Hey all,
My apologies if this has come up numerous times but I couldn't find anything about how players have overcome this or how DM's have allowed players to work around this.
One of my players is playing a Dhampir Inquisitor and wants to know if wearing goggles would take care of the Light Sensitivity problem. I didn't want to make a call about this until I've gotten thoughts from other DM's. It sounds like a viable solution to the problem but I don't know if this makes running a Dhampir too easy or just takes away a balancing issue.
Any thoughts?
-Mike C
Smoked goggles should solve that problem but also give a penalty to perception checks. No light sensitivity issue, but you can't see too well!
Edit:
Smoked Goggles: These spectacles have lenses made of smoked glass that help protect against creatures with gaze attacks. You are always treated as averting your gaze when dealing with gaze attacks, and you gain a +8 circumstance bonus on saving throws against visual-based attacks (any attack that a blind creature would be immune to). You have a –4 penalty on Perception checks while wearing the goggles, and all opponents are treated as having concealment (20% miss chance).
Ouch.
Okay. Maybe you need 'tinted goggles'. Call it -2 to perception checks, no bonus to saves vs gazes and visual attacks and it negates light blindness?
Are they sunglasses? They probably don't have polarized lens back then, so it seems like it'd just be dark glass, which would impose more penalties than it cures.
There are a number of spells that will help. Penumbra is a Sorcerer / Wizard cantrip. Perhaps you can give it to him? Maybe as a quest reward, so he doesn't always have it (thus bypassing the race's built in balancer :) ).
Say the group has to investigate a tomb where shadowy beings have been attacking mourning villagers. Upon completion of clearing out the tomb, perhaps the Inquisitor touches something which jolts him with energy, thereby teaching him how to cast this spell.
Thanks, I showed this to my player I think he'll be going with just having Light Sensitivity or even going for the Forgotten Realms feat that allows him to overcome his Light Sensitivity.
Again, thanks.
The UM spell Protective Penumbra would help him.. Maybe use the wondrous item crafting rules to figure out how to cost an item that can repeatedly cast that spell or something?
Here is the spell for reference:
Protective Penumbra
School evocation [darkness]; Level cleric 2, sorcerer/wizard 2, witch 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S,
Range touch
Target creature touched
Duration 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes
This spell keeps the target slightly in shadow. A target with light blindness, light sensitivity, or vulnerability to sunlight (such as vampires and wraiths) may ignore penalties from those qualities. The spell gives the target a +2 bonus on saving throws against nonmagical hazards related to bright light, such as glare or sunburn.
The forgotten Realms campaign setting had a feat that "cured" a race of light-sensitivity.
I'm against a item that allows it, even with steep penalties. Seems to me that it's more a "bodily" issue, more than a "vision" issue. That's always how I imagined it, but there is no rule backing this anywhere. More importantly, it may unbalance the game.
The Daylight Adaption feat was in one of the 3.5 splatbooks. It is more of a minor annoyance unless someone cast daylight. I don't see how it is gamebreaking. If you want you can explain it away in the background story if you want to, assuming you are the GM.
There's a rare cantrup called Penumbra. 0-level spell (so usable at will by any sorcerer/wizard), eliminates the penalties of light blindness for 10 min/level.
If you don't have a friendly wizard to cast it on you, I believe there are some traits that give you limited access to a 0-level spell as an SLA.
The UM spell Protective Penumbra would help him.. Maybe use the wondrous item crafting rules to figure out how to cost an item that can repeatedly cast that spell or something?
Here is the spell for reference:
Protective Penumbra
School evocation [darkness]; Level cleric 2, sorcerer/wizard 2, witch 2
Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S,
Range touch
Target creature touched
Duration 10 minutes/level
Saving Throw Will negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes
This spell keeps the target slightly in shadow. A target with light blindness, light sensitivity, or vulnerability to sunlight (such as vampires and wraiths) may ignore penalties from those qualities. The spell gives the target a +2 bonus on saving throws against nonmagical hazards related to bright light, such as glare or sunburn.
If I am reading the info on the following page (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magicItems/magicItemCreation.html) correctly, it'll cost 18,000 GP for this magical item (3rd level caster * 2nd level spell is 6. 6*2,000 GP = 12k GP. 12k * 1.5 = 18k GP)
If its the Cantrip, it's like... 3,000 GP.
How about some non-magical goggles that reduces the light level by 1 and gives -1 to sight perception checks, 500g.
Take the alternate racial trait "Dayborn," it removes Light sensitivity.
Adventure only at night.
One level of kineticist with the void element.
Their basic utility ability can protect you from bright light, as well as raise your carrying capacity by 50%.
Not sure how well you would like to take the dip though, since that is pretty much all you get. Kineticist abilities scale only with their own class, so the blast you get will always just be 1d6+1/2 con or 1d6+1+con.