Ridding Elves and Half-Elves of Darkvision

[WhosDaDungeonMaster]

Yeah, besides I already house-ruled Dragonborn move to 25 (I like the idea of a slower, lumbering gate) and my players are fine with it. Giving Darkvision seems a nice trade-off.

I will also probably remove Darkvision from Elf and Half-Elf since the only justification seems it was a legacy ability (in various forms) from 1E on. I'll have to give it more thought, though.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts.

 

[ExploderWizard]

The flip side of this is that "historically" darkvision removed the problem of darkness, but in 5e it doesn't -- even with darkvision, in 5e you suffer disadvantage on all perception checks.

That's huge, and even parties with darkvision need to use light sources regularly.

Actually infravision did not remove the problem of darkness. It allowed heat signatures and differences to be seen in the dark. Cold blooded creatures and undead could still sneak right up on you and of course you literally couldn't see the writing on the wall. Darkvision is much better even with the drawbacks it still has.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don't see any reason to remove darkvision from elves. They have it because D&D elves are based on Tolkien, and Tolkien's elves had a preference for night.

And in terms of gameplay, "doesn't have darkvision" is a minor inconvenience that adds nothing.

 

[schnee]

Our table has talked it through, and we're more about 'heroic drama' than logistics, so we track light, but only get super-picky when it's a more fright/horror game and we warn the characters ahead of time.

Still, even with that, disadvantage is HUGE, so the players still make difficult choices about when to use light, even though over half the party has dark vision.

The only house rule we have so far is that Dragonborn get Darkvision (and a free racial skill of Intimidation).

But, I might eventually make it more like 1e - only Dwarves and Drow get true underground Darkvision, and the Elves/Gnomes have Nightvision which gives the exact same benefits as long as they can above them is open sky, or if the sky is completely obscured it's because they're in thick forest. So, it retains some mystical connection with nature, and Dwarves are unique among the 'default' PC races.

That won't change the game much, but the places it does change it will feel more flavorful and add some new variations in encounters.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Actually infravision did not remove the problem of darkness. It allowed heat signatures and differences to be seen in the dark. Cold blooded creatures and undead could still sneak right up on you and of course you literally couldn't see the writing on the wall. Darkvision is much better even with the drawbacks it still has.

All true - I could have been more precise. It remains true that darkvision in 5e presents significant obstacles that need light to overcome.

 

[Bupp]

One house rule I've seen is making the darkvision situational. Dwarven and drow darkvision only works underground, while elven darkvision only works under an open sky.

 

[CrimsonCarcharodon]

I can see removing darkvision from half-elves; their vision is lessened by their human heritage. Elves ("What do your elf eyes see?) make sense, for me. They're from Faerie, ancestrally, and I assume Faerie has some incredibly dark areas.

If I was going to rewrite the dragonborn (and I want to), I'd give them darkvision. It makes perfect sense.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I liked low light vision. It’s pretty easy to implement. Also to echo some of the other comments, make sure you are giving disadvantage for dim light conditions. You’ll find your players will carry light anyways.

If ou give Dragonborn darkvision, you should consider taking it away from half elves. With their human heritage, why would they get it anyways. Besides, they get the best racial bonuses.

 

[5ekyu]

i would have handled it differently altogether

Start with the lighting rules...

magical darkness would equal blinded.
darkness would allow hide and provide advantage to those rolls.
dim light would allow hide checks.
normal light would not allow hide checks.

Obviously, other conditions would allow or disallow hide checks.

Then darkvision or other types of senses would provide advantage on perception checks in certain lighting and/or treat one lighting type as another.

As it is now, with almost all the "outdoors at night" basically equating to blinded - its way too much of a penalty to not have darkvision (leading to a lot of handwaving of the issue in actual play.)

 

[Draegn]

For my game each race has a list of characteristics a player can choose from. Not all elves have dark/night vision.