D&D 5E Rogues without Darkvision

[Leugren]

I mentioned this in another thread, but I'm curious to hear if others have shared my experiences:

I've been in a couple of campaigns containing rogues without darkvision. Watching these guys try to perform their scouting duties while holding torches aloft to light the way was pathetic enough that, as a DM, I was sorely tempted to make the monsters pretend not to see them--like when you play hide-and-seek with a four-year-old kid:


Beholder: Now where could that little rascal be hiding?!?
Rogue with Torch: <high-pitched tittering>


After letting this go on for a couple of levels, my compassionate nature got the better of me, so the group just happened to stumble upon some Goggles of Night.

In the group that I play with, rogues always play an instrumental role by furtively moving out ahead of the party to gather reconnaissance about enemy troop dispositions and the like. Is this a fairly common practice in other groups? If so, do you find that characters without darkvision are at a pronounced disadvantage? Call it a failure of imagination on my part, but I'm at a loss to figure out how a night-blind rogue might cope in a typical dungeon or sewer.

 

[RevelationMD]

I certainly wouldn't allow a rogue to carry around a torch in a pitch black setting and maintain stealth (or perhaps let them make their stealth checks at a ridiculously high difficulty) but then again, I wouldn't have every adventure set in areas of pitch blackness. I guess its a balancing act - if every adventure requires darkvision for the rogue to play his class then darkvision becomes compulsory, if you allow non-darkvision rogues to 'get away with' carrying torches whilst stealthed then darkvision becomes almost redundant. I'd mix up the settings so that darkvision is a bonus but not the be-all-and-end-all.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I find my campaigns tend to involve a reversal of this:

Most monsters, even those with darkvision, keep their dungeons and similar settings dimly light, rather than completely in darkness - because they can see much farther in dimly lit surroundings than 60 feet, and thus are more likely to notice encroaching adventurers or other monsters in a dimly lit surroundings, which means less chance of winding up dead.

Especially if there are potentially hostile creatures in the area which have superior darkvision, drow for example, because relying on being able to see in darkness to a range of 60' to keep you alive when what wants to kill you can do the same at twice the range is choosing to get killed while waiting for some poor adventurer that you can catch unaware because they need a torch and you don't.

 

[CapnZapp]

As I see it, the real problem is the switch of Elves over to Darkvision (from "night vision").

As a result, Halflings and Humans stand out as lacking darkvision. Rather than the races with darkvision standing out as having darkvision.

In a campaign where you travel with people with lanterns and torches, darkvision is of secondary importance. But if you can travel in a darkvision-complete party, darkvision becomes a huge advantage.

As to your specific concern:

Human rogues have no place in constantly dark places. They work decently above ground and in human cities where lots of action take place either at day or in lighted areas.

But since D&D is what it is; yes, as a human or halfling rogue, you would need to get darkvision. The sooner the better.

 

[CapnZapp]

Beholder: Now where could that little rascal be hiding?!?
Rogue with Torch: <childish giggle>

3 chars

 

[Plaguescarred]

Human rogue in our group is too chicken to scout most of the time anyway loll

 

[Azurewraith]

I range a human rogue once was awfull. Then I got smart I would stock up on caltrops and ball bearings carried my hooded lantern on a 10ft pole carried at my side. Whent shot at I droped the lantern and ball bearing n caltrops n leg it our of the light n hide. Got some good kills.

I do think the low light vision getting rolled into dark sucks though as dv is way to common

 

[TheCosmicKid]

In the group that I play with, rogues always play an instrumental role by furtively moving out ahead of the party to gather reconnaissance about enemy troop dispositions and the like. Is this a fairly common practice in other groups? If so, do you find that characters without darkvision are at a pronounced disadvantage? Call it a failure of imagination on my part, but I'm at a loss to figure out how a night-blind rogue might cope.

At the risk of stating the obvious, in real life nobody has darkvision, and people have still managed to perform stealthy reconnaissance missions from time to time.

 

[Azurewraith]

At the risk of stating the obvious, in real life nobody has darkvision, and people have still managed to perform stealthy reconnaissance missions from time to time.

Night vision goggles! And night time isn't usually pitch pitch black

 

[Li Shenron]

At the risk of stating the obvious, in real life nobody has darkvision, and people have still managed to perform stealthy reconnaissance missions from time to time.

Sure, but I think here we're talking about dungeons I have been visiting underground caves a few times, the last one was a former mine in the Alps and let me tell you that it gives you a whole new definition of "dark". We tried to turn the lights off for a minute and it was terrifying. The guides told us that nobody ever got out alive from those mines if they ran out of light sources.