D&D 5E Darkvision range and light sources beyond.

[Leatherhead]

I'm doing this to avoid derailing the other thread. The context is about how you rule the visibility of things outside of the range of darkvision.

Yeah, it's a bit of an odd question without setting it up I suppose.

The normal range on darkvision is 60', and it replaces the normal spectrum of light with grey. Which could imply that a character using darkvision is effectively blind to anything 60'1" away, even if that object is lit up by something that is farther away.

Perhaps a clearer way to ask is: If you are using darkvision (just for the sake of the argument, the normal 60' kind), can you see a lit candle that is 71' away?

I could see it going either way: Your vision is now limited to the range of darkvision period, or that you can see as normal outside of the 60' bubble. What do you think?

 

[Bacon Bits]

I responded in the other thread, but:

Yeah, it's a bit of an odd question without setting it up I suppose.

The normal range on darkvision is 60', and it replaces the normal spectrum of light with grey.

[Edit to add] Why would it modify light? That's absurdly complex. It's simply capable of perceiving intensity and incapable of perceiving wavelength. It's not far removed from complete achromatopsia.

Which could imply that a character using darkvision is effectively blind to anything 60'1" away, even if that object is lit up by something that is farther away.

Perhaps a clearer way to ask is: If you are using darkvision (just for the sake of the argument, the normal 60' kind), can you see a lit candle that is 71' away?

Of course. Darkvision doesn't supersede normal vision. It overlaps.

"Darkvision to X feet" just means "Always has dim lighting to X feet." It's useful to think of darkvision as being it's own invisible light source. A torch says, "bright light to 20 feet, dim light to the next 20 feet." Darkvision is just "dim lighting to 60 feet."

Beyond that, it's up to the DM to determine what effects, if any, glare has on a character with darkvision looking into a shadow. In some editions of the game darkvision and infravision were explicitly spoiled by brighter light sources, but that doesn't seem to be a rule anymore. The game says nothing either way, so it's up to the DM.

 

[Smoo]

I see light working like a Venn diagram, and areas of overlap can use the best possible lighting. So in a room with a lit candle and a darkvision character sitting outside of the candle's radius, that character can see:

Things in the candle's bright radius: bright light
Things in the candle's dim radius and in the darkvision radius: bright light
Things in the candle's dim radius and outside the darkvision radius: dim light
Things outside the candle's dim radius and in the darkvision radius: dim light
Things outside the candle's dim radius and outside the darkvision radius: no light

At least that's how I'd do it.

 

[Leatherhead]

How interesting. I've always ran it as a kind of switch, that way you could pick to see color in low light, or shield yourself from sensory overload, rather than having the vision automatically adjust. The side effect being, if you activly used your special vision, you couldn't see anything outside of your range.

 

[CapnZapp]

This is absurd.

On the other hand, even well known game designers have fallen in this trap.

But no, the rules might not say you can see light from far away, but the rules doesn't say a lot of things...

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Well I simplify it to just a simple "you can see in the dark up to X feet", and use the old Basic D&D "rule" of infravision - Normal light wrecks Infravision. In 5e's case, normal light wrecks Darkvision. Basically, if someone is carrying a torch and has Darkvision, ignore the Darkvision. If the torch goes out, the Darkvision 'kicks in'. Basically, it's an "either / or" thing for my campaign.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Smoo]

Normal light wrecks Infravision.

All normal light? If you're in the bright radius of normal light? If you're in the dim radius of normal light? If you're outside the dim radius of the normal light but that radius still overlaps your darkvision radius? The normal light source is entirely outside your darkvision radius? Under what condition does darkvision fail? A pinpoint of a distant torch?

I understand the sentiment, it feels right that darkvision should fail at some point, I'm just curious where you draw that line.

 

[PnPgamer]

Predators infravision worked in daylight...
Except we are talking about darkvision which is different.

 

[wedgeski]

I could see it going either way: Your vision is now limited to the range of darkvision period, or that you can see as normal outside of the 60' bubble. What do you think?

I don't see any reason to do anything except rule in the simplest possible way: you have vision like everyone else, except you can see in the dark up to your darkvision range. Why complicate things? What does it add except more fodder for argument at the table?

 

[Leatherhead]

I don't see any reason to do anything except rule in the simplest possible way: you have vision like everyone else, except you can see in the dark up to your darkvision range. Why complicate things? What does it add except more fodder for argument at the table?

Using two kinds of vision at the same time is the complicated way. It makes you have to track 6 different light settings and dynamically account for color. It also strikes me as more powerful than it was intended to be.

Using one vision or the other at a time is much easier.