Darkvision and horror

[James Fenix]

So my group is about halfway through kingmaker and will be doing carrion crown shortly after. I'll be gm and lately I've been debating if I want to ban races with inherent dark vision. To compensate i'l be allowing non standard races. I just feel like darkvision will ruin a lot of the tension in the first ap.

I thought I'd toss this idea out and see how both gm's and plyers feel about such a ban.

[BornofHate]

There are plenty more things to be afraid of than the dark......(insert sinister laugh here)

But really:
Think of how your players will react when even the dwarf with darkvision is terrified!
There are things you absolutely WANT your PCs to see and invisibility will take an important role.

[psionichamster]

Meh...

Darkvision is nice and all, but it's (typically) limited to 60'.

Imagine, if you would, the potential terror here:

"The hall you are travelling down is pitch black, save for your own light sources. <Perception checks = success> Ahead, you all hear a scuffling sound, increasing in volume until it suddenly stops. The dwarf and half-orc manage to catch a glimpse of movement crossing the hall, just at the range of their darkvision."

the trick lies in hinting towards creepy, scary things, and less showing them up front and center.

For excellent movies that use this, watch Alien & The Thing. You hardly ever see the actual "monster," and that builds the tension much more than if it were right in your face.

[Nyeshet]

Under the rules for Dark Vision:

Quote:

It does not allow characters to see anything that they could not see otherwise—invisible objects are still invisible, and illusions are still visible as what they seem to be.

Thus dark vision does not allow one to see any better through mist or fog than normal vision - which per the rules gives concealment to creatures beyond 5 ft (Obscuring Mist, Fog Cloud). For a light to moderate mist, I would suggest a penalty to perception checks of about -5 or -10. And also recall the -1 per 10 ft penalty to perception checks when using such. At 50 ft even a light fog would result in a -10 check to notice the creature's presence.

And while mist and fog form more normally during dawn and dusk periods than elsewhen, it can also form in damp places near bodies of water - such as near and in / around some ruins, and even without supernatural aid it may last well into the day (or night) if the sky is overcast.

Thus just increase the occurrences of mist and fog and require perception checks for those with dark vision for any creature beyond about 5 to 10 ft - as only they have a chance to perhaps see what may - or may not - be there. Add in a few false checks just to stir things up a bit. This might work to actually increase the fear of those with dark vision. To be fair, have occurrences of mist / fog during the day as well, of course, so everyone can make checks while wondering if anything is really there.

[James Jacobs]

"Darkvision" plays a HUGE role in helping to establish horror in modern movies in the role of nightvision. My advice would be to seek out movies that utilize nightvision as an element to portray or enhance the horror of a situaiton. Movies that come to mind that have had very effective scenes with nightvision used as a plot device to ramp up the horror:

Silence of the Lambs
Cloverfield
24 Weeks Later
Quarantine
Rec
Rec 2

[Petrus222]

Given that my last party TPK'd in no small part due to a lack of darkvision, I'd suggest not banning it. (Consider how it would turn a spell like darkness into mass invisibility for creatures with darkvision.)