How to obscure the vision of players with darkvision for a short amount of time.

[NihilsticBanana]

My players are headed to a fancy ball, That's well and fine however what they don't know is that this ball is going to turn bloody in the sense that a murder will take place and every one of the strange characters my players would meet this night has a motive. I originally wanted the lights to go out so that such an event could unfold under the cover of darkness but... Well almost everyone has dark-vision. It would make for a pretty weak mystery if they see who does the killing so... What's a good alternative to obscuring the sight of my players?

[yukongil]

this is what distractions and crowds are for. Just because someone can see in the dark, doesn't mean they are looking in the right place or can see through a throng of bodies.

Just start off the mystery with the characters having been distracted by a big illusion display on the veranda, or the lights go out and the deed is blocked by a ballroom full of dancers. There is no need to start a mystery off with Perception checks to see who may have seen what.

[Belafon]

Pyrotechnics

Possibly even better: Toothpick of Pyrotechnics

[Jormont Corbray]

The deeper darkness spell should do the trick. The area might be a little small but as you’re the DM and this seems like an important plot point, making it large enough to cover the room seems perfectly reasonable. Another option is obscuring mist, though you’d have to increase the area of that too.

Yukongils suggestion is also excellent. Distract your players, or even throw them a red herring. Perhaps they do see something suspicious and when they inevitably realize they were wrong, the deed is already done. As long as the suspects are unaccounted for in the moments of the murder, it should work just as well.

I think the idea sounds really cool. Best of luck!

[The1Ryu]

Obscuring mist. It’s a low level spell, cheat to use and it clears away quickly enough.

[Belafon]

Just make sure that you set it up for multiple possible endings.

"That's how it could have happened."
"But how about this?"
"But here's what really happened."

[Mark Hoover 330]

Other, more mundane solutions common to a lot of murder mystery TV shows:

- Crowds (as Yukon Gold Potatoes upthread mentioned)
- Balloon drops
- Confetti cannons
- Champagne bottle uncorkings
- Laser light displays
- The release of doves
- A rampage of animals
- Human stampede
- Foam party
- Dry ice
- Flambe
- The shattering of an aquarium
- Smoke grenades
- Robbers or terrorists suddenly entering
- Gunfire
- Explosions
- Curtains falling
- Rolling a giant, metal prop (like a gong) through the scene

So most of those are fairly modern but thanks to the miracles of Ghost Sound, Prestidigitation, or just some good old fashioned thinking ahead could still have a version of them pulled off.

For example, take the "foam party" example. Perhaps the ball has a decidedly underwater theme. The guests are encouraged to dress tropically and several Prestidigitation effects are set up throughout the room to increase the ambient heat and humidity of the hall. At the same time soap is fed through Create Water dispensers creating plumes of foamy bubbles, that are released through the crowd in waves. At midnight the band reaches a fevered crescendo while the flumes burst forth a veritable explosion of mist and soap bubbles, obscuring everyone's vision and generating tons of noise.

As the effects subside a sudden scream is heard, as the body is discovered under the bloody tide receding...

[yukongil]

if you can include a rampage of animals, always do that!

[Mr.Nightray]

Stagnant Fog Sack

[Set]

The1Ryu wrote:

Obscuring mist. It’s a low level spell, cheat to use and it clears away quickly enough.

Smokesticks, or various fireworks (part of the celebration? Also good to obscure the flash of destructive magic or the explosions of gunshots!) or an actual fire could also smoke up the area.

[Fire Dancer]

not sure how you would drop it on all the PCs at once, but check out Darkflares from Adventurer's Armory 2...

Fort DC 15 or lose your Darkvision for 1d10 rounds.

Also, maybe the ILLUSION of darkness - something like silent image of either a Supernatural Darkness effect (if they miss a will save, they THINK they can't see anything because of the "darkness") or of a fog (again, if they miss the will save, they think they can't see anything for the "fog").

[Mark Hoover 330]

If you're purely looking for magic... what about a Fascinate effect? BBEG makes a deal with a bard who'll be on stage, bard uses one of many Fascinate type spells/abilities... murder happens in "the wings" of the scene... and when the crowd comes out of it the confusion and horror sets in.

The bard, of course, escapes in the ensuing chaos. When they were on stage the NPC was in disguise and they use some Fly or Dimension Door kind of magic to leave no trace as they flee the scene.

[Arutema]

NihilsticBanana wrote:

My players are headed to a fancy ball, That's well and fine however what they don't know is that this ball is going to turn bloody in the sense that a murder will take place and every one of the strange characters my players would meet this night has a motive. I originally wanted the lights to go out so that such an event could unfold under the cover of darkness but... Well almost everyone has dark-vision. It would make for a pretty weak mystery if they see who does the killing so... What's a good alternative to obscuring the sight of my players?

Most darkvision has a 60' limited range. Ensure the murder happens 70' or more from the PCs.