Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Sudden Realization On Darkvision Wording
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9271275" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>Disadvantage on finding stuff with Perception is a big deal. When I ran Tales from the Yawning Portal, one of my players smugly said that he was taking Observant so he would find everything.</p><p></p><p>Then with his Darkvision, he would go ahead of the party to skulk about.</p><p></p><p>When he inevitably ran into a trap (we started with Sunless Citadel, and the first part is full of Kobolds), he seemed surprised. When it kept happening, he finally said "James, I have Passive Perception XX!", to which I replied "that's correct, you just missed the DC."</p><p></p><p>This went on for two sessions before another DM came up to me (this was in Adventure League) and asked if I was using the rules for passive perception correctly.</p><p></p><p>"Of course, he has passive perception X, and as you see here on page 5, the trap is DC Y."</p><p></p><p>"Uh, that's high enough for him to find it."</p><p></p><p>"Not with Disadvantage it isn't."</p><p></p><p>"One, Disadvantage doesn't affect passive checks, and why does he have it?"</p><p></p><p>I quickly pointed him at the rules for how advantage/disadvantage affects passive checks. "And he has disadvantage because he's using Darkvision."</p><p></p><p>"Huh, why? It lets him see in the dark!"</p><p></p><p>"It lets him treat darkness as dim light, see it says so right in his racial traits. Now if you go here where it discusses dim light, you'll notice he has disadvantage to his perception."</p><p></p><p>The DM blinked at the rules, as if he had never seen them in his entire life, in fact, he went to check his own rulebook. Then he wandered off. He came back a little while later and said "I checked online, you're right."</p><p></p><p>I wondered why he felt the need to check, but whatever. Then I watched him wander over to the Rogue player on the other end of the store (nonchalantly reading the store copy of the adventure...but that's another story).</p><p></p><p>A few moments later I heard a "WHAT?!" and I shook my head. The next session, he asked if someone had light or a torch. He then confronted me and asked why I didn't tell him he had disadvantage.</p><p></p><p>"It's in the rules, I assumed you knew."</p><p></p><p>"Nobody plays it that way!" </p><p></p><p>"I do."</p><p></p><p>Ever since then, any time someone says "Darkvision is OP!" I ask if they're using the penalties correctly. Because I have, and it's astonishing how many times players will blunder into an ambush thinking they're smart for not using light (while wondering why Darkvision equipped monsters in my games use light when not trying to be sneaky).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9271275, member: 6877472"] Disadvantage on finding stuff with Perception is a big deal. When I ran Tales from the Yawning Portal, one of my players smugly said that he was taking Observant so he would find everything. Then with his Darkvision, he would go ahead of the party to skulk about. When he inevitably ran into a trap (we started with Sunless Citadel, and the first part is full of Kobolds), he seemed surprised. When it kept happening, he finally said "James, I have Passive Perception XX!", to which I replied "that's correct, you just missed the DC." This went on for two sessions before another DM came up to me (this was in Adventure League) and asked if I was using the rules for passive perception correctly. "Of course, he has passive perception X, and as you see here on page 5, the trap is DC Y." "Uh, that's high enough for him to find it." "Not with Disadvantage it isn't." "One, Disadvantage doesn't affect passive checks, and why does he have it?" I quickly pointed him at the rules for how advantage/disadvantage affects passive checks. "And he has disadvantage because he's using Darkvision." "Huh, why? It lets him see in the dark!" "It lets him treat darkness as dim light, see it says so right in his racial traits. Now if you go here where it discusses dim light, you'll notice he has disadvantage to his perception." The DM blinked at the rules, as if he had never seen them in his entire life, in fact, he went to check his own rulebook. Then he wandered off. He came back a little while later and said "I checked online, you're right." I wondered why he felt the need to check, but whatever. Then I watched him wander over to the Rogue player on the other end of the store (nonchalantly reading the store copy of the adventure...but that's another story). A few moments later I heard a "WHAT?!" and I shook my head. The next session, he asked if someone had light or a torch. He then confronted me and asked why I didn't tell him he had disadvantage. "It's in the rules, I assumed you knew." "Nobody plays it that way!" "I do." Ever since then, any time someone says "Darkvision is OP!" I ask if they're using the penalties correctly. Because I have, and it's astonishing how many times players will blunder into an ambush thinking they're smart for not using light (while wondering why Darkvision equipped monsters in my games use light when not trying to be sneaky). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Sudden Realization On Darkvision Wording
Top