low-light vision: does dim lighting provide any concealment?


Rules Questions


Perhaps a stupid question, but does dim lighting provide any concealment against an opponent with low-light vision?

I always assumed creatures with low-light vision could see in an area of dim light without penalty, but apparently there is no rule that support this.

I know that creatures with darkvision can see in an area of dim light without penalty, but the rules are unclear when it comes to creatures with low-light vision.

I have a missed something?


Was pretty much under the impression that creatures with low light vision ignored dim light. Its basically the catch all ability for 'better than normal sight' thats applied equally to eagles and elves.


Quote:
Characters with low-light vision (elves, gnomes, and half-elves) can see objects twice as far away as the given radius. Double the effective radius of bright light, normal light, and dim light for such characters.

Assuming an area of total darkness, a torch illuminates everything within 20' tin normal light, and everything between that and 40' as dim light. For an elf, those numbers are doubled.

So someone 30 feet from the torch is in dim light when a human looks at him, but normal light when an elf does.


The problem is, there is no rule support of this.

The Exchange

Jeraa is right. Here are the rules for Vision and Light Sources:
Vision and Light

"Characters with low-light vision (elves, gnomes, and half-elves) can see objects twice as far away as the given radius. Double the effective radius of bright light, normal light, and dim light for such characters."

Also, the Light Sources and Illumination table part way down the page shows you the numbers for low-light vision

Edit: Didn't fully answer your question. Basically, if an Elf is holding a torch he has normal light for the first 40 feet and dim light for the next 40 feet, being able to see 80 feet away. Anything within the last 40 feet has concealment as normal.


Yes I know this, but it does not answer the question: does dim lighting provide any concealment against an opponent with low-light vision.

The Exchange

Zark wrote:

Yes I know this, but it does not answer the question: does dim lighting provide any concealment against an opponent with low-light vision.

See my edit above. If a Human was standing right next to said Elf, he could only see 20 feet as normal lighting and the next 20 feet as dim lighting, 40 feet total.

Now, picture a goblin 60 feet away. The goblin has concealment against both the Elf and Human. If the goblin moves up 30 feet and is now 30 feet away, the same goblin is going to have concealment against the Human, BUT he will be within the Elf's "normal light" vision, thus he won't have concealment.


Zark, perhaps you can clarify the source of the Dim light? That may help answer the question.

- Gauss


Zark wrote:

Yes I know this, but it does not answer the question: does dim lighting provide any concealment against an opponent with low-light vision.

The short answer is yes.

Low-light vision treats some dim light as normal light.

That is the entire extent of the ability.

No extra bonuses.


Zark wrote:
Yes I know this, but it does not answer the question: does dim lighting provide any concealment against an opponent with low-light vision.

It does answer the question. Dim lighting provides concealment as normal. Low-light vision changes the rate at which bright light changes to dim light.

Silver Crusade

Low-light vision allows you to treat star/moonlight as 'normal' (no concealment), whereas without it star/moonlight counts as 'dim' (20% concealment).

This is a separate but simultaneous mechanic to those found in the 'vision & light' section. It does cause confusion amongst many.

Basically, low-light vision slightly alters what is considered 'dim' and what is considered as 'normal', but when it does count as dim then there is the usual 20% concealment. The 'dim' for low-light vision is identical to everyone else's 'dim', but fewer places count as 'dim' if you have low-light.

Is this making sense?


The best way to tell is to look at it from the point of the viewer. If the viewer sees the area as normal light, there is no concealment. If the viewer sees it as dim light, 45' from a torch for instance, then there is concealment.

The light source is just as important as the vision type when trying to identify what the viewer can see.

So dim-light does provide concealment from those with low light vision, there is just a lot less dim light in the world as far as those with low light see it.


As Gauss pointed out, it would have been helpful if I had clarify the source of the Dim light, buy thanks to you all I now get it.

I love these messageboards. So many helpful people :-)


I think low-light vision is best explained if you consider moonlight as a light source that creates dim light with an infinite radius.

With that in place, the generalization "low-light vision treats dim light as normal light and creates a new area of dim light at double the radius" should cover pretty much any situation.
There is a hypothetical range at which the moon provides only dim light for characters with low-light vision, but that range is outside the planet.

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