Regular vision

[AuraSeer]

How many critters are there that don't have either low-light vision or darkvision? It looks like Humanoid is the only creature type lacking a special vision mode, and five of the seven PH humanoids have one anyhow.

What other light-dependent creatures are out there besides humans and halflings?

 

[Knight Otu]

Very, very few creatures. From the main monster books and the XPsi Handbook:

MM 3.5:
Halfling
(Human)
Lizardfolk
Locatha

XPsiHB:
Elans (despite being aberrations)
Maenad

FF:
Mongrelfolk

MM3:
Changeling
Poisondusk Lizardfolk
Warforged (despite being constructs)

 

[monboesen]

And this leads to another question that really frustrates me at times. Just how far can a human (or any other non- lowlight or darkvision creature) see at various light levels. Such as a clouded night, at full moon, at starlight ?

A damn lot of my games take place at night (and the reason is exactly that most other creatures has lowlight and uses that to their advantage), typically in forested areas. And most of the characters are human and we can never figure out what they can see.

 

[Stormrunner]

We've generally run it as
Moonlight = concealment (20% miss chance)
Starlight = improved concealment (40% miss chance)
and under the trees the light level goes down one step - if it's full moonlight out in the clearing, it's starlight under the trees.
As to "how far" - outdoors, basically as far as is lit and not blocked. On a moonlit plain you can see quite far. In a forest your sight line is blocked by the surrounding trees pretty quickly.

OT, I've always wondered why Monstrous Humanoids ("humanoids with animal-like features") all get darkvision. Flavor-wise, I'd expect them to have low-light vision, like creatures of the Animal type. And for that matter, why is a grimlock, derro or hag a monstrous humanoid while merfolk, gnolls, kobolds, troglodytes and lizardfolk are not? Why is a ranger who takes Favored Enemy: Monstrous Humanoid equally effective against creatures as diverse in their anatomy and habits as harpies, centaurs, and sahuagin, while one who takes Favored Enemy:Halflings gets no bonus against gnomes or humans?

 

[Alduk]

Knight Otu:

Damn, I always suspected it was an awful lot of creatures that possessed one kind of improved vision or another, but I never realized it was SO MANY of them!

 

[Quasqueton]

This issue has been my only really big gripe about D&D. Makes you wonder why they don't call low-light vision "normal vision" and human vision "dim vision".

It's a wonder humans have made it to the top of the food chain in a D&D world. Humans (and halflings and lizardfolk) are almost blind in comparison to their competition in the world. Even freakin' *plants* (creatures) have low-light vision by default. Skeletons don't even *have* eyes, but they get darkvision.

And one of the most annoying things to do as a DM, is to have to describe a scene in a dungeon 3 ways to cover for the elves and gnomes with low-light (who are seeing twice as far), and the dwarves and orcs with darkvision (who are seeing not only beyond the light source in many cases, but also into the shadows cast by the light source).

Quasqueton

 

[Knight Otu]

Damn, I always suspected it was an awful lot of creatures that possessed one kind of improved vision or another, but I never realized it was SO MANY of them!

Yep, pretty much all creatures have improved vision abilities. I might have missed a handful in the books I looked through, but even then, it wouldn't really change anything.
I guess if you'd look through books containing primarily playable races, you might find a larger number, but I'd be surprised if more than 1 in 20 creatures total had normal vision.

 

[AuraSeer]

This issue has been my only really big gripe about D&D. Makes you wonder why they don't call low-light vision "normal vision" and human vision "dim vision".

Because when a creature with just darkvision is depending on a light source, it has the same limitations as a human.

 

[Quasqueton]

Because when a creature with just darkvision is depending on a light source, it has the same limitations as a human.

Not really. A human with a torch sees out to 20' normally, and then out to 40' shadowy (20% miss chance).

An orc with a torch see's out to 20' normally, and then out to 60' with darkvision (no shadows, and no miss chance).

An elf with a torch see's out to 40' normally, and then out to 80' shadowy.

Normal vision = "dim vision".

Quasqueton

 

[AuraSeer]

Yeah, Quasqueton, but think about what happens when the character is not at the same location as the light source.

For instance, say those three characters are sneaking up on a distant torch-carrying group of enemies. The elf can see clearly within 40' of the torch. The human and orc can both see clearly only within 20' of the torch. Yet even when the torch is a hundred yards away, the orc can see perfectly well in the area where he himself is standing; that doesn't sound like "dim vision" to me.