Unnerfing Darkness?

[Cheiromancer]

Is there any problem with ruling that magical darkness provides full concealment (50% miss chance) rather than concealment (20% miss chance)?

For ease of play (especially with miniatures) I would allow creatures in an area of magical darkness to be located, but they would otherwise be treated as invisible.

(Actually I would probably give them a 45% miss chance (10 or better on a d20) rather than 50%; this 5% difference is what allows darkness-shrouded creatures to be located while invisible creatures can't be.)

 

[Gez]

I'm thinking about setting several degrees of illumination, for example:

1. Utter Radiance (very sunny summer day, at noon)
2. Daylight
3. Low-Light (when colors fade if you do not have LLV)
4. Firelight (like torchlit hall in the night)
5. Dim Light (like a moonless night)
6. Gloom (like a cave lit only by one cigarette)
7. Darkness (only darkvision can work)
8. Utter Darkness (absolutely 0 lum, even darkvision doesn't work)

The daylight and darkness spells would raise and lower the illumination by a factor of 3, up to a maximum of their namesake. Obscuring mist would lower it by 1, up to Dim Light. A candle would raise it by 1, up to firelight, and a torch by 2, up to low-light.

It needs some more work.

 

[Ferret]

Both those Ideas look viable and good.

Lowlight IMO should be below a torch-lit hall and about the same as a moonless night.

 

[Gez]

Colors fade in a moonlit night, too. Moonless nights are very dark (if you do not live in a modern city).

 

[rkanodia]

I would rename 'Utter Radiance' to 'Brightest Day' and make category 0 be: 'Utter Radiance', equivalent to full intensity of the Plane of Radiance. But that's just me. Cool system.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Interesting ideas here. Gez, the only thing I'd fix with your table, is giving it a true middle point, changing 1 to be Utter Radiance as rkanodia suggested and having 2 be Brightest day, then bumping everything else down one would fix it. That is just me though, personally I like 'true' middle points.

 

[Gez]

Bumping for great justice.

I need to harvest a few more comments before trying to give it a more definitive shape.

Notably on the values to give to torchs, sunrods, candles, etc.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I'm thinking about setting several degrees of illumination, for example:

Looks like a good idea to me ...

http://www.enworld.org/forums/showthread.php?t=93603


Jeff

 

[Aaron2]

If using the old concealment values ...

Utter Radiance(magical superlight): May cause blindness
Bright Sunlight(direct sunlight):
Daylight (in the shade, inside, or cloudy day):
Fire-light (torches, firelight): 1/4 concealment, 10% miss chance
Low-light (3.5's shadowy illumination): 1/2 concealment, 20% miss chance
Dim-light (near total darkness): 3/4 concealment, 30% miss chance
Gloom: 9/10 concealment, 40% miss chance
Darkness: total concealment, 50% miss chance
Utter Darkness: No illumination whatsoever.
Magical Uber Darkness: So dark it causes insanity.

Torches and various light sources have further reach but effect is reduced.

One torch: firelight to 20 ft., low light to 40 ft., dim-light to 80 ft. and gloom to 100 ft.

Low-light vision can now increase the light level by variable amounts. +1 low-light would increase the light by one level, +2 low-light would increase it by two levels (what is now low-light vision). Darkvision would increase it by 4, etc.


Aaron

 

[Sammael]

Great idea, Gez. I've expanded upon it a bit:

• Utter Radiance: Quasielemental Plane of Radiance. All creatures are blinded. [Darkness] spells do not function.
• Brightest Day: Exceptionally sunny summer day, at noon. Creatures with light sensitivity are dazzled (with a -2 penalty). Creatures with light blindness are blinded for 2 rounds if abruptly exposed, and dazzled (with a -2 penalty) on subsequent rounds.
• Daylight: Normal day. Creatures with light sensitivity or light blindness are affected normally.
• Firelight: Torchlit hall in the night; large campfire. Creatures with light sensitivity or light blindness are unaffected. All creatures see normally in the illuminated area. Shadowy illumination extends beyond the illuminated area.
• Moonlight: Shadowy illumination. Creatures without low-light vision or darkvision treat all opponents outside the melee range as if they had concealment. Creatures with low-light vision see normally up to their vision range. Creatures with darkvision see normally up to their darkvision range.
• Starlight: Clear moonless night. Creatures without low-light vision or darkvision treat all opponents in melee as if they had concealment, and all opponents outside the melee range as if they had total concealment. Creatures with low-light vision treat all opponents outside the melee range as if they had concealment. Creatures with darkvision see normally up to their darkvision range.
• Gloom: A cave lit by a monster’s glowing eyes; an overcast moonless night. Creatures without low-light vision or darkvision are effectively blinded. Creatures with low-light vision treat all opponents in melee as if they had concealment, and all opponents outside the melee range as if they had total concealment. Creatures with darkvision see normally up to their darkvision range.
• Darkness: No light sources at all. Creatures without darkvision are effectively blinded. Creatures with darkvision see normally up to their darkvision range.
• Utter Darkness: Magical darkness, no luminance. Creatures that cannot see in magical darkness are effectively blinded. Nonmagical light sources do not function. [Light] spells of lower level than the [Darkness] spell that created the effect are dispelled.