Is darkness broken

[AbdulAlhazred]

Well, Dispel Magic should work against most Darkness I would think.

 

[LostSoul]

Bad design IMO. Locked door screams railroad to me. Darkness means you can't even pick it, though you could try to force your way out if it got bad.

Locked door + darkness screams "Bash down the door" to me.

And no, darkness is not broken.

 

[Darkness]

Why hello there

Is darkness broken

Maybe, but I'm always trying to improve myself.

How can you cancel darkness?

Linking to cool websites works pretty well. My curiosity defense isn't as high as my other defenses.

I don't see Darkness as the end of the world

I kinda like the world, but if you insist... Give me another couple decades and maybe I can work something out; I'm thinking a massive badger infestation. Underwater badgers.

Darkness is something that you definitely want to use sparingly ...

Couldn't agree more. Otherwise, I wouldn't have enough free time to play Diablo 2 - and then where would we be? It would be the end of the world as we know it. Hm, maybe we wouldn't be needing all those badgers then.

... it can dominate the encounter and frustrate the players.

Sorry about that. I'll try to behave next time.

I did this darkness trick to a party once, and it can be fun

I'm glad you liked my party trick. Was getting all the ice cream (not to mention the sharks) out of the house afterwards a chore? I still have problems with that part myself sometimes.

In general though darkness isn't that big a deal.

darkness puts a premium on spellcasters.

Too many skeletons, zombies, and other undead are neglected - even abandoned - these days, but if I can get just a few more casters to take up necromancy, so many of the walking dead can have a loving home.

So, darkness really serves a nice purpose

Why, thank you!

 

[Journeymanmage]

Darkness is easy to deal with if you have a wizard that has magic missile.....

You get: 1 Summoner point.

 

[Starfox]

While yes, it's true that the DM is supposed to create situations that help out his monsters, he should still put some though into encounter design and how it will impact things.

Not really interested n the details of the case; just wanted to counter the argument that using monsters' abilities to best advantage is a bad thing.

 

[Benlo]

Not really interested n the details of the case; just wanted to counter the argument that using monsters' abilities to best advantage is a bad thing.

I'm all for having monsters do what they do best, but within reason. Having Drow be able to see through each other's darkness is an example is bad DMing unless you are aware what you are doing is against the RAW and probably RAI. I guess if your players are REALLY capable at hitting, then it could be a reasonable challenge booster, or a chance to let the Wizard or other Controller shine.

 

[eriktheguy]

Try fighting a dozen Drow in a 20 foot wide hallway that's trapped on both ends, in an encounter that's run by a DM who thinks the same thing about Drow, that you do about swarms

That is simply wrong.

Locked door + darkness screams "Bash down the door" to me.

Took me 3 rounds.

Maybe, but I'm always trying to improve myself...

That's it, I'm attacking the darkness.


It turns out the monsters were Dark One: Dark Creeper. Whenever they die they blind you, and moving gives them combat advantage. I don't remember where the darkness came from in this fight, but it might have been a case of 'something blows your torches out' because I remember there being darkness...

 

[Xphile]

I was playing a campaign run by my friend and we had to fight some monsters with a darkness ability. I don't remember the specific creature, but they may have been Umbral Sprite Swarms (MM2).
They had darkness that filled the (locked) room we were in, and more than one of them had this ability. Since it was recharge (with multiple casters), the entire encounter was fought in darkness.

I would consider yourself lucky, I didn't hear about any sort of traps. Yes, the encounter seems a bit forced, as the door locks (I'm guessing for no reason) behind the players and then they are put into a situation where they are heavily disadvantaged. I guess the best thing to do would be to ask said DM about why he did it. Maybe he planned for the party to not stay and fight, but run through the room, groping through the darkness until they could find an exit.

It reminded me of my group's first fight with a black dragon. We only killed the dragon because:
-We had the jump on it
-It was an open battlefield
-It was alone
-The rogue used 'walking wounded' on it

If anything, I think what you say he proves that darkness can be overcome and isn't as overpowered as you believe.

 

[Zinovia]

I did this darkness trick to a party once, and it can be fun

I'm glad you liked my party trick. Was getting all the ice cream (not to mention the sharks) out of the house afterwards a chore? I still have problems with that part myself sometimes.

...and Darkness appears to refute any claims of brokenness, and allude to his fun party trick.

 

[DarkLord Of DForce]

Gonna ask this again, because I didn't see any replies....

Would popping a couple of Glowstones in this situation help?

From the Compendium:

Glowstone

This fist-sized stone glows faintly and can be used to create a bright burst of radiant light that harms undead creatures.
Level: 10
Price: 200 gp
Other Consumable

Property: A glowstone radiates dim light in a 2-square radius.
Power (Consumable • Radiant, Zone): Standard Action. Use the glowstone to creates a zone of bright illumination in an area burst 2 within 5 squares of you. Any undead creature that is vulnerable to radiant damage that enters or starts its turn within the zone is affected as if it had taken radiant damage. For example, a skeleton that has vulnerable 5 radiant takes 5 radiant damage if it enters or starts its turn in the zone. The zone remains until the end of the encounter or for 5 minutes, whichever comes first. Using this power turns the glowstone to dust.First published in Adventurer's Vault

Obviously, I'm talking about the illumination, not the advantages against the Undead.

Just curious.