This looks to me to be pretty solidly in "Ask your DM." territory.
However, here is how I would rule it and my rational. I would rule that with both active you would be surrounded by 30 feet of dim light.
Whether you use the legacy Radiant Consumption or the MotM version they both say "...you shed bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet." This language is similar to that used for Torches and other mundane sources of light.
Twilight Sanctuary on the other hand says "The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and is filled with dim light." This matches the language used in the Darkness spell which uses the verb "fill" instead of the more common "shed". Also other features of the Twilight Cleric depend on being in dim light. Where as the other benefits of Radiant Consumption do not depend on the bright light it creates.
I agree with Fangeye dim light, also called shadows, is what the sphere of Twilight Sanctuary is filled with, which to me means it affect ambiant light or darkness with such dim light/shadows.
While not official ruling, the Dev also have said about this game feature;
@carlos_cisco How do the Twilight domain abilities work in bright light... or say... somewhere with no day/night cycle like Avernus or the Feywild? Does the aura of dim light reduce the light in the general area if it's bright out?
@Dan_Dillon_1 It is dim light. It dims bright light, and lights up darkness
I'm just curious how other folks would rule Twilight Sanctuary interacting with other sources of light or darkness? I agree with Fangeye's interpretation for an Aasimar's source of light but I am wondering about others.
Twilight Sanctuary: "As an action, you present your holy symbol, and a sphere of twilight emanates from you. The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and is filled with dim light."
How would it interact with the following?
1) Darkness spell (uses the term "spreads from")
2) Daylight spell (uses the term "spreads out")
3) Sunburst spell (only creatures in the bright light are affected - uses the term "flashes")
4) Continual flame spell/object (equivalent in brightness to a torch - but presumably a magical source vs a mundane source?)
5) Light from a Sun Blade or other magic item? (uses the term "emits")
They all use different terminology in their descriptions :) ... This would seem to be a situation of two specific effects and having to decide which would take precedence - any good rule of thumb?
Absolutely nothing in the text of Twilight Sanctuary suggests that it makes bright light darker. If that was the intent, they massively dropped the ball when writing it.
Having played a Twilight cleric, the domain is powerful enough without inserting nonexistent text to have its ability darken bright light. It doesn’t need the buff even a little bit.
Absolutely nothing in the text of Twilight Sanctuary suggests that it makes bright light darker. If that was the intent, they massively dropped the ball when writing it.
Having played a Twilight cleric, the domain is powerful enough without inserting nonexistent text to have its ability darken bright light. It doesn’t need the buff even a little bit.
I'd tend to disagree with that interpretation. Here is the text:
"You can use your Channel Divinity to refresh your allies with soothing twilight.
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and a sphere of twilight emanates from you. The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and is filled with dim light. The sphere moves with you, and it lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated or die."
When you use the channel divinity a sphere of twilight emanates from you filling the area with dim light. In 5e, effects do what they say they do. In this case, the area is filled with dim light, NO reference is made to whatever might be there before whether that is darkness, dim light or bright light. Much like the darkness spell or the daylight spell, this channel divinity magically creates a region of dim light.
Why would you think it would not work in a region of bright light? The text of the ability makes NO reference to ambient conditions at all - it just says that it fills the sphere with dim light. RAW, I think that would work no matter what the ambient conditions might be.
Are you suggesting that the effect would only work if the lighting was dim already? Why would filling a region of darkness with dim light be any different from filling a region of bright light with dim light?
If you read the text of the Shadow of Moil spell, it explicitly describes turning bright light to dim light (which is required in that spell because it does different things depending on the ambient lighting) so from a magical perspective it is certainly possible to overwrite the ambient lighting conditions and since this effect doesn't mention the ambient conditions at all, they don't matter from a rules perspective. The effect created is just a sphere of dim light, much like the Darkness spell creates a sphere of Darkness.
As for the original question, my vote is that the effect of Radiant Consumption takes priority in this interaction regardless of who cast the spell first or last and/or who encroached upon who's space.
My interpretation is that the effect created by Twilight Sanctuary is that you are basically creating a temporary "room" that has dim light in it. It would basically be the same as if we stepped into a cave that extended for 30 feet which was filled with dim light. That room has dim light by default. If someone lights up a torch, some bright light would penetrate that space. When the torch is snuffed out, the room returns to being filled with dim light.
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I am curious about the interaction between these two abilities.
"Channel Divinity: Twilight Sanctuary" creates a sphere of dim light. While, Scourge Aasimar's "Radiant Consumption" creates 10 feet of bright light.
Does one of these supersede the other in terms of the light created? Or how else would they interact?
Thank you for any answers!
This looks to me to be pretty solidly in "Ask your DM." territory.
However, here is how I would rule it and my rational. I would rule that with both active you would be surrounded by 30 feet of dim light.
Whether you use the legacy Radiant Consumption or the MotM version they both say "...you shed bright light in a 10-foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet." This language is similar to that used for Torches and other mundane sources of light.
Twilight Sanctuary on the other hand says "The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and is filled with dim light." This matches the language used in the Darkness spell which uses the verb "fill" instead of the more common "shed". Also other features of the Twilight Cleric depend on being in dim light. Where as the other benefits of Radiant Consumption do not depend on the bright light it creates.
But that is just my two copper.
I agree with Fangeye dim light, also called shadows, is what the sphere of Twilight Sanctuary is filled with, which to me means it affect ambiant light or darkness with such dim light/shadows.
While not official ruling, the Dev also have said about this game feature;
I'm just curious how other folks would rule Twilight Sanctuary interacting with other sources of light or darkness? I agree with Fangeye's interpretation for an Aasimar's source of light but I am wondering about others.
Twilight Sanctuary: "As an action, you present your holy symbol, and a sphere of twilight emanates from you. The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and is filled with dim light."
How would it interact with the following?
1) Darkness spell (uses the term "spreads from")
2) Daylight spell (uses the term "spreads out")
3) Sunburst spell (only creatures in the bright light are affected - uses the term "flashes")
4) Continual flame spell/object (equivalent in brightness to a torch - but presumably a magical source vs a mundane source?)
5) Light from a Sun Blade or other magic item? (uses the term "emits")
They all use different terminology in their descriptions :) ... This would seem to be a situation of two specific effects and having to decide which would take precedence - any good rule of thumb?
Absolutely nothing in the text of Twilight Sanctuary suggests that it makes bright light darker. If that was the intent, they massively dropped the ball when writing it.
Having played a Twilight cleric, the domain is powerful enough without inserting nonexistent text to have its ability darken bright light. It doesn’t need the buff even a little bit.
I'd tend to disagree with that interpretation. Here is the text:
"You can use your Channel Divinity to refresh your allies with soothing twilight.
As an action, you present your holy symbol, and a sphere of twilight emanates from you. The sphere is centered on you, has a 30-foot radius, and is filled with dim light. The sphere moves with you, and it lasts for 1 minute or until you are incapacitated or die."
When you use the channel divinity a sphere of twilight emanates from you filling the area with dim light. In 5e, effects do what they say they do. In this case, the area is filled with dim light, NO reference is made to whatever might be there before whether that is darkness, dim light or bright light. Much like the darkness spell or the daylight spell, this channel divinity magically creates a region of dim light.
Why would you think it would not work in a region of bright light? The text of the ability makes NO reference to ambient conditions at all - it just says that it fills the sphere with dim light. RAW, I think that would work no matter what the ambient conditions might be.
Are you suggesting that the effect would only work if the lighting was dim already? Why would filling a region of darkness with dim light be any different from filling a region of bright light with dim light?
If you read the text of the Shadow of Moil spell, it explicitly describes turning bright light to dim light (which is required in that spell because it does different things depending on the ambient lighting) so from a magical perspective it is certainly possible to overwrite the ambient lighting conditions and since this effect doesn't mention the ambient conditions at all, they don't matter from a rules perspective. The effect created is just a sphere of dim light, much like the Darkness spell creates a sphere of Darkness.
As for the original question, my vote is that the effect of Radiant Consumption takes priority in this interaction regardless of who cast the spell first or last and/or who encroached upon who's space.
My interpretation is that the effect created by Twilight Sanctuary is that you are basically creating a temporary "room" that has dim light in it. It would basically be the same as if we stepped into a cave that extended for 30 feet which was filled with dim light. That room has dim light by default. If someone lights up a torch, some bright light would penetrate that space. When the torch is snuffed out, the room returns to being filled with dim light.