A silly willy question? [Archive] - Wizards Community

A silly willy question? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
DemonMonkeyBoy
12-24-04, 05:26 AM :b: I'm in a room with no lights, just complete and normal darkness. Than I cast the Spell Darkness. Do my chances of hitting my target increase? Going from 50% miss to 20% miss.

From the spell Darkness
"This spell causes an object to radiate shadowy illumination out to a 20-foot radius."

As the title says it's a silly question, but it was bugging my at work and I just couldn't decide.
Kephamoz
12-24-04, 10:08 AM Do my chances of hitting my target increase? Going from 50% miss to 20% miss.Depends on the DM, I guess. This is touched on in a thread here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=199640&highlight=shadowy+illumination). (among other things..)

A literal interpretation of the rules would support the level of concealment being 20% in such a situation (by my understanding).

In a similar situation our DM ruled that the level of concealment is 50%, as he believes this is the intent of the designers and that the spell is poorly worded.
BloodSpill
12-24-04, 11:38 AM Well, because I like being different so I take the common sense interpretation, that being that the spell does not create any light.

That means if it's an illuminated area it reduces the amount of illumination to the point it counts as a 20% miss chance (shadowy illumination). If the amount of illumination is less (for instance, total darkness) then the spell has no visible effect on the area (it can only reduce the amount of light).

Simpler explanation (for those who don't know English ;)):

while (spell duration)
{
if (miss chance <= 20%)
{
miss chance == 20%
}
else // (miss chance > 20%)
{
//No change
}
}
Seeker95
12-24-04, 04:57 PM Depends on whether your DM is reasonable or rules-lawyer-retarded.

Darkness does not create light. It reduces light to a specific level. But because the spell description did not say "reduces to", and instead says "creates an area of", the rules-lawyer-retarded feel justified in blaming WotC for making something their feeble brains cannot decide for themselves.

Any time an interpretation requires that you being with "Technically, the rules say" you know you are entering into the realm of the rules-lawyer-retarded. They thrive in this environment, where literal reading overrides common sense. It appears lost upon them when you mention that "literal" readings of text have lead otherwise normal seeming individuals to order far too many soldiers into wars.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
DemonMonkeyBoy 12-24-04, 05:26 AM	:b: I'm in a room with no lights, just complete and normal darkness. Than I cast the Spell Darkness. Do my chances of hitting my target increase? Going from 50% miss to 20% miss. From the spell Darkness "This spell causes an object to radiate shadowy illumination out to a 20-foot radius." As the title says it's a silly question, but it was bugging my at work and I just couldn't decide.
Kephamoz 12-24-04, 10:08 AM	Do my chances of hitting my target increase? Going from 50% miss to 20% miss.Depends on the DM, I guess. This is touched on in a thread here (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=199640&highlight=shadowy+illumination). (among other things..) A literal interpretation of the rules would support the level of concealment being 20% in such a situation (by my understanding). In a similar situation our DM ruled that the level of concealment is 50%, as he believes this is the intent of the designers and that the spell is poorly worded.
BloodSpill 12-24-04, 11:38 AM	Well, because I like being different so I take the common sense interpretation, that being that the spell does not create any light. That means if it's an illuminated area it reduces the amount of illumination to the point it counts as a 20% miss chance (shadowy illumination). If the amount of illumination is less (for instance, total darkness) then the spell has no visible effect on the area (it can only reduce the amount of light). Simpler explanation (for those who don't know English ;)): while (spell duration) { if (miss chance <= 20%) { miss chance == 20% } else // (miss chance > 20%) { //No change } }
Seeker95 12-24-04, 04:57 PM	Depends on whether your DM is reasonable or rules-lawyer-retarded. Darkness does not create light. It reduces light to a specific level. But because the spell description did not say "reduces to", and instead says "creates an area of", the rules-lawyer-retarded feel justified in blaming WotC for making something their feeble brains cannot decide for themselves. Any time an interpretation requires that you being with "Technically, the rules say" you know you are entering into the realm of the rules-lawyer-retarded. They thrive in this environment, where literal reading overrides common sense. It appears lost upon them when you mention that "literal" readings of text have lead otherwise normal seeming individuals to order far too many soldiers into wars.