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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 2868588" data-attributes="member: 19675">I went through this with some of my Drow PCs over the years, depending on how DMs handled blindness in PCs from the Underdark.Lenses have also been made from substances other than glass- the minerals Quartz (Mohs hardness 7) and Corundum (Mohs hardness 9) have been formed into lenses, mainly because of hardness, clarity, and the fact that they don't doubly refract light (read: create twinned images).  In fact, both are commonly used as the crystal that covers watch faces (Timex?  Quartz.  Rolex?  Sapphire.).  Additionally, neither mineral is particularly brittle, so they both will stand up to wear and tear.The upside to lenses such as these would be their scratch resistance.  At Mohs 7, Quartz is at the middle range of hardness, so only about half of the stuff in the world will scratch them.  Very little will scratch sapphire.The main downsides will be the expense of getting such lenses made (probably requring Dwarven stoneworking skill), and the expense of finding crystals both large enough and clear enough to use in such a product.  You'll also face a weight problem- those are going to be heavy lenses.  Given "medieval" technology, they'll have to be made as goggles or as visors for helms.One kind of quartz (called Optical quartz) is perfectly clear- useless for sunglasses.  However, smoky quartz (dark brown) and amethyst (dark purple) have been found in inclusion-free (read: clear) forms of sufficient size to use for lensmaking.Corundum, similarly, comes in several colors- clear white, blue, orange, yellow, purple, pink and red- and probably more besides.  Red corundum is known as Ruby, all others are called Sapphire.  Elton John had a pair of sunglasses comprised of hexagonal blue sapphire crystals set in platinum.With all factors put together, you're talking about masterwork items.</blockquote>

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