You'd still face a 50% miss chance due to total concealment, though, if using a melee or ranged weapon, a ray spell, or anything else that is aimed. Area effect spells would be fully effective.

On topic: The best and easiest thing to do if you don't need the effect always, but want it as a "just in case" type of thing, is just buy the potion. That way when you really need darkvision, you'll have it. Otherwise, the goggles are 8,000gp. Not too bad, though expensive at 4th-level...

 

[kreynolds]

8,000gp? What goggles are those? They in the DMG?

 

[Lord Pendragon]

8,000gp? What goggles are those? They in the DMG?

From the SRD:

Goggles of Night

The lenses of this item are made of dark crystal. Even though the lenses are opaque, when placed over the eyes of the wearer they enable him to see normally and also grant him darkvision (range 60 feet). Both lenses must be worn for the magic to be effective.

Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, darkvision; Market Price: 8,000 gp; Weight: -.

 

[kreynolds]

Wow. They really jacked up the price on those goggles. They should be 12,000gp. If they were command word activated they would be 10,800. Huh...

 

[Artoomis]

Wow - this thread is so topical for our group:

I just realized last night that, with the loss of one player, our group [5 PCs, one cohort, one paladin's mount riding dog and a few familiars] has NO low-light OR darkvision except for the beasties in the group.

4 humans and 2 halflings and no one thought Goggles of Night were valuable enough to buy. I think we may need commission someone to build sets of goggles for everyone! Can you believe it - 11th level group and we can't see in the dark? We actually are using continual flame and sun rods to move around underground! I hope we have enough treasure to pull this off - it sure would be nice to be able to see a little farther and not announce our presence so extremely well.

Sorry - I went off-topic a bit, there.