New vision ability take two

[trentonjoe]

I just read a thread about a new kind of vision and it got me thinking.

What if there was an underground race that only saw in black and white? Darkness or light didn't matter everything was like a 1957 TV.

THis would be a big bonus ofcourse! They might get a +2 to saves vs spells that have a light componet (color spray, hypnotic pattern, flare, Prismatic Wall, etc).


Would this bump the ECL up one on a preexisting race?
Is this a good idea?
WOuld there be nonroleplaying drawbacks to being colorblind?
Is this already in a book I don't have?
What other spells would it effect?

ANy and all comments welcome, thanks!

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

>This would be a big bonus ofcourse! They might get a +2 to saves
>vs spells that have a light componet (color spray, hypnotic
>pattern, flare, Prismatic Wall, etc).

I am not sure why it would give a bonus against all those spells, since I don't think it matters what color any of those spells are when they affect their target.

How about it gives them a bonus to saves versus illusion/phantasm spells?

>Would this bump the ECL up one on a preexisting race?

Nah, even under your original idea- those spells would not come up enough to bump anything. Most likely the player would not remember until after they failed the save anyway.

>Is this a good idea?
It is an interesting idea- but just check on the maturity of your players. I could picture mine tricking the b&w sighter to wear stupid colors and crap.

>WOuld there be nonroleplaying drawbacks to being colorblind?

Well, since the character that comes from a race that would not easily grasp the ideas of colors (Could you explain "yellow"?), then you could argue that spells that are based around color would be beyond them or very weak for them.

for example: One of these b&w sighters makes an illusion of a wall to hide the party behind- the monster following them sees a part of the wooden wall suddenly turn black and white.. heh, not much of a help.

There is also the occasional trap/puzzle based around colors- which might make the character useless.

>Is this already in a book I don't have?

Not that I recall reading, but I don't own it all by any stretch.

>What other spells would it effect?
I could not list ones specifically, but I would suggest by my example above that illusion spells would be a case by case situation. They could easily make a visible illusion against one of their own race, but other races would most likely notice it right away.

It would certainly make fighting dragons and slaad more interesting.. "Oh god, another grey dragon- what do you think this one is capable of?!"

FD