I am kind of new/returning to D&D so please forgive this rather basic question. I have joined in on the local Adventure League and am currently running a half-elf ranger... old Dragonlance thing I guess... and in our current adventure (LMoP) there are no human characters in the group. Is this because a character without some sort of darkvision is severely disadvantaged? The majority of our adventure so far has taken place in darkness/low light conditions. How do human characters operate in these conditions without giving away location/surprise with an open light source? I would like to create a human fighter but after reading the 5e rules it appears that I would be constantly fighting with disadvantage or sacrificing my shield bonus to hold a torch. Why would anyone make a human over any one of the darkvision traited races?
Can I borrow a ring of wishes to ask for a feat called adaptive vision... gives non-darkvision race characters darkvision or for drows it removes the sunlight restrictions?
Thanks for any advice.
Easiest way to get around it is have someone with the Light spell, or an equivalent. So that nobody actually has to hold a torch. You most certainly WILL give away your position, though. The other way to do it is to take two levels of Warlock and get Devil's Sight. I remember I was a rogue in an Underdark game, without darkvision. Wasn't a happy time. Still, it was an interesting game. It's not like you auto-lose if you have a torch or something, even if you have a lot of encounters at night etc. You have to remember that it's a roleplaying game, and the DM shouldn't penalize you heavily just because you're playing a human and not an elf.
Tom_M wrote:
It's not, strictly speaking, a human problem, since halflings and dragonborn also lack darkvision.
Sinc darkness is still only counting as dimly lit for characters with darkvision it might still be a good idea to bring light into the darkness.
Darkvision does work a bit differently now.
Sinc darkness is still only counting as dimly lit for characters with darkvision it might still be a good idea to bring light into the darkness. A disadvantage on perception check by the rules, might be quite inconvenient in many cases. Darkvision does work a bit differently now.
humans can take the skulker feat and be happy. I mean, anyone can take it, but humans can do so from the get-go
There is an uncommon magic item within the DMG called Goggles of Night which grants Darkvision. Ask your DM if you can go on a quest to procure a set.
Leugren wrote:
Also Darkvision the spell has a duration of 8 hours. So if there is just one human or hibbit messing with the party, get your wizard a scroll of that. Then by 5th or 6th level or so, I'm sure you can get a casting of tht during adventuring hours.
IxidorRS wrote:
Keep a 6th-level+ shadow monk around. They can gift you darkvision for a measly 2 ki points...
I think people used to playing 3e and pathfinder and are into character optimization go with races that have Darkvision justto have the ability and not be hampered by what they think hurts a character at night or in a dungeon since they know it's going to happen and happen often. Sounds like your group picked them as well, not from a role playing stand point but who can this make my character better in these situations. Your part of the group, have the Mage cast light on something. They should be working on helping you see, not mumbling about "why did he roll a human when we all have Darkvision" (not that they do 
when you go to the bathroom.
Wait untill the sun comes up. 
EthanSental wrote:
Depending on your build, you could also do a 2 level dip into warlock and get the devil's sight invocation. You can always put the torch on the ground when a fight breaks out. the torch is still lit but its centered on the spot you put it down on.
There is a 2nd level cleric spell called continual flame which can effectively give you a permanent torch, but which does not create heat so it can be safely stowed away in a pouch or whatever.
It can be dispelled, so you may want to recast it at higher levels when they become available. Consumes 50 gp of ruby dust though.
And speaking of clerics, thaumaturgy can brighten a flame for a short time.
Stormborn20 wrote:
If I were DMing a new group, and a bunch of players showed up with characters that cannot see in the dark, I would immediately alter my plans for the campaign to avoid the Underdark. I would probably also make sure there was a nice bright moon in the sky. The point is not to handicap characxters by putting them into situations they can barely handle.
But if there is something IMPORTANT they need to get ... yeah, underground in a dark dungeon is a valid location. The extra effort will remind the PCs that the item IS important.
BRJN wrote:
EzechielDantan wrote:
OP:
Get a bat familiar so you can share its blindsight sense.
If there ever is an Artificer class, invent Radar Goggles for him.
I find the relatively high number of PC races with Darkvision to be tiresome.
It takes a lot of the mystery out of underground or night adventures and makes the human, halflings etc. feel like second class citizens in such commonly encountered situations.
Let's face it, the non-darkvision races would not be chosen for missions involving poor or no light conditions by patrons etc. with the choice between them and those that do have it. Likewise asassins, spies, scouts and underground explorers wouldn't recruit or train non-darkvision people if the alternative was commonly available, as they are in many published worlds.
It's all very incongruous really.
Getting around it requires magic as there is no way in the game to have light sources which you can hide, but which still shed light for you to see by... so you either get darkvision via spell or item or you are going to advertise your position, period...
Agreed. Also, I really want to expand the granularity of darkvision for my games. Get rid of the binary feel of it. Bring back lowlight as a step in between.
@Caliburn
I have the exact same feeling. How's that almost everyone got darkvision in the first place? It takes away the cool factor!
You're like "I'm a dwarf, I hate goblins, know stone constructions and see in darkness!"
Then all 4 other players of different races goes : "... wooooow... we, like, also all see in dark, dude."
You're 100% right about it taking away the mysterious and grim ambiance of dungeon delving in the dark, torch in hand. It makes for so much tense moments.
Personnaly, I take away all darkvisions except for the races that strictly lives underground (dark elves, dwarves... that's about it!).
Being proficient in perception technically gives you better sight in dim illumination, whereas elves seeing better at night than humans.
I'd be ok to allow elves, half-elves and half-orcs to have a low-light vision that makes them see better in dim lighting, but as much as human in total darkness (as in, nothing).
I don't see why darkvision is that great to start with. Darkvision in 5e lets you see in the dark (usually to 60 feet) as if it was Dim Light. Dim Light is considered a "lightly obscured' area.
Lightly obscured means you have Disadvantage on Perception checks (meaning you will get surprised a lot). As most dungeon crawls are in tunnels / rooms / dungeons; the ranges are close, so you aren't really alerting the baddies to your presence to any great extreme. By the time they see your light, chances are you have seen them.. Not always, but generally. Stumbling around in the dark however, even with Darkvision, means the bad guys can lay in ambush or hide really damn well.. Good luck ever spotting them before they fill you full of poisoned arrows! lol
In most cases, i would rather have a caster just keep a light cantrip up on each of the characters in the party. Get a copper coin, thread some string to it and hang it from your belt. Cast light cantrip on the coin, and if needed, you can pocket the coin to hide the light. Keep it simple
The only time I would enjoy playing a race without darkvision is if I was a caster or monk that could cast it on myself or get it some other war. (warlock invocation or transumuters stone)
Also note that at level 5 rangers get the darkvision spell.
But yea not having darkvision just plain sucks when your friends do.
The problem with not having darkvision when the majority of your friends do is that they will be agravated at you for carrying a torch or a light spell and you will be agravated at them for not wanting to waste spell slots to cast darkvision on you.
This is a problem because most PC races get darkvision. If most PC races had no darkvision then it would be expected that your party use torches and the light spell and such at night. The issue is that with most of the party having darkvision they feel like you are gimping them if you use light because you will alert enemies to the parties presence that wouldn't have been otherwise.
In short, never choose a non-darkvision race in 5e that cannot get darkvision some other way.
You are reading darkvision wrong. Darkness only counts as dim light, which you see in as if it were bright light, but only in shades of grey. I initially read it wrong too because it is worded a bit funny. It talks about dimness and darkness in the wrong order IMO.
They probably got rid of low light vision for simplification. You could have a 15 minute math session trying to figure out who can see how far in what light sources, and if you had darkvision TOO it was even more complicated trying to figure out which eyeball lenses you needed to use to see furthest.
Also, in previous editions, many many players would go with a sub par race just to get darkvision. Because it is a hassle to be constantly stopped and have to deal with torches and lanterns and facing in a game without facing.
Probably why they put in convenient goggles of night in an expedition...toalleviate the whole party who took darkvision races being slogged down by the one person who had to start with a feat or a breath weapon.
Its not like you can accuse a player of undermining if they can't even see down there.
I think darkvision races or subraces should have been optional before feats were.... but that's just IMO
At least 2 non darkvision races in the dark just fight normally. It's just the combination of your enemy getting advantage on attack rolls and you getting disadvantage on them is too much to deal with.
1 or the other would have been sufficient, not both. Assuming a 50% hit rate and a 50% chance to be hit that means fighting at night without darkvision gives you:
half of your previous chance to hit the enemy and a 50% increase for that enemy to hit you. While darkness doesn't occur all the time, when it does its just too painful to deal with for non darkvision races. I really wish the other races darkvision had been toned down before release. Being able to see in total darkness eliminates the need for light sources and that's a problem IMO. Especially if there's little to no benefit for a darkvision race ever using a light source.
Byakugan01 wrote:
That would just make another set of rules to worry about.
Fighting while blind is the same as trying to hit an unseen enemy. The penalties are the same.
perception checks are penalized because of the poor lighting. Which is actually generous if you think about it. They could just deny sight based perception.
Realistically, there are way more than just 3 stages of lighting. Younger human eyes adjust quite well in darkness, it just takes 5-10 minutes for the lens to refocus. Likewise, we're blinded for a couple minutes if it suddenly gets bright.
i like the simplified version compared to 3.0.
Remember, there is literally a spell called "Darkvision." It lasts for 8 hours.
Byakugan01 wrote:
Googles of Night is actually one of the few magic items found in the Expeditions adventures. DDEX1-4.
Yes. Darkvision says "a creature with darkvision can see in Darkness as if the darkness were dim light, so areas of darkness are only lightly obscured as far as that creature is concerned" - That seems pretty clear to me.. no seeing as if bright light is mentioned at all!
Lightly Obscured = creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (perception) checks that rely on sight.
So.. Darkvision is handy sure.. but again.. drowhiding in those shadows are going to shoot you full of poined bolts and you will never see them coming..lol
Unless your in a large open area where the bad guys will see you coming, magical light beats darkvision hands down.