This is a separate effect from darkness or deeper darkness, which only reduce the illumination rather than set it to a specific level of illumination. Therefore, yes, you are always under magical darkness in areas of any illumination from Shield of Darkness.
Except, however, the Daylight spell, which explicitly negates magical darkness. While in an area of Daylight, you are illuminated as though in illumination that would be normal for that space if neither spell effect was in effect.
|
You essentially appear as a moving mote of blackness ("opponents are automatically aware of which squares you occupy").
Casting it anywhere other than an area of darkness would result in a somewhat comedic scene.
"Hey, Larry, what's that ther movin' black thing?"
"I reckon that darn Wayang thinks 'ees invisible again..."
And, yes, Daylight is the annoyingly different spell that would essentially negate this spell's effects.
They may know his position, but hey, it's total concealment.
Yes, it's free total concealment.
On a side note, it's also a great emergency spell for vampires.
So darkvision would not allow someone to be able to see into this? My players think there's a difference between "supernatural darkness" and "magical darkness".
|
"Shield of darkness does not hinder your vision, and creatures that can see in magical darkness ignore this effect."
Darkvision still works. Magical darkness is pretty much any magical induced lowering of light levels, "Supernaturally Dark" is a specific thing, for example the Deeper Darkness spell.
I believe magical darkness was the term they used in 3.5 for stuff like the devils ability to see in any kind of darkness. It's very likely the spell is intended to work the same and unless you have the ability to see in any kind of darkness, darkvision wouldn't help. Otherwise mentioning it is magical darkness several times wouldn't serve any purpose. We already know it is a spell.
But apart from that issue it will cause further confusion, because it changes how stuff works. You would assume a character can sneak if he attacks from a globe of supernatural darkness, but the spell doesn't seem to allow it. This is a good thing as it would be too powerful otherwise, but it isn't very intuitive.
A character would need See in Darkness, Blindsight, or a similar ability to see a character under the effect of Shield of Darkness.
Darkvision will not help.
Any light spell of 3rd level or higher will suppress Shield of Darkness.
If I am a tiny character riding on the shoulder of a regularly sized character and I cast "Shield of Darkness" on myself, since the spell "reduces the illumination level in my space to magical darkness" does it also provide concealment for the character who's shoulder I am riding?
Probably not. Most Tiny creatures have a space of less than 5'. It might be enough to blind your "mount", though, at GM discretion.
So darkvision would not allow someone to be able to see into this? My players think there's a difference between "supernatural darkness" and "magical darkness".
Correct, Darkvision would NOT allow someone to see through it. The typical wording would be supernatural darkness, but its clear from the spell's text that the effect is "supernatural" darkness. Nowhere in the spell is Darkvision mentioned.
"Shield of darkness does not hinder your vision, and creatures that can see in magical darkness ignore this effect."
Darkvision still works. Magical darkness is pretty much any magical induced lowering of light levels, "Supernaturally Dark" is a specific thing, for example the Deeper Darkness spell.
Darkvision does not work through this spell. The spell text's last line tells us this since Darkvision isn't mention in it or anywhere else in the spell. If Darkvision was intended to work against this spell, it would say "creatures with Darkvision ignore this effect." Creatures that can see in "magical darkness" are ones with the See in Darkness ability like Devils and Darkfolk.
It's possible the writer of the spell meant to say Supernaturally Dark, since "Magical Darkness" isn't a light level, it's any lowering of illumination levels caused by magic, with Darkvision working against all of save for Supernaturally Dark.
Supernatural darkness is the intent of the spell effect.
A character would need See in Darkness, Blindsight, or a similar ability to see a character under the effect of Shield of Darkness.
Darkvision will not help.
Any light spell of 3rd level or higher will suppress Shield of Darkness.
Exactly. That is why the text "creatures that can see in magical darkness ignore this effect" is there.
You essentially appear as a moving mote of blackness ("opponents are automatically aware of which squares you occupy").
Casting it anywhere other than an area of darkness would result in a somewhat comedic scene.
"Hey, Larry, what's that ther movin' black thing?"
"I reckon that darn Wayang thinks 'ees invisible again..."
And, yes, Daylight is the annoyingly different spell that would essentially negate this spell's effects.
It is very comedic when caster’s realize they cannot target you and everyone else has a 50% miss chance.
All this time and no reference to the Monster in the Darkness from OOTS?
It would be great to place the Shield of Darkness on your tiny familiar via share spells and have it go into the BBEG's square. With 50% concealment, it cannot be targeted by an Attack of Opportunity, and now the BBEG cannot see*. Then have it climb onto the BBEG so that it cannot escape the darkness. Meanwhile, you use echolocation to attack or attack with spells that cannot target your familiar. You can also use Selective Spell to deselect your familiar for some other spells, especially AoE spells.
*Assuming it cannot see in magical darkness.
/cevah