Usually when I imagine the darkness spell, I imagine a sphere of shadows that heavily obscuring everything inside the sphere. I know that creatures outside the sphere cannot see creatures inside the sphere (without blindsight or other special senses); however, can creatures inside the sphere see creatures outside of the sphere (that are in bright/dim light)? I am asking since the spell does not state that it inflicts the blinded condition like the spell hunger of Hadar states.
No, you can't. Also someone outside the Darkness cannot see through the darkness to what is on the other side. This is a consequence of the line "A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness . . ." The key word here is through. This makes the darkness created by the spell different from normal darkness but more like a completely opaque fog.
Interestingly you can contain the darkness created by this spell by covering it up with an opaque object. This suggests the target of Darkness spell emits something like an anti-light.
Usually when I imagine the darkness spell, I imagine a sphere of shadows that heavily obscuring everything inside the sphere. I know that creatures outside the sphere cannot see creatures inside the sphere (without blindsight or other special senses); however, can creatures inside the sphere see creatures outside of the sphere (that are in bright/dim light)? I am asking since the spell does not state that it inflicts the blinded condition like the spell hunger of Hadar states.
While it does not specify that it inflict it, a magical darkness is an heavily obscured area and therefore you are effectively blinded when trying to see something in it.
For things obstructed by the darkness but otherwise not in it, the DM can always refer to the rules for Unseen Attackers and Targets. It still results in having both advantage and disadvantage, with which you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20.
In the games I run, magical Darkness blocks vision entirely, so that you can't see into, out of or through it. The rules say this explicitly. However, some DMs use a different interpretation and there have been several discussions about both natural and magical Darkness.
Here is the rule:
"A heavily obscured area-such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage-blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition (see appendix A) when trying to see something in that area."
However, the rules do not distinguish between natural Darkness and magical Darkness. In the real world, Natural Darkness does NOT block vision entirely. You can see out of natural darkness to illuminated areas even ones very far away.
Another quote from the PHB:
"Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness."
However, no one I have met plays natural Darkness like this. They do not treat natural darkness as a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely since in the real world, you CAN see through it from one lighted area to another. As a result, some DMs treat magical darkness the same way. The spell creates (in their opinion) magical natural darkness which would allow creatures to see out of the darkness into areas of surrounding light or see through it from one side to the other. This explicitly contradicts the rules that Darkness creates a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely but it is somewhat consistent with the behaviour of darkness in the real world. This is why you find some differences of opinion out there since the RAW for natural darkness isn't consistent with how darkness works in the real world.
One more point:
In addition the Darkness spell says the following:
"A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it."
So clearly, to a creature with Darkvision - the darkness spell blocks vision entirely since if you can't see through it then you can't see into it or out of it IF you have darkvision. When combined with the rules on heavily obscured areas for Darkness, I interpret this to mean that the Darkness spell creates an area that no creature can see through unless they have an ability to see through magical darkness.
Without that interpretation, for a DM who considers the Darkness spell to produce an area of magical natural darkness, you have a situation where all the creatures with Darkvision can't see through the area of magical darkness but creatures who do NOT have Darkvision could see through it. Personally, I find that to be an inconsistent ruling so I go with magical Darkness creating a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely (consistent with the other rules for heavily obscured areas). However, it does mean that I am using house rules when allowing vision through natural darkness into a lighted area or from one lighted area to another through natural darkness.
P.S. To answer your question :) ... in my opinion ... magical darkness is a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely.
- No. You can't see a creature inside an area of magical darkness
- No. You can't see a creature on the other side of an area of magical darkness.
- If you are in an area of magical darkness you can not see out of it.
I see. Thank you all for pointing out the rule on how areas of darkness are heavily obscured. One thing that I will point out though is that Sage Advice states that the darkness obstructs the darkvision sense: "For example, the darkness spell specifies that it produces a magical darkness that obstructs darkvision." By Sage Advice, creatures with darkvision cannot benefit from that sense while in the area of the darkness spell; this is a different specification from creatures with darkvision not being allowed to see in the darkness spell.
Usually when I imagine the darkness spell, I imagine a sphere of shadows that heavily obscuring everything inside the sphere. I know that creatures outside the sphere cannot see creatures inside the sphere (without blindsight or other special senses); however, can creatures inside the sphere see creatures outside of the sphere (that are in bright/dim light)? I am asking since the spell does not state that it inflicts the blinded condition like the spell hunger of Hadar states.
Full disclosure, I only skimmed David's post, so I apologise if I'm treading old ground by repeating what they said. All darkness in 5E, magical or not, acts like opaque fog:
In other words, we can ignore for now the part about "blocks vision entirely" and focus on the beginning and middle of the sentence, and discover that either 5E has transparent fog you can see through or it has opaque darkness you can't. So even before we reach the end of the sentence, we've committed to 5E's optical physics being completely disjoint from the real world, because in the real world, darkness and opaque fog are almost completely dissimilar.
Then we get to the end, and we discover that instead of transparent fog, 5E has opaque darkness.
That's the RAW answer, but Wizards of the Coast doesn't follow this rule at all. I'm DMing an Icewind Dale campaign right now, and I can tell you for certain I'm expected to describe things that are lit up in the distance with darkness in the way, like a town with fires going at night. So you, if you're the DM, or your DM if not, should feel extra free to house rule this so darkness behaves like darkness. WOTC certainly writes their campaign modules as if darkness were darkness, not fog.
tl;dr All darkness, including the spell, constitutes an ink blot in your vision that can't be seen through, like very heavy fog or a thick tree blocks vision.
The OP thread is not about nonmagical darkness so we should stick with magical darkness, which blocks vision entirely and leaves people unable to see through it.
The OP thread is not about nonmagical darkness so we should stick with magical darkness, which blocks vision entirely and leaves people unable to see through it.
The OP thread is not about nonmagical darkness so we should stick with magical darkness, which blocks vision entirely and leaves people unable to see through it.
The problem is that magical darkness relies on the rules for non-magical darkness. The Darkness spell does not say it creates a heavily obscured area - it says it creates an area of darkness where Darkvision doesn't function. In order to determine whether magical Darkness blocks vision, you need to decide if natural darkness blocks vision.
RAW, natural darkness does block vision so as a result, so does magical Darkness.
However, natural darkness blocking vision is inconsistent with reality - which is why the rules need a re-write that makes darkness different from opaque fog and heavy foliage - all of which are heavily obscured areas but which in the real world behave very differently.
PS. Personally, I would errata the Darkness spell to say it creates a heavily obscured area then modify the vision rules to put natural darkness in a separate category where darkness does not block vision into lighted areas but does block vision from light areas to dark areas or from dark areas to dark areas.
This thread is not wether "does nonmagical darkness block vision?" It's about the darkness spell specifically.
Let's not get offtopic with other heavily obscured areas.
I agree.
The darkness spell has the added comment: "A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it."
If nonmagical light can't illuminate it then nonmagical light can't pass through the area covered by the Darkness spell making it impossible to see into, out of or through an area covered by magical darkness.
I notice some people in this thread are interpreting the inability of nonmagical light to illuminate the area to mean that light cannot enter the area at all, but this interpretation seems incorrect.
Here is the definition of "illuminate" from Oxford Languages: verb. make (something) visible or bright by shining light on it; light up.
4: to decorate (something, such as a manuscript) with gold or silver or brilliant colors or with often elaborate designs or miniature pictures
So it seems that rather than barring light from entering the affected area, darkness prevents light from rendering the area visible and also prevents it from raising the light level from darkness to dim/bright light. This doesn't prevent light from reaching the eyes of a creature inside the area, and the spell therefore doesn't rob that creature of the ability to see out of the darkness they way hunger of Hadar does. This interpretation also keeps the darkness spell from just being a worse version of fog cloud.
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Usually when I imagine the darkness spell, I imagine a sphere of shadows that heavily obscuring everything inside the sphere. I know that creatures outside the sphere cannot see creatures inside the sphere (without blindsight or other special senses); however, can creatures inside the sphere see creatures outside of the sphere (that are in bright/dim light)? I am asking since the spell does not state that it inflicts the blinded condition like the spell hunger of Hadar states.
No, you can't. Also someone outside the Darkness cannot see through the darkness to what is on the other side. This is a consequence of the line "A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness . . ." The key word here is through. This makes the darkness created by the spell different from normal darkness but more like a completely opaque fog.
Interestingly you can contain the darkness created by this spell by covering it up with an opaque object. This suggests the target of Darkness spell emits something like an anti-light.
While it does not specify that it inflict it, a magical darkness is an heavily obscured area and therefore you are effectively blinded when trying to see something in it.
For things obstructed by the darkness but otherwise not in it, the DM can always refer to the rules for Unseen Attackers and Targets. It still results in having both advantage and disadvantage, with which you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20.
In the games I run, magical Darkness blocks vision entirely, so that you can't see into, out of or through it. The rules say this explicitly. However, some DMs use a different interpretation and there have been several discussions about both natural and magical Darkness.
Here is the rule:
"A heavily obscured area-such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage-blocks vision entirely. A creature effectively suffers from the blinded condition (see appendix A) when trying to see something in that area."
However, the rules do not distinguish between natural Darkness and magical Darkness. In the real world, Natural Darkness does NOT block vision entirely. You can see out of natural darkness to illuminated areas even ones very far away.
Another quote from the PHB:
"Darkness creates a heavily obscured area. Characters face darkness outdoors at night (even most moonlit nights), within the confines of an unlit dungeon or a subterranean vault, or in an area of magical darkness."
However, no one I have met plays natural Darkness like this. They do not treat natural darkness as a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely since in the real world, you CAN see through it from one lighted area to another. As a result, some DMs treat magical darkness the same way. The spell creates (in their opinion) magical natural darkness which would allow creatures to see out of the darkness into areas of surrounding light or see through it from one side to the other. This explicitly contradicts the rules that Darkness creates a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely but it is somewhat consistent with the behaviour of darkness in the real world. This is why you find some differences of opinion out there since the RAW for natural darkness isn't consistent with how darkness works in the real world.
One more point:
In addition the Darkness spell says the following:
"A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it."
So clearly, to a creature with Darkvision - the darkness spell blocks vision entirely since if you can't see through it then you can't see into it or out of it IF you have darkvision. When combined with the rules on heavily obscured areas for Darkness, I interpret this to mean that the Darkness spell creates an area that no creature can see through unless they have an ability to see through magical darkness.
Without that interpretation, for a DM who considers the Darkness spell to produce an area of magical natural darkness, you have a situation where all the creatures with Darkvision can't see through the area of magical darkness but creatures who do NOT have Darkvision could see through it. Personally, I find that to be an inconsistent ruling so I go with magical Darkness creating a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely (consistent with the other rules for heavily obscured areas). However, it does mean that I am using house rules when allowing vision through natural darkness into a lighted area or from one lighted area to another through natural darkness.
P.S. To answer your question :) ... in my opinion ... magical darkness is a heavily obscured area that blocks vision entirely.
- No. You can't see a creature inside an area of magical darkness
- No. You can't see a creature on the other side of an area of magical darkness.
- If you are in an area of magical darkness you can not see out of it.
I see. Thank you all for pointing out the rule on how areas of darkness are heavily obscured. One thing that I will point out though is that Sage Advice states that the darkness obstructs the darkvision sense: "For example, the darkness spell specifies that it produces a magical darkness that obstructs darkvision." By Sage Advice, creatures with darkvision cannot benefit from that sense while in the area of the darkness spell; this is a different specification from creatures with darkvision not being allowed to see in the darkness spell.
Full disclosure, I only skimmed David's post, so I apologise if I'm treading old ground by repeating what they said. All darkness in 5E, magical or not, acts like opaque fog:
A heavily obscured area—such as darkness, opaque fog, or dense foliage—blocks vision entirely.
In other words, we can ignore for now the part about "blocks vision entirely" and focus on the beginning and middle of the sentence, and discover that either 5E has transparent fog you can see through or it has opaque darkness you can't. So even before we reach the end of the sentence, we've committed to 5E's optical physics being completely disjoint from the real world, because in the real world, darkness and opaque fog are almost completely dissimilar.
Then we get to the end, and we discover that instead of transparent fog, 5E has opaque darkness.
That's the RAW answer, but Wizards of the Coast doesn't follow this rule at all. I'm DMing an Icewind Dale campaign right now, and I can tell you for certain I'm expected to describe things that are lit up in the distance with darkness in the way, like a town with fires going at night. So you, if you're the DM, or your DM if not, should feel extra free to house rule this so darkness behaves like darkness. WOTC certainly writes their campaign modules as if darkness were darkness, not fog.
tl;dr All darkness, including the spell, constitutes an ink blot in your vision that can't be seen through, like very heavy fog or a thick tree blocks vision.
The OP thread is not about nonmagical darkness so we should stick with magical darkness, which blocks vision entirely and leaves people unable to see through it.
Sure, but that's not unique to magical darkness.
The problem is that magical darkness relies on the rules for non-magical darkness. The Darkness spell does not say it creates a heavily obscured area - it says it creates an area of darkness where Darkvision doesn't function. In order to determine whether magical Darkness blocks vision, you need to decide if natural darkness blocks vision.
RAW, natural darkness does block vision so as a result, so does magical Darkness.
However, natural darkness blocking vision is inconsistent with reality - which is why the rules need a re-write that makes darkness different from opaque fog and heavy foliage - all of which are heavily obscured areas but which in the real world behave very differently.
PS. Personally, I would errata the Darkness spell to say it creates a heavily obscured area then modify the vision rules to put natural darkness in a separate category where darkness does not block vision into lighted areas but does block vision from light areas to dark areas or from dark areas to dark areas.
This thread is not wether "does nonmagical darkness block vision?" It's about the darkness spell specifically.
Let's not get offtopic with other heavily obscured areas.
I agree.
The darkness spell has the added comment: "A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it."
If nonmagical light can't illuminate it then nonmagical light can't pass through the area covered by the Darkness spell making it impossible to see into, out of or through an area covered by magical darkness.
There are exceptional abilities such as Devil's Sight, that let you specifically see through magical darkness.
I notice some people in this thread are interpreting the inability of nonmagical light to illuminate the area to mean that light cannot enter the area at all, but this interpretation seems incorrect.
Here is the definition of "illuminate" from Oxford Languages: verb. make (something) visible or bright by shining light on it; light up.
And from Merriam-Webstar: