Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Harmor 09-21-04, 10:44 PM	I happend to have a Wand of Darkness, but really haven't found a use for it. It makes a 20-foot radius area 20% dark and counters light, but had a touch range. 2 darked squares don't provide total cover so you can't snipe from within the area. When is it good to use?
beaver1024 09-22-04, 02:56 AM	I happend to have a Wand of Darkness, but really haven't found a use for it. It makes a 20-foot radius area 20% dark and counters light, but had a touch range. 2 darked squares don't provide total cover so you can't snipe from within the area. When is it good to use? It's good to use Darkness when it's dark. So you can see.
CaoSlayer 09-22-04, 03:36 AM	sell it and buy a wand of obscuring mist... really the 3.5 darkness it is quite useless most times. the only good combination it is if someone have faery fire in the party, then fighting against a BBEG, cast the f fire and then use the rod, everyone but the BBEG will have that 20% miss chance.
Ehelonna 09-22-04, 03:37 AM	In 3.5 it is best to use darkness when you are fighting rogues. If the target has concealment, the rogue can't make a sneak attack. Darkness provides concealment (20% miss chance) and prevents sneak attacks. Darkness is also a good idea if most members of your party have the blind fighting feat... the enemy gains a 20% miss chance and the party only has an effective 4% miss chance.
edsonaoki 09-22-04, 09:18 AM	Ehelonna is right
kSquared 09-22-04, 10:01 AM	Put darkness on a bunch of pebbles, then chuck it in the midst of a bunch of baddies. Pelt them with area attack spells while they scramble to figure out what the hell is going on.
Huffheinz 09-22-04, 05:46 PM	Whoah there, fellas. Slow down a minute. It makes a 20-foot radius area 20% dark and counters light, but had a touch range. 2 darked squares don't provide total cover so you can't snipe from within the area. First off...it makes a 20' radius globe of complete darkness. You cannot see into or out of the globe of darkness, unless it is dispelled magically or if the object that the spell was cast on is covered by a light proof material. 20' radius = 40' diameter circle = 8 combat squares across (and 20' high in the middle for that matter). The Darkness spell does not provide any cover at all. It provides concealment. This is where the 20% miss chance comes in to play. I use it to mask the party's movements when setting up for a battle (especially useful when coupled with a silence spell). You can cast it on a rock and throw it into a camp, causing mass confusion in a group caught unaware (good time to use area effect spells). You can split a battlefield in two for a tactical advantage (most baddies will run around a globe of darkness rather than through it). Cover your retreat at the fork in the dungeon tunnel. Etc., etc. Get creative...it's a spell that blocks sight for a fairly large area. It's not an incredibly powerful spell, but it definitely comes in handy in certain situations.
Harmor 09-22-04, 05:57 PM	The 3.5 Darkness spell does not block Line-of-effect. It only gives you 20% concealment thoughout the entire darked area. I like the idea of the rogues. I'll remember that.
Hypersmurf 09-22-04, 06:46 PM	First off...it makes a 20' radius globe of complete darkness. No, it doesn't. It makes a 20' radius globe of shadowy illumination. -Hyp.
primemover003 09-22-04, 08:00 PM	Yep you can see into a area of darknes... just not very well. It no longer makes a solid black globe, just a big shadow... Like stepping into a buildings shadow from direct sunlight. It's good to negate Sneak attacks and to start Hiding in.
masterofmayhem 09-22-04, 08:57 PM	Wait, so you can see into a globe of darkness? How well? Do you need any special type of vision???
brum 09-22-04, 09:10 PM	the only good combination it is if someone have faery fire in the party, then fighting against a BBEG, cast the f fire and then use the rod, everyone but the BBEG will have that 20% miss chance. It specifically says in the Faerie Fire description that a Darkness spell functions normally. And that's too bad! I would love to have my drows get the upper hand with their spell-like abilities... :(
Hypersmurf 09-22-04, 09:23 PM	Wait, so you can see into a globe of darkness? How well? Do you need any special type of vision??? Exactly as you can in any other sort of shadowy illumination (candlelight, the outer circle of torchlight, etc), except that low-light vision or darkvision don't help. "In an area of shadowy illumination, a character can see dimly. Creatures within this area have concealment relative to that character. A creature in an area of shadowy illumination can make a Hide check to conceal itself." -Hyp.
Saiph 09-22-04, 10:43 PM	Ahh, my night light spell. Works great in pitch blackness. Lights up the room, but's it's easy on the eyes. I love dimness, and greater dimness. IMO they screwed it up quite a bit. For one: It shouldn't make shadowy illumination. It should reduce any ambient illumination present to shadowy illumination. That way it doesn't get brighter when cast in an underground cave with no light source. Ahh well, what do I know?
Master Agnald 09-22-04, 11:21 PM	I like to cast it on my enemies' weapons, since they won't be able to see through the darkness, they're forced to throw away their weapon if they want to see. Works specially well on ranged attackers.
Hypersmurf 09-22-04, 11:26 PM	I like to cast it on my enemies' weapons, since they won't be able to see through the darkness, they're forced to throw away their weapon if they want to see. Works specially well on ranged attackers. Well, it has a range of touch, so you pretty much have to walk up to them to cast it on their weapon... and then, they can see through the darkness, well enough to smack you with only a 20% miss chance. It's not an opaque blackness. It's shadowy illumination. -Hyp.
Harmor 09-23-04, 12:15 AM	I'll think I'll sell my Wand of Darkness and buy a Wand of Obsuring Mist.
CaoSlayer 09-23-04, 07:05 AM	very funny... indeed, I dint realized the change from 3.0, brum. so the drows have been nerfed... :mad:
Huffheinz 09-23-04, 10:08 AM	I stand corrected, smurf. I totally missed the whole "shadowy illumination" part. Bummer, man. Why did they change the effects of the spell? According to the SRD, there are three types of light conditions, bright light, shadowy illumination, and darkness. Why don't they call it the shadowy illumintation spell instead of the darkness spell?
masterofmayhem 09-23-04, 10:42 AM	Exactly as you can in any other sort of shadowy illumination (candlelight, the outer circle of torchlight, etc), except that low-light vision or darkvision don't help. "In an area of shadowy illumination, a character can see dimly. Creatures within this area have concealment relative to that character. A creature in an area of shadowy illumination can make a Hide check to conceal itself." -Hyp. Ah, cool, thanks, Hyp.
Bane 09-23-04, 11:44 AM	I like to use darkness in conjunction with spells like blink, displacement, blur, and mirror image to make my mage almost impossible to hit. Then I throw around Fireballs :mage:
Harmor 09-23-04, 01:57 PM	I like to use darkness in conjunction with spells like blink, displacement, blur, and mirror image to make my mage almost impossible to hit. Then I throw around Fireballs :mage:Do all those spells stack or do you roll a miss chance for each?
kSquared 09-23-04, 02:05 PM	That's a lot of spell effects to figure out, but: blink: 50% miss chance (assuming attacker can't detect invisible or strike ethereal creatures), and you wink in and out of existence rapidly. mirror image: no miss chance, but attacks might hit one of several images instead of you. displacement: 50% miss chance. blur: 20% miss chance. One kind of concealment overlaps and doesn't stack with any other kind of concealment; only the highest miss chance applies. Thus, a creature protected by all four spells benefits from a 50% chance to attacks against it.
masterofmayhem 09-23-04, 04:15 PM	But if he has 9 copies of himself, that comes out to a 95% miss chance . . . Pretty sweet . . .
CaoSlayer 09-28-04, 07:34 AM	Have been faq'ed somewhere than they all stack... specially in cases like blink + displacement or blur, because in blink, you are getting to other place, if you arent there, you cant be hit and if someone tries to hit you while are in the same plane, still can miss because the illusion. they are miss chances from diferent sources, one visual and the other physical. (by the faq, ever blur and displacement stacks together, althrought bugs be a bit).
Ehelonna 01-04-05, 02:17 AM	I like to use darkness in conjunction with spells like blink, displacement, blur, and mirror image to make my mage almost impossible to hit. Then I throw around Fireballs :mage:In many ways I prefer to just use Loemund's tiny hut. It provides total concealment for those inside while not affecting their vision at all. There are a few problems... the enemy can close and enter the dome (quite risky if set up correctly), you can't move outside the 20' radius (you tempt the opposition to use area spells, but so does your combo) and it uses a 3rd level (fireball) slot. In many ways the spell is much better than 3.0 darkness since you can see out. Of course it should be... it is a higher level spell.
Bonzai 01-04-05, 12:17 PM	Personally, I liked 3.0's darkness much better. It made the blindfighting feat that much better, and was more useful as a means of escape and confusion. Plus, it made having a bat familiar all the more usefull. It could deliver touch attacks unimpeded for you, while you were safely cloaked in the darkness. That was a favorite trick of mine too. It still works, but it is far less powerful.
HomebrewedMonster 01-04-05, 12:50 PM	Personally, I liked 3.0's darkness much better. It made the blindfighting feat that much better, and was more useful as a means of escape and confusion. Plus, it made having a bat familiar all the more usefull. It could deliver touch attacks unimpeded for you, while you were safely cloaked in the darkness. That was a favorite trick of mine too. It still works, but it is far less powerful. I fought too many devils to agree with you.
Turon_kal 01-23-05, 07:10 PM	At higher levels I quite like darkness, with a rogue running around with Improved precise shot and a massive hide skill I find it reasonably amusing :D
Thorden 01-24-05, 06:37 AM	With a Fighter or Rogue / Warlock with Devil's sight, it is godly.
smrtgmp 01-24-05, 07:40 AM	One kind of concealment overlaps and doesn't stack with any other kind of concealment; only the highest miss chance applies. Thus, a creature protected by all four spells benefits from a 50% chance to attacks against it.Blink doesnt provide concealment. Does that mean that someone protected by blink and displacement would force an attacker to roll twice? edit: I agree that the current incarnation of darkness is a bit strange. Its lead to several arguments around the gaming table.
Archangel 01-24-05, 08:00 AM	IMC Darkness works as written but Deeper Darkness is as the old Darkness.