Scent.
Darkvision
You mean in RL?
It depends on how darkvision works. It isn't magic, but evidently works without photons. But, it's black and white. Alright, it's some kind of other wav- no. It's not all uniform in color, it's black and white. Grayscale. You can read with it. Everytime I read the entry for darkvision, it confuses me more. If I have the chance to get darkvision in RL, then that means that darkvision works in RL, and that's just fascinating. I'd go for darkvision and humanity would learn new things about how our universe works. Who knows what we'd be able to do, after we understood it.
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Have you seen the places adventurers go? You would wish to lose your ability to smell entirely after your 5th zombie encounter of the day.
Dark vision is generally more useful- it allows you to move around at any time of day with little real problem. No need to bother with candles or flashlights. Think of all the money you would save!
If you had to choose only one, which would you take?
It's generally harder to get scent than darkvision if I wanted both and I'm dependent on drops. If I'm free to buy items and I want both, I'd take darkvision and buy scent [Hunter's Nose Ring, 10,000 gp].
If the question is about which is more useful, that's be darkvision as it comes up MUCH more often.
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IRL...
Darkvision, my sense of smell is good enough thank you very much. And I already have enough trouble with smokers, people who think bathing is optional, people who think Axe replaces basic hygene.... And people who do ALL OF THE ABOVE. There are far too many where I live.
IRL...
Darkvision, my sense of smell is good enough thank you very much. And I already have enough trouble with smokers, people who think bathing is optional, people who think Axe replaces basic hygene.... And people who do ALL OF THE ABOVE. There are far too many where I live.
Yeah. Scent gives you information you might not want to know (example- which two of your coworkers went to the bathroom at the same time for a 'break'), while darkvision just lets you see what you could see anyway during the day.
This means you have no reason to be afraid of things lurking in the dark- you can see perfectly at most distances that matter.
I would rather have scent, you would get used to the weird smells, it's not like dogs are repulsed by strong smells. I can always just turn the light on if it gets dark.
I would rather have scent, you would get used to the weird smells, it's not like dogs are repulsed by strong smells. I can always just turn the light on if it gets dark.
Yeah, but have you seen what dogs are willing to eat? I won't go further into it, but I think we all know some tropes for disgusting things dogs are willing to eat.
So I would not trust a dog's ability to endure smells as a good indicator of whether a human could stand it.
Scent is definitely more useful. Darkvision simply gives you the ability to use a sense you already have in a circumstance that it normally does not operate in. It does not give you any information that normal sight and a light source does not. It is also blocked or disabled by anything that blinds you other than darkness.
Scent on the other hand allows you to gain a lot more information. Assuming that scent in the game gives you the equivalent of a dogs sense of smell. What a dog can do with its sense of smell is amazing, and that is with an animal intelligence. Dogs can recognize the sealed inside an object that is buried in a suitcase from a few feet away. The training these dogs go through is not to teach them how to use their scent, but to pick out that specific scent and communicate it to their handler. Think about being able to perceive this information first hand. You would not only recognize the hidden drugs, but all the other scents as well.
Someone with both scent a spellcraft would probably get a roll to detect the scent of bat guano and sulfur. The guard with scent may be able to spot the assassin disguised as a particular person based on the fact he does not smell like the person. Spells like disguise self become less useful against someone with scent.
Neither ability is really fully defined in the game. Both only give enough information to be used in a game. If the choice is being able to see perfectly (in black and white) in the dark, or having a dogs sense of smell I would go with scent.
IRL: Darkvision. I hate bad smells and having the eyes of a feline (dragon eyes baby) would be cool to infinity and beyond.
In game: scent, very useful to prevent lots of ambushes.
IRL? Scent. I could correlate it with real things, but since darkvision stopped being infravision it has no such use.
In game? Darkvision. It's more versatile than scent overall.
In game I would definitely go scent. Everyone has darkvision (in my current campaign 4/5 characters have it), but scent is rare, making it valuable. Darkvision can't do anything that normal sight and a torch/lantern/light spell can't do, and all of those are very easy to get. Scent, however, let's you find invisible things.
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IRL? Scent.
LOL I HAVE that in real life [sensitive to smells] and it's no fun. there are days I can't even walk down the 'cleaning' isle as the assault of all the perfumy cleaning products is enough to leave me somewhere between swooning and throwing up. You'd want a way to 'turn it off' in real life. ;)
The scent ability doesn't make you more susceptible to noxious smells, there is no penalty to fort saves for instance, it just lets you better identify scents.
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The scent ability doesn't make you more susceptible to noxious smells, there is no penalty to fort saves for instance, it just lets you better identify scents.
I think this might be more of a will save against insanity.
Having an above human sense of smell would likely make it so that you can be a world class expert in discerning the scent of sweat hidden under far too much axe body spray. Also, you would be able to smell the scent of a dead, rotten rat long, long before you got anywhere near the dumpster. And bathrooms!
Maybe an off topic question, but do you think fetchlings have a more sensitive nose? Obviously not full scent, but in the plane of shadow sensations are weaker and everything is muted.
Following that line of thinking, so gnomes need hot sauce for all their food since tastes are stronger in the first world?
You are looking at this from a human centric point of view. Humans already have high sensitivity to the ammonia like chemicals in rotten fish, body odour and dead bodies. The scent ability is the ability to detect and identify everything else as well, like a dog does. Actual useful stuff like rust under a car bonnet on a second hand car, trace acetic acid on a drug dealer, mould spores in a leaky roof, trace peanuts in a curry (if allergic) etc. These are not necessarily unpleasant smells.
The scent ability doesn't make you more susceptible to noxious smells, there is no penalty to fort saves for instance, it just lets you better identify scents.
I've seen several instances of scent giving penalty to saves for smell based attacks in adventures. I've also seen DM pass them out as circumstantial penalties.
Even if you don't pass out penalties, scent will increase the distance you'd get to make rolls as you can detect it farther away.
I'd rather have Echolocation. I read up on scent. You have to Zero In on your target if you can't see them. If it is pitch black out (or you are taking the place of the drug hound). You still have a general area. It's like that game of 'getting warm' 'getting cold' kind of thing.
Sadly only the two were given. If this was IN GAME, I would take Darkvision & Echolocation. Scent is not trustworthing in my mind.
IRL? Scent.LOL I HAVE that in real life [sensitive to smells] and it's no fun. there are days I can't even walk down the 'cleaning' isle as the assault of all the perfumy cleaning products is enough to leave me somewhere between swooning and throwing up. You'd want a way to 'turn it off' in real life. ;)
You bewilder and confuse me. Not being able to smell something doesn't mean it isn't there, it just means you don't know that it's there. Most things that repel humans do so for a reason; you don't want to be close to that stuff.
A comparable example would be saying, I wish that I didn't have eyes, or at least that my vision was a lot worse, so that I wouldn't be able to see the mold growing on my bread. Yes, being able to see mold growing on your food is no fun, because that means you have to throw it away and you've already gone and slathered it with peanut butter and you probably stuck the knife back in the jar of peanut butter after touching the bread with it so you should probably throw that away too, just to be safe. But the alternative, being completely oblivious, would be worse.
If you're lucky enough to have a keen sense of smell (I can barely smell at all . . .) then you understand your surroundings better than most, whether your surroundings are pleasant or best avoided. How is that a bad thing?
There are some things you are better off not knowing...
Daredevil does a good job of explaining this.
If you had to choose only one, which would you take?
Scent.
Dark vision is useful; but it won't let me have a chance to notice someone with invisibility sneaking up behind me. I might not be able to see them, but at least I could know something is there.