D&D 5E Revisiting RAW Darkness Spell

[Mistwell]

I'm not @Nefermandias , but I notice that Dan doesn't answer the questions directly. He just gives a non-clarifying Jeremy Crawford style answer where he basically just reiterates what it says in the spell. We already knew that darkness, whether magical or mundane, was heavily obscured, and we know how real darkness works, i.e. darkness does nothing to prevent you from seeing from (or through) a dark area into a well lit area. He echoes the language used in the spell that equates the "ability to see through darkness" with visually penetrating a heavily obscured area, which is an area that blocks vision only to things in that area.

Except he clearly appears to be saying you cannot see things past that area if that area is between you and it. But I will ask for a clarification and I suspect I'll get it as he is more apt to respond to questions than Crawford these days.

 

[Hriston]

No, the question was about seeing each other through the area. You just refuse to accept that impenetrable means impenetrable, like you refuse to accept tat illuminate means illuminate. It is pretty pointless to continue discussion if you refuse to accept plain and normal meanings of words.

I'm using the plain and normal meanings of impenetrable and illuminate. And no, he didn't answer that question.

 

[Hriston]

Except he clearly appears to be saying you cannot see things past that area if that area is between you and it. But I will ask for a clarification and I suspect I'll get it as he is more apt to respond to questions than Crawford these days.

All he says is that it's a heavily obscured area.

 

[Xetheral]

Still, what is the tactical or strategic benefit (if any) of the spell in the game, to you? Any examples of how it is used in your games?

The opaque inkblot version is fantastic to use to buff defenders behind crenellations (or any low cover) if the approaching enemy is both close enough to locate by hearing and does not have access to cover. On their turns each defender stands up from prone, shoots at an enemy whose position they can hear, then falls prone behind their crenellation. The shot is made without advantage or disadvantage (unseen attacker advantage cancels unseen target disadvantage), and the enemy can't effectively ready actions to shoot back while the attackers are out of cover, for lack of a perceivable trigger for the readied action.

Conversely, the opaque inkblot is fantastic to use to debuff fortified defenders if one's attacking allies are far enough away to not be located by hearing. This forces the enemy to either abandon their fortifications or else let the enemy maneuver without effectively shooting at them. For example, this can be used to drastically decrease the amount of effective fire taken by an approaching army (in spread-out formation) as it approaches a watchtower whose top has been covered in Darkness. Just be sure to drop concentration once your attacking allies are close enough to be targeted by sound (or else have plenty of decoys, such as conjured animals, for the enemy to hear and shoot at).

Spoiler: Other tactics for the opaque inkblot version...

1. Cast Darkness on untrained enemies who haven't practiced for fighting as a unit while blind. Some will likely stop in confusion while others try to escape the darkness, providing a round or two to pick off the ones who make it out while the others aren't fighting effectively. (This works even better if you can combine it with fake shouted orders that contradict the actual leader's orders. The Actor feat, Voice of the Chain Master invocation, and/or Minor Illusion are all useful for this trick.)
2. Cast Darkness to briefly break contact with the enemy while you maneuver. For example, concealing a chokepoint while allies behind the chokepoint and out of hearing range (such as covering archers) start fleeing prevents the enemy from realizing that you're pulling out, delaying pursuit.
3. Cast Darkness on the enemy's back ranks to stop them from knowing when or where to deploy reinforcements until they get out of the darkness and re-establish their situational awareness.
4. Cast Darkness on any enemy using formation fighting (like a phalanx) to disrupt the formation.
5. Cast Darkness on an object held by a flying familiar with a decent stealth check, and then have that familiar hide in the darkness and ready actions to stay close to an enemy caster, more-or-less completely shutting down that caster (works best with difficult terrain). (Advanced version: reverse-pickpocket the item into the enemy caster's pocket (or pin it to their clothes)--the darkness will flow out of the pocket and stay with the enemy caster, but they have no way of realizing the darkness is moving with them).
6. Cast Darkness on allies to allow them to Dash away from melee opponents without incurring attacks of opportunity (i.e. free Disengage action for the whole group).
7. Cast Darkness on long-range enemy artillery to prevent it from being targeted effectively.
8. Use Darkness as the trigger for preplanned tactics. For example, if all of your allies know to drop prone when Darkness is cast, you can then trigger a chest-high swinging log or scything blade hazard into the area on your text turn, catching the enemies but leaving your allies unhurt. (Bonus: your allies don't get attacked at advantage or attack with disadvantage while prone, thanks to the darkness.)
9. Cast Darkness over the mouth of a vertical pit less than 30' in diameter, blocking out sunlight and plunging the entire pit (no matter how deep) into natural darkness. (Variation: cover the only light sources in an area to make that area naturally dark.)
10. Cast Darkness in any area of the battlefield that you want to dissuade the enemy from entering, such as a vulnerable door or a hole in a fortification. (Bonus: an audible illusions of scary noises--such as chained, growling guard dogs--at the same location helps encourage the enemy not to explore.)
11. Cast Darkness prior to creating a visual illusion, then later move the darkness away. Not seeing the illusion suddenly appear may increase the time before the enemy realizes it's an illusion.
12. When retreating through a structure that you are familiar with and the enemy is not, cast Darkness at a hallway/staircase intersection (the more complicated the better, pre-prepared traps preferred) to slow the enemy's pursuit as they try to figure out where the walls are. (Note: more broadly, darkness is fantastic for slowing enemy pursuit.)
13. Cast Darkness to conceal a field of caltrops. Since the enemy can't see the caltrops they're more likely to try to move through at full speed and take damage and a speed penalty. (This works even better when only some of the enemy make their save, as now an undisciplined enemy may split into fast and slow groups.)
14. Before an ally casts a key, non-targeted spell, cast Darkness on the enemy caster to either soak up a Counterspell (and the enemy's reaction) or prevent them from seeing the allied caster. Either way, as long as your ally goes before the enemy caster, they can cast without fear of being counterspelled.
15. Cast Darkness over a pit trap that occupies the whole width of a hallway. Even if the pit trap is small enough to be jumpable, figuring out how wide it is tricky without access to flight or spider climb. (Variations: use this tactic at a dead-end hallway, so anyone trying to risk jumping over the trap hits a wall; put a hazard on the other side of the pit trap; have a second caster cover the pit trap with Wall of Stone or Wall of Force--once the enemy is in the darkness over the trap, stop concentrating on the wall.)
16. Cast Darkness to completely disrupt the command and control of an enemy using a semaphore tower to issue battlefield commands. (Variation: this also works whenever the enemy's leader is relying on a single high vantage point to be able to see the whole battle.)
17. Cast Darkness to delay the progression of a chain of bonfire signal beacons. Use the 10 minutes it buys you to scatter and extinguish the concealed bonfire to stop the signal entirely.
18. Out of sight of the PCs, cast Darkness on a stretch of key, but empty dungeon hallway. Chances are you'll delay the paranoid cautious PCs for quite awhile while they try to search the darkness for traps while blind. Alternatively, they'll use a 3rd level slot on Dispel Magic to get rid of your 2nd level Darkness spell, or conjure critters to send through to test for traps. Whether you waste their time or resources, either is still a win for the NPCs. (The NPCs should use the extra time to gather all their portable valuables and flee out the back entrance to their dungeon.) (For bonus points, the NPCs should repeat the tactic again, only this time using Darkness to conceal an actual trap.)

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I'm using the plain and normal meanings of impenetrable and illuminate. And no, he didn't answer that question.

So if I'd tell you that a wall is impenetrable to vision, you'd think it is see through? And of course he answered the question, just because you don't like the answer doesn't mean that you can ignore the context in which his reply was given.

 

[Xetheral]

Framing darkness in scientific terms is mostly straightforward. In either interpretation of the spell, darkness absorbs some of the photons passing through the AoE. The difference depends on which photons get absorbed:

Inkblot Version: All photons are absorbed, period.
Transparent Version: All photons which strike a solid object are absorbed. Photons which pass near a solid object have a high chance of being absorbed. Other photons have a small chance of being absorbed.

In both cases, nothing in the area can be illuminated--"illuminated" means "lit up, made bright," and you cannot light up something that absorbs all photons striking it--and objects and creatures in the area are heavily obscured.

(As for the science of how darkness interacts with darkvision... that can't be explained without figuring out the science of how darkvision works normally. Good luck with that one.)

Hmm... ok, this kind of works for me... So the result would be that things outside the bubble viewed through the bubble are slightly dimmed, but not enough to count as lightly obscured. Things in the bubble are completely black, but have a soft dark “aura” around them, heavily obscuring them and causing them to look like a sort of dark blob rather than a clear silhouette. I imagine this would also cause them to block line of sight and grant partial cover to creatures and objects on the other side.


Solid creatures and objects in the area can’t be illuminated, no, but the area can be, given that light passing through it has only a small chance of being absorbed.

I think this interpretation works, though it does still require ignoring the “the darkness can’t be illuminated” line, or at least creatively interpreting the word “illuminated.” But I can at least imagine what it would look like, and it seems like it could reasonably produce the effects it’s supposed to.

I think the "dark blob" approach works too, although I'd also note that nothing in the spell description suggests the spell does this. Still, it's a decent way to run it if you want transparent darkness.

Balance-wise, however, it (and other transparent darkness interpretations that give full effect to the Heavy Obscurement rules without creating even bigger problems, like transparent floors and walls) effectively turns the spell into a (portable) AoE version of Shadow of Moil, which is a 4th level caster-only spell. Even without Shadow of Moil's retributive damage, 2nd level seems too low.

 

[Hriston]

So if I'd tell you that a wall is impenetrable to vision, you'd think it is see through? And of course he answered the question, just because you don't like the answer doesn't mean that you can ignore the context in which his reply was given.

If you tell me the darkness is impenetrable, I'd say that means I can't see things in the darkness. His answer was fine, but it didn't go beyond what the rules already say. It's just a general statement about darkness.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

If you tell me the darkness is impenetrable, I'd say that means I can't see things in the darkness. His answer was fine, but it didn't go beyond what the rules already say.

Context! Context is answering a question of whether two people can see each other trough the darkness spell while not in it. It is clear what it means.

 

[Mistwell]

All he says is that it's a heavily obscured area.

That's not all he says, and it's in response to a specific question. But see, this is why I ask for clarification. Because it's a D&D rules question on EnWorld, which involves things like, "That depends on what the definition of "is" is" and people not liking the use of the word "through" because they think it's too vague.

 

[Hriston]

Context! Context is answering a question of whether two people can see each other trough the darkness spell while not in it. It is clear what it means.

Well, to be fair, the actual question was about whether the area of the spell is opaque, and Dan's answer was to tell him it's a heavily obscured area. You can take that to mean that all heavily obscured areas are opaque, but he didn't actually say that, and I'd disagree that's what the rules say.