infravision: how do one see?

[rossik]

wonder how elves and dwarfs seen with infravision in your games.

its like day light, "Predator" heat style, or other?

if he see just heat, would a undead be invisible in the dark?

 

[Darkwolf71]

I believe the original concept was for 'Predator' style vision. And that's how we ran it. Most undead would not be 'invisible'. The different densities of bone and flesh would hold ambiant tempuratures at different levels than the surrounding stone/wood structures. The exception would be those who had been locked in a room with no tempurature variance and no air current.

Of course the incredible complexity of Infravision was why we now have Darkvision. It's much easier to just say, 'You can see in the dark'.

 

[rossik]

darkvision?
where? 3e/4e?

 

[Corathon]

I'd say that skeletons in a sealed chamber would be invisible to infravision.

IMC, things like wights, spectres, wraiths, etc are visible to infravision because their connection to the Negative Material makes them colder than their surroundings.

 

[Goobermunch]

3e, 3.5e, probably 4e.

--G

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Infravision was in earlier editions explicitly seeing infrared spectrum light.

So if you want to know how infravision looks the easiest way to envision it is to go search Youtube for FLIR. That's how creatures with infravision see at night, as if they were looking through a very good latest generation FLIR. With the 5th and 6th gen stuff you can read people's expression and even recognize individual people. Not like the 2nd and 3rd gen stuff I used where it was pretty much just a person shaped glow.

 

[kenobi65]

darkvision?
where? 3e/4e?

Note that the OP put the 1E/2E/OD&D tag on this thread. So, assume the older versions of the game, where there was such a thing as infravision.

If you assume anything other than "it lets you see what you can see in daylight, only in the dark" (i.e., if you go with Predator-style heat vision), you get into all sorts of weird questions, like "can you see undead (golems, earth elementals, etc.)?", "can you see illusions?", etc. Which, as Darkwolf71 says, is why 3E changed it.

Back in the day, when I was running 1E/2E, I assumed that "it lets you see what you can see in daylight", because other interpretations just started crying for abuse.

 

[Deset Gled]

For some great examples of both what infravision would look like, and exactly why it has been dropped in recent editions, take a look at this SKR rant: http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/rants/infravision.html

 

[rossik]

For some great examples of both what infravision would look like, and exactly why it has been dropped in recent editions, take a look at this SKR rant: http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/rants/infravision.html

great link!
very good point in the end that the character would blind himself.

in game terms, if i use infravision,maybe its better to get infra and dark vision together, then



so, i just explain to the players that "its fantasy! dont ask again!" and throw a iron dice of hurting

 

[Slife]

For some great examples of both what infravision would look like, and exactly why it has been dropped in recent editions, take a look at this SKR rant: http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/rants/infravision.html

What he's missing is that enough visible light will harm you too. Just saying that infravision works on a limited spectrum of infrared, similar to how vision works on the limited visual spectrum, solves about 90% of his concerns.