So...how far can a human, or for that matter a low-light sight based Elf or Half-elf, see at night?
In a nearly new moon?
Full moon?
(quarter, half etc)
60 ft with a torch, but what if that torch goes out, the opponents have darkvision snd blindfighting (not both, multiple opponents).
I think I might have botched an encounter rules wise, but we roleplayed it well enough, I think.
But, since much of my encounters are going to happen at night, and hopefully for the pcs not be as creepy and deadly (see previous thread "...vs Monk").
The Spotting Distance rules in the DMG list "moonlight conditions" but they don't really say what that is exactly. I don't think there are any stated rules for phases of the moon.
I'd make moonlight work in the same was as other light sources - it lets you see fine out to x feet, it provides darkness out to x*2 feet (or maybe y feet), can't see anything beyond that. It would be up to the DM to decide those numbers depending on how bright the moon is (or, that's a lot of hassle, you might just want moonlight be 1 certain value regardless of the moon phase).
Well, if one dwells in the city, I'm not sure what your experience with a full moon is, but you can see indefinately under such conditions. Some of this is covered in the "Do You See What I See?" thread, but I would give a full moon bright light out to 20 feet, and shadowy out to 40, but navigable light indefinately beyond that (you can stil see enough to make out trees and hills and travel at night if that's what you're trying to do). Normal sighting rules still apply.
For quarter moons, I'd say 10 foot of bright light, shadowy out to 20 feet, and near total darkness beyond that. For a new moon, you refer to the rules on starlight conditions, which I'm not sure if they made it to 3.5 or not; I think it was something similar to the light shed by a candle.
So...how far can a human, or for that matter a low-light sight based Elf or Half-elf, see at night?
In a nearly new moon?
Full moon?
(quarter, half etc)60 ft with a torch, but what if that torch goes out, the opponents have darkvision snd blindfighting (not both, multiple opponents).
I think I might have botched an encounter rules wise, but we roleplayed it well enough, I think.
But, since much of my encounters are going to happen at night, and hopefully for the pcs not be as creepy and deadly (see previous thread "...vs Monk").
Actually, the radius of a normal size torch is 20 ft. (bright light) with another 20 ft. of shadowy light. Someone with low-light vision would be able to see 40 ft. (bright light) and 40 ft. (shadowy light) with a torch.
A lot of light-related issues in D&D need to be improvised, because there are so many variable factors. How many moons are there? What size is the moon? What color is the moon? What phase is the moon in? During a normal full moon you could probably see to about 10 feet clearly, then see shadowy illumination out to another 10-50 ft. Terrain features (including vegetation) and environmental factors (cloud cover, mist, ect.) would influence this. Remember that in shadowy light you cannot make out all the creatures features.
I think that Searn's suggestion of handling night light is pretty sound, but I just wanted to give you high marks for using a Reverand Horton Heat song as the thread title. >:D
I was hoping someone would catch the reference. It was that or "I cast Magic Missle on the Darkness" if I wasn't going to go with a "Nightvision question" thread...
Well, if one dwells in the city, I'm not sure what your experience with a full moon is, but you can see indefinately under such conditions. Some of this is covered in the "Do You See What I See?" thread, but I would give a full moon bright light out to 20 feet, and shadowy out to 40, but navigable light indefinately beyond that (you can stil see enough to make out trees and hills and travel at night if that's what you're trying to do). Normal sighting rules still apply.
For quarter moons, I'd say 10 foot of bright light, shadowy out to 20 feet, and near total darkness beyond that. For a new moon, you refer to the rules on starlight conditions, which I'm not sure if they made it to 3.5 or not; I think it was something similar to the light shed by a candle.
That sounds about right. (And as I wrote this, I missed out on a Miniature auction, doh.)
I'd say it was a new moon for the encounter in question. I let him see shadowy at 15, see clearly at 10 and shapes at 20 and outward for navigation purposes. (with his torch he was basically seeing 20 ft clearly and so on, so I didn't really violate the rules, I just wasn't aware of them.)That said, when his torch went out, how long would he be effectively blind? (nightvision not kicking in yet?)
Four to five rounds, realistically speaking.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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From the SRD:
"Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day."
So for characters with low-light vision, you should use the normal encounter distance ranges for determining how far they can see on a moonlit night.
For light less than moonlight, I would use the Spot modifiers to handicap that distance. So, if a moonless night sky gives a -8 penalty for Spot checks, I'd chop 80 feet off the distance a person can see in that environment (and 40 feet off the distance a person with low-light can see in that environment). The logic is that Spot DC's increase by +1 for every 10 feet, so I treat a -1 as reducing the maximum range of spotting anything by 10 feet. It's not perfect, but it works for me.
What in this game is perfect? Your system is close enough!