Two Gaming groups I'm in have agreed to House Rule: Dwarven Darkvison 60'.
Nations, Cities, Hidden Delves and Temples have been built forever by Dwarves in the depths of darkness in the heart of mountains and the earth. They have always had the natural ability to see in dark places either to mine, build, trade, or just survive within the harsh environments in the deep vast caverns. Many of these caverns stretched for miles of sunless trade ways. It was a perk in 1st edition to have at least someone who could see(infravision) when the torch's went out (2nd and 3rd"Darkvision" as well).
I have notice many other humanoids and monsters are now dependant upon light. Perhaps it makes everything easier to publish torch lit dungeons. Though there were places with light in the depths that had magical light and torches with cast a warning glow to many a party of adventurers. For 32 years, I've had dark dungeons and forgotten ancient cities cloaked in shadows of the earth to explore and many times that Dwarven PC with his underdark senses saved the day... Perhaps these 4E mountain and hill/shield and gold dwarves spend too much time upon the surface or basking in the torchs and sunrods light (maybe a forge). Was it the spellplague? By Moradin's Hammer, what about all the other dwarves throughout the many worlds?
I just find it a bit odd and wanted to see how many agree and perhaps find out what has happend to the dwellers of caves, mines, and halls of stone.
Does anyone have a logical explanation?
(Nothing to do with the Spellplague, it's all Core.)
DWARVES AND DARKVISION
-Matt Sernett
When we designed the 4th Edition of the D&D game, we knew we needed to improve how the game handled special kinds of vision. Out of the 3 #rd Edition Core Rulebooks, only Humans, Halflings and Lizardfolks need light to see normally at night. Every other creature possesses some special sight that allows it to see in Dim Light or even in Darkness. That seemed a little crazy, and when we thought about it, the inequality of special vision also complicated the game. To play appropriatly, the DM has to describe the big dark room one way for the Drow (who has Darkvision 120 feet), one way for the Dwarf (who has Darkvision 60 geet), another way for the Elf (whoo has Low-light vision) and still another for the Human holding the torch. And there’s one more problem with many creatures having Darkvision: The PC’s don’t get to see the scenery in caves or large dungeons room.
To eliminate those problems we took Darkvision away from most creatures, including Dwarves. Now Dwarves illuminate the homes they built into mountains. They possess Low-light vision so they don’t use as much light as Humans might, but when the PC’s ener a Dwarven city, it’s likely everyone can see it’s splendor.
