I tried searching for the answer to this, but couldn't find anything on point, so here we are!
Shadow of Moil, in relevant part, says the following: "Flame-like shadows wreathe your body until the spell ends, causing you to become heavily obscured to others. The shadows turn dim light within 10 feet of you into darkness, and bright light in the same area to dim light." My understanding is that this darkness is not magical (like the spell Darkness) and is instead run-of-the-mill darkness.
If the caster of the spell doesn't have darkvision (or anything along those lines) and casts Shadow of Moil in dim light, can the caster see through the 10 feet of darkness? I haven't seen this question asked, which leads me to believe the answer is clearly "yes - the caster is unaffected by the darkness," but I don't understand why that is. Could anyone shed some light?
Everyone can see "through" darkness by default - unless that darkness is some sort of an opaque blackness as described in certain spells. A patch of darkness in a room is just as transparent as a patch of light in a room.
The shadow flames themselves result in the Warlock appearing "heavily obscured to others". That is a magical one way visual blockage, and does not prevent the Warlock from seeing out. It is separate effect from the circle of dimmed or darkened light.
The effects of an area of darkness is that no one can see the creatures and objects that are *in* the dark area. This includes the caster of that spell - the Warlock couldn't effectively see a creature standing within 5ft in this zone of darkness.
This will mean that the Warlock might find themselves attacked at melee range by a creature they can't see - granting the attacker advantage that cancels out the disadvantage of the Warlock being both in darkness and obscured by the shadow flames. All attacks at range, by contrast, involving people outside the darkness would have advantage benefiting the Warlock, who can see their enemy clearly beyond the darkness while simultaneously being unseen behind flame and in darkness.
The melee situation becomes much more beneficial if the Warlock acquires an ability to see in the dark though - Devil's Sight anyone?
Shadow of Moil, in relevant part, says the following: "Flame-like shadows wreathe your body until the spell ends, causing you to become heavily obscured to others. The shadows turn dim light within 10 feet of you into darkness, and bright light in the same area to dim light." My understanding is that this darkness is not magical (like the spell Darkness) and is instead run-of-the-mill darkness.
If the caster of the spell doesn't have darkvision (or anything along those lines) and casts Shadow of Moil in dim light, can the caster see through the 10 feet of darkness? I haven't seen this question asked, which leads me to believe the answer is clearly "yes - the caster is unaffected by the darkness," but I don't understand why that is. Could anyone shed some light?
The darkness created by Shadow of Moil is not the same as the Darkness spell, saying "a creature with Darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it." Since the spell doesn't specify the caster can see through it, it won't be able to unless it has Darkvision.
Important notes to remember about Shadow of Moil's dim light & darkness;
It's created by magic.
It can be seen through with Darkvision.
The shadows affect any dim light or bright light in the area, wether magical or nonmagical.
It makes you heavily obscured to others from flame-like shadows wreathing your body, not the surrrounding dim light or darkness.
Creatures can't see you even with Darkvision, meaning your attack rolls against them have advantage, and their attack rolls against you have disadvantage, unless you also can't see them.
A given area might be lightly or heavily obscured. In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, Creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
A heavily obscured area doesn’t blind you, but you are effectively Blinded when you try to see something obscured by it. A creature effectively suffers from the Blinded condition when trying to see something in that area.
Blinded
A blinded creature can’t see and automatically fails any ability check that requires sight.
Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature’s Attack rolls have disadvantage.
Hi All,
I tried searching for the answer to this, but couldn't find anything on point, so here we are!
Shadow of Moil, in relevant part, says the following: "Flame-like shadows wreathe your body until the spell ends, causing you to become heavily obscured to others. The shadows turn dim light within 10 feet of you into darkness, and bright light in the same area to dim light." My understanding is that this darkness is not magical (like the spell Darkness) and is instead run-of-the-mill darkness.
If the caster of the spell doesn't have darkvision (or anything along those lines) and casts Shadow of Moil in dim light, can the caster see through the 10 feet of darkness? I haven't seen this question asked, which leads me to believe the answer is clearly "yes - the caster is unaffected by the darkness," but I don't understand why that is. Could anyone shed some light?
Thanks!
Everyone can see "through" darkness by default - unless that darkness is some sort of an opaque blackness as described in certain spells. A patch of darkness in a room is just as transparent as a patch of light in a room.
The shadow flames themselves result in the Warlock appearing "heavily obscured to others". That is a magical one way visual blockage, and does not prevent the Warlock from seeing out. It is separate effect from the circle of dimmed or darkened light.
The effects of an area of darkness is that no one can see the creatures and objects that are *in* the dark area. This includes the caster of that spell - the Warlock couldn't effectively see a creature standing within 5ft in this zone of darkness.
This will mean that the Warlock might find themselves attacked at melee range by a creature they can't see - granting the attacker advantage that cancels out the disadvantage of the Warlock being both in darkness and obscured by the shadow flames. All attacks at range, by contrast, involving people outside the darkness would have advantage benefiting the Warlock, who can see their enemy clearly beyond the darkness while simultaneously being unseen behind flame and in darkness.
The melee situation becomes much more beneficial if the Warlock acquires an ability to see in the dark though - Devil's Sight anyone?
The darkness created by Shadow of Moil is not the same as the Darkness spell, saying "a creature with Darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it." Since the spell doesn't specify the caster can see through it, it won't be able to unless it has Darkvision.
Important notes to remember about Shadow of Moil's dim light & darkness;
A heavily obscured area doesn’t blind you, but you are effectively Blinded when you try to see something obscured by it. A creature effectively suffers from the Blinded condition when trying to see something in that area.
Blinded