• Vespair@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    I mean who doesn’t have dark vision these days?

    5e was absolutely devastating to the torch-seller economy

    • Paradachshund@lemmy.today
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      6 months ago

      Underground races make sense, but I’ve never understood why elves and forest gnomes get it (dark elves excluded, they make sense).

      • Vespair@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        Yeah when I was DMing 5e we just house ruled that only underground races had darkvision, most races currently with darkvision had low light vision (from 3e) instead, and I think I stripped a race or two of even that. All of my players agreed with the changes. Darkvision in 5e is stupid.

  • Lianodel@ttrpg.network
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    6 months ago

    Honestly, that’s one of my biggest gripes: so many character abilities are just “turn this part of the game off.” Something like Goodberry completely obviates the need to worry about food, and darkvision leads to annoying assymetry, and incentivizes the GM to just gloss over it, or hand the one player who doesn’t get it from their race or class some magic goggles and be done with it.

    If you don’t want to play worrying about light sources or food, you can just do that. If you want to track those things, you can make it fun. But 5e’s approach is kind of neither. It’s there, but it sucks, so it doesn’t matter. Bleh.

    • LaunchesKayaks@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      I’m playing a human wizard and for like 70% of the campaign, I was working with 2 spell slots constantly being used. One for dark vision and one for mage armor. Now I can cast mage armor without using a slot, so I’m only down one slot when we are traveling through the underdark. We have plenty of light sources, but we don’t use them because we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.

      • Troy@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        Wizard with find familiar. Just have a bat or owl sit on your shoulder and use their senses (as an action) while traveling. It’s different in combat, but at least you save the spell slot.

    • The Picard Maneuver@startrek.websiteOP
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      6 months ago

      100% agree. I like DMs having more hazards and obstacles at their disposal.

      It’s almost not worth picking up at character creation if the DM is probably going to ignore it.

  • Igloojoe@lemm.ee
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    6 months ago

    Just be the asshole in the party that doesnt have it and starts ruining surprise attacks and stealth.

  • Codex@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    In the “Veins of the Earth” underdark setting for retro D&D, the author was clearly annoyed about this because they draw attention to the fine distinction between “Dark Vision” (which only monsters have) and “Infrared” or “Low Light” vision, which still give you some advantages underground but which both also require some kind of light source to work still.

    • bob_lemon@feddit.de
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      6 months ago

      There’s a version in monsters of the multiverse where the stat increase can be chosen freely.

      Advantage on Int/Wis/Cha saving throws against spells on martial characters is instant S Tier.