According to the description the spell can be cast on an object and covering the object obscures the spell's effect. With that in mind, can the spell be cast within or upon an object that can be placed within a bullseye lantern.
The desired effect would be a mobile cone of darkness carried by a warlock's improved familiar.
According to the description the spell can be cast on an object and covering the object obscures the spell's effect. With that in mind, can the spell be cast within or upon an object that can be placed within a bullseye lantern.
The desired effect would be a mobile cone of darkness carried by a warlock's improved familiar.
Thank you for your input.
Yes, you can put it into a lantern and close it off, but when you open it it would still be a full globe of darkness rather than a cone because of the "spreads around corners" bit of the spell.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
"Magical darkness spreads from a point you choose within range to fill a 15-foot-radius sphere for the duration. The darkness spreads around corners."
So, no. You can't really shape the effect into a cone, it's somewhat like a gas filling a double container - any opening in the inner container will allow it to spread all throughout the outer one.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
What uses do people have for Darkness? I ask because it doesn't seem to have any condition to make it an asymmetrical effect...if you're in it, you're blinded too. If you're not in it, then you can't see the target...what do you use it for?
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
What uses do people have for Darkness? I ask because it doesn't seem to have any condition to make it an asymmetrical effect...if you're in it, you're blinded too. If you're not in it, then you can't see the target...what do you use it for?
Making a getaway (if an enemy is blinded, you don't need to Disengage to run away from them). This is especially useful when a once per day racial innate spell, like with Drow and Tieflings.
If you're a Warlock with Devil's Sight invocation you can see through magical darkness, giving you advantage on attacking everyone else in the Darkness.
Thank you. I hadn't quite taken the 'spreads around corners effect into account.
Still, being able to maximize the cast time/effect by placing into either a hooded or bullseye lantern would be helpful when anticipating multiple skirmishes within a 1 hour period.
Well my sorc(warlock has Devil Sight which lets me see even in magical darkness just fine, so I have adv. they have disadv.
Also our monk took a level in fighter to get blindfighting fighting style (Tasha's I think), which also negates the effect of darkness. So we both attack with adv. for the monk this is huge.
The rest of the party is screwed of course. So you have to be carful when to use it. It can be quite annoying.
You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
Devil’s Sight
You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
Well my sorc(warlock has Devil Sight which lets me see even in magical darkness just fine, so I have adv. they have disadv.
Also our monk took a level in fighter to get blindfighting fighting style (Tasha's I think), which also negates the effect of darkness. So we both attack with adv. for the monk this is huge.
The rest of the party is screwed of course. So you have to be carful when to use it. It can be quite annoying.
I'd note here that it is mostly only the casters who are impacted. They can't cast spells that require them to see their target.
As far as both ranged and melee weapon attacks go, RAW, if you can't see your target, you have disadvantage and if they can't see you, you have advantage - advantage and disadvantage cancel giving a straight roll as if making attacks without the Darkness present. So, playing RAW, Darkness actually has a smaller impact on the party than many folks realize.
As for other uses of Darkness ...
- prevents opportunity attacks since these require that you be able to see the creature leaving your reach
- blocks gaze attacks like basilisk, medusa or vampire charm (since either require you to see the creature or it must see you).
- if you have blind fighting, devils sight or another way to see through darkness then you have advantage to attack the other creatures and they have disadvantage to hit you.
Since advantage and disadvantage cancel giving straight rolls - there are several loop holes possible when the creatures involved in the combat can't see each other since advantage and disadvantage don't stack
- no penalty for firing ranged weapons with an opponent next to you
- no penalty on firing a ranged weapon at long range (though a DM is likely to rule that if you are too far from your target there is no way to track them by sound so they are effectively hidden and you no longer know where they are so you may have to target locations hoping that the creature is there if you are too far away)
- no penalty for being prone when making an attack or being attacked
- disadvantage on attacks caused by the poisoned condition no longer has an effect
e.g. So if the entire party gets poisoned and has disadvantage on all their attacks - just cast Darkness so that everyone can't see and all the attacks become straight rolls.
Keep in mind that DMs will be tempted to come up with on the fly rulings to mitigate some of these so if you plan to use the Darkness/Fog Cloud spell you may want to hash out how the DM wants to run it in advance.
This was probably resolved years ago, but...
According to the description the spell can be cast on an object and covering the object obscures the spell's effect. With that in mind, can the spell be cast within or upon an object that can be placed within a bullseye lantern.
The desired effect would be a mobile cone of darkness carried by a warlock's improved familiar.
Thank you for your input.
Yes, you can put it into a lantern and close it off, but when you open it it would still be a full globe of darkness rather than a cone because of the "spreads around corners" bit of the spell.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
"Magical darkness spreads from a point you choose within range to fill a 15-foot-radius sphere for the duration. The darkness spreads around corners."
So, no. You can't really shape the effect into a cone, it's somewhat like a gas filling a double container - any opening in the inner container will allow it to spread all throughout the outer one.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
What uses do people have for Darkness? I ask because it doesn't seem to have any condition to make it an asymmetrical effect...if you're in it, you're blinded too. If you're not in it, then you can't see the target...what do you use it for?
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Making a getaway (if an enemy is blinded, you don't need to Disengage to run away from them). This is especially useful when a once per day racial innate spell, like with Drow and Tieflings.
If you're a Warlock with Devil's Sight invocation you can see through magical darkness, giving you advantage on attacking everyone else in the Darkness.
Helpful rewriter of Japanese->English translation and delver into software codebases (she/e/they)
Thank you. I hadn't quite taken the 'spreads around corners effect into account.
Still, being able to maximize the cast time/effect by placing into either a hooded or bullseye lantern would be helpful when anticipating multiple skirmishes within a 1 hour period.
Well my sorc(warlock has Devil Sight which lets me see even in magical darkness just fine, so I have adv. they have disadv.
Also our monk took a level in fighter to get blindfighting fighting style (Tasha's I think), which also negates the effect of darkness. So we both attack with adv. for the monk this is huge.
The rest of the party is screwed of course. So you have to be carful when to use it. It can be quite annoying.
Blind Fighting
You have blindsight with a range of 10 feet. Within that range, you can effectively see anything that isn’t behind total cover, even if you’re blinded or in darkness. Moreover, you can see an invisible creature within that range, unless the creature successfully hides from you.
Devil’s Sight
You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.
I'd note here that it is mostly only the casters who are impacted. They can't cast spells that require them to see their target.
As far as both ranged and melee weapon attacks go, RAW, if you can't see your target, you have disadvantage and if they can't see you, you have advantage - advantage and disadvantage cancel giving a straight roll as if making attacks without the Darkness present. So, playing RAW, Darkness actually has a smaller impact on the party than many folks realize.
As for other uses of Darkness ...
- prevents opportunity attacks since these require that you be able to see the creature leaving your reach
- blocks gaze attacks like basilisk, medusa or vampire charm (since either require you to see the creature or it must see you).
- if you have blind fighting, devils sight or another way to see through darkness then you have advantage to attack the other creatures and they have disadvantage to hit you.
Since advantage and disadvantage cancel giving straight rolls - there are several loop holes possible when the creatures involved in the combat can't see each other since advantage and disadvantage don't stack
- barbarian reckless attack does nothing (also berserker NPCs ability doesn't work)
- no penalty for firing ranged weapons with an opponent next to you
- no penalty on firing a ranged weapon at long range (though a DM is likely to rule that if you are too far from your target there is no way to track them by sound so they are effectively hidden and you no longer know where they are so you may have to target locations hoping that the creature is there if you are too far away)
- no penalty for being prone when making an attack or being attacked
- disadvantage on attacks caused by the poisoned condition no longer has an effect
e.g. So if the entire party gets poisoned and has disadvantage on all their attacks - just cast Darkness so that everyone can't see and all the attacks become straight rolls.
Keep in mind that DMs will be tempted to come up with on the fly rulings to mitigate some of these so if you plan to use the Darkness/Fog Cloud spell you may want to hash out how the DM wants to run it in advance.
The 2024 Darkness spell allows for emanation from an object, which radiates in straight lines. So, yes, now you can.