Darkness Spell: For the duration, magical Darkness spreads from a point within range and fills a 15-foot-radius Sphere. Darkvision can't see through it, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.
The part I am interested in: Alternatively, you cast the spell on an object that isn't being worn or carried, causing the Darkness to fill a 15-foot Emanation originating from that object. Covering that object with something opaque, such as a bowl or helm, blocks the Darkness.
So I cast Darkness on a small object that is not being worn. I then pick up and give the object to my Imp Familiar. With instructions to hover near enemy spell caster, and have it ready its move action, so as soon as the spell caster moves, the imp moves with the caster, keeping them in the dark and unable to see targets.
Darkness Spell: For the duration, magical Darkness spreads from a point within range and fills a 15-foot-radius Sphere. Darkvision can't see through it, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.
The part I am interested in: Alternatively, you cast the spell on an object that isn't being worn or carried, causing the Darkness to fill a 15-foot Emanation originating from that object. Covering that object with something opaque, such as a bowl or helm, blocks the Darkness.
So I cast Darkness on a small object that is not being worn. I then pick up and give the object to my Imp Familiar. With instructions to hover near enemy spell caster, and have it ready its move action, so as soon as the spell caster moves, the imp moves with the caster, keeping them in the dark and unable to see targets.
Not quite. Where this falls down is that "move action" is not a thing in 5e. Moving is moving, not an action, which means you can't "ready" it. You can only ready an action.
However, everything else about this seems like it should work, and you can certainly tell your familiar to try to stay near the enemy caster as best it can on its turn.
Darkness Spell: For the duration, magical Darkness spreads from a point within range and fills a 15-foot-radius Sphere. Darkvision can't see through it, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.
The part I am interested in: Alternatively, you cast the spell on an object that isn't being worn or carried, causing the Darkness to fill a 15-foot Emanation originating from that object. Covering that object with something opaque, such as a bowl or helm, blocks the Darkness.
So I cast Darkness on a small object that is not being worn. I then pick up and give the object to my Imp Familiar. With instructions to hover near enemy spell caster, and have it ready its move action, so as soon as the spell caster moves, the imp moves with the caster, keeping them in the dark and unable to see targets.
Not quite. Where this falls down is that "move action" is not a thing in 5e. Moving is moving, not an action, which means you can't "ready" it. You can only ready an action.
However, everything else about this seems like it should work, and you can certainly tell your familiar to try to stay near the enemy caster as best it can on its turn.
Darkness Spell: For the duration, magical Darkness spreads from a point within range and fills a 15-foot-radius Sphere. Darkvision can't see through it, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.
The part I am interested in: Alternatively, you cast the spell on an object that isn't being worn or carried, causing the Darkness to fill a 15-foot Emanation originating from that object. Covering that object with something opaque, such as a bowl or helm, blocks the Darkness.
So I cast Darkness on a small object that is not being worn. I then pick up and give the object to my Imp Familiar. With instructions to hover near enemy spell caster, and have it ready its move action, so as soon as the spell caster moves, the imp moves with the caster, keeping them in the dark and unable to see targets.
Not quite. Where this falls down is that "move action" is not a thing in 5e. Moving is moving, not an action, which means you can't "ready" it. You can only ready an action.
However, everything else about this seems like it should work, and you can certainly tell your familiar to try to stay near the enemy caster as best it can on its turn.
You could ready a dash action, no?
Technically yes, but that doesn't do anything. The Dash action increases your speed for the turn; it doesn't actually move you. You can't move on someone else's turn unless you have some other ability that explicitly says you can do that.
But you can take the Ready action and choose to move up to your Speed (emphasis mine):
Ready [Action]
You take the Ready action to wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you take this action on your turn, which lets you act by taking a Reaction before the start of your next turn.
First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your Reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your Speed in response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the zombie steps next to me, I move away.”
But you can take the Ready action and choose to move up to your Speed (emphasis mine):
Ready [Action]
You take the Ready action to wait for a particular circumstance before you act. To do so, you take this action on your turn, which lets you act by taking a Reaction before the start of your next turn.
First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your Reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your Speed in response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the zombie steps next to me, I move away.”
Awesome. Looking at a building a blind fighting build that can minimises the impact on other party members and also deal with enemies that move out of the darkness area.
So to be clear if enemy moves out of the darkness AOE to cast a spell, I assume the imp's move happens after the enemies move, but before they cast their targeting spell?
But would only be able to do it once. (ie if enemy moves half their movement to cast, them imp cane move the same amount to keep them in the darkness., if enemy then moves the rest of their movement, the imp would not be able ot move a second time).
Only issue I can see is one round setup action to cast the darkness on a stone, and then interaction to give the to the imp and for the imp to move into position.
[...] So to be clear if enemy moves out of the darkness AOE to cast a spell, I assume the imp's move happens after the enemies move, but before they cast their targeting spell?
Technically yes, because the rule says:
First, you decide what perceivable circumstance will trigger your Reaction. Then, you choose the action you will take in response to that trigger, or you choose to move up to your Speed in response to it. Examples include “If the cultist steps on the trapdoor, I’ll pull the lever that opens it,” and “If the zombie steps next to me, I move away.”
So your perceivable circumstance could be "if the enemy moves out", and your Reaction "I follow them".
And:
When the trigger occurs, you can either take your Reaction right after the trigger finishes or ignore the trigger.
So if the trigger was "the enemy moved out", you'd take your Reaction right after that trigger finishes.
I'll try not to belabor the point in this thread since it's not a popular interpretation around here . . . but Darkness is a buff for the creature that is within the Darkness. An area of darkness in 5e is a Heavily Obscured area. The concept of a Heavily Obscured area is that you cannot see anything in that area. If you drop your car key into that area, you'll have trouble finding it because it is obscured from your view. However, things that are outside of the area are not obscured. This is what allows a character within a nighttime environment to be able to look up and see the stars or to be able to see the campfire that is several hundred feet away.
So, if you are in a well-lit area and you cause an area of Darkness to surround an enemy spellcaster, that would be a tactical error. You would no longer be able to see that spellcaster because that spellcaster is now obscured from you. But he can still see you since you are in a well-lit area and thus are not obscured from him. Your attacks against him have disadvantage. His attacks against you have advantage. You cannot target him with spells that require you to see him. He can target you with spells that require him to see you.
This is the whole reason why the Darkness spell is designed such that half of the text is all about being able to basically pick it up and carry it around with you and to be able to turn it on and off by simply covering and uncovering the object. It allows you to be able to hide yourself within this darkness as needed but then you can turn it off when you need to try to look at something that is close to you.
Now you will see at least 10 or so responses to this post trying to tell you that I am wrong, but you should research the relevant rules for yourself and also think about the common sense situation of standing in a small nook that is dark and shadowy while looking out at the rest of the world around you that is lit up in bright sunlight.
That’s not how it works. A person without the ability to see into or in darkness cannot see you outside the darkness. They are blind inside it.
In D&D 5e,
, and creatures outside generally can't see in, as it creates a heavily obscured area blocking vision entirely, functioning as a visual barrier. However, special abilities like the Warlock's Devil's Sightinvocation or other senses (blindsight, tremor sense, keen smell) do allow seeing through it, letting characters interact with the battlefield effectively from within or outside.
Why Vision is Blocked:
Heavy Obscurement: The Darkness spell makes an area "heavily obscured," meaning vision is blocked, not just dimmed.
Not Just Lack of Light: It's not just no light; it's a magical barrier that even nonmagical light can't penetrate, and normal Darkvision fails within it.
This is what allows a character within a nighttime environment to be able to look up and see the stars or to be able to see the campfire that is several hundred feet away.
That is where you are wrong. You see those because there is nothing between you and the object. If there is something blocking you aka darkness spell, you could not see through it to see the objects.
If you plan to use this trick of a mobile spell. You need before it happens to explain to the DM what you plan to do and how it should work. I recommend you also do this as a dry run in a non combat in game moment to work out the kinks and to make sure both you and the DM are on the same page. While you discuss this, yo may want to discuss walking in total darkness and how disorienting this can be. Even for just 15.1 feet.
Had one DM say he understood, but turned out they did not and had to back track it a bit to get it to work.
One other point, you probably just have two spell slots. Cast it and you are down to one spell left.
, and creatures outside generally can't see in, as it creates a heavily obscured area blocking vision entirely, functioning as a visual barrier.
Yes, there is a visual obscurement, or "barrier" (in the air-quote sense) when trying to see in, generally. That's because the area itself is obscured from view.
Heavy Obscurement: The Darkness spell makes an area "heavily obscured," meaning vision is blocked, not just dimmed.
This is incorrect.
Heavily Obscured areas, including areas of Darkness do not actually block Line of Sight. Whether or not Line of Sight is blocked is a separate concept and is covered under separate rules in the game. Instead, obscured areas obscure your view of objects that are located within them. The opaqueness of Heavily Obscured areas causes total obscurement such that you cannot see those objects at all -- you are blinded when attempting to see them. In contrast, in a Lightly Obscured area you actually can see those objects, but with some difficulty.
Not Just Lack of Light: It's not just no light; it's a magical barrier that even nonmagical light can't penetrate, and normal Darkvision fails within it.
That's incorrect. The darkness spell does not mention anything about the inability of light being able to penetrate it. Instead, nonmagical light can't illuminate it.
For the duration, magical Darkness spreads from a point within range and fills a 15-foot-radius Sphere. Darkvision can’t see through it, and nonmagical light can’t illuminate it.
It's important to remember that the actual effect of the spell is mechanically identical to an area of mundane Darkness except for what is explicitly different about it as per the spell description. It is extremely common for players and DMs to make assumptions about the spell which are simply not written anywhere.
This is what allows a character within a nighttime environment to be able to look up and see the stars or to be able to see the campfire that is several hundred feet away.
You see those because there is nothing between you and the object. If there is something blocking you aka darkness spell, you could not see through it to see the objects.
There is no difference. If you agree that a character can see through mundane Darkness in order to see the moon and the stars above, then they can also see through the darkness spell in order to see the moon and the stars above. This is because the effect that is created by the darkness spell is mechanically identical to mundane Darkness except for what is explicitly different about it as per the spell description. The darkness spell is not an example of "something blocking you" as related to the separate concept of Line of Sight. Instead, it is an example of a Heavily Obscured area which has nothing to do with the concept of Line of Sight.
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Darkness Spell: For the duration, magical Darkness spreads from a point within range and fills a 15-foot-radius Sphere. Darkvision can't see through it, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.
The part I am interested in: Alternatively, you cast the spell on an object that isn't being worn or carried, causing the Darkness to fill a 15-foot Emanation originating from that object. Covering that object with something opaque, such as a bowl or helm, blocks the Darkness.
So I cast Darkness on a small object that is not being worn.
I then pick up and give the object to my Imp Familiar. With instructions to hover near enemy spell caster, and have it ready its move action, so as soon as the spell caster moves, the imp moves with the caster, keeping them in the dark and unable to see targets.
Not quite. Where this falls down is that "move action" is not a thing in 5e. Moving is moving, not an action, which means you can't "ready" it. You can only ready an action.
However, everything else about this seems like it should work, and you can certainly tell your familiar to try to stay near the enemy caster as best it can on its turn.
pronouns: he/she/they
You could ready a dash action, no?
Technically yes, but that doesn't do anything. The Dash action increases your speed for the turn; it doesn't actually move you. You can't move on someone else's turn unless you have some other ability that explicitly says you can do that.Edit: never mind, I'm wrong, see below
pronouns: he/she/they
But you can take the Ready action and choose to move up to your Speed (emphasis mine):
Oh, huh. Well, I learned something today.
pronouns: he/she/they
Yeah, Ready a move is one of the ways to move during another creature's turn.
Because as you said, Readying the Dash action don't let move you, because you have no movement off turn.
PS. Learning is always good :D
So over all this would work. (DM dependent)
Awesome. Looking at a building a blind fighting build that can minimises the impact on other party members and also deal with enemies that move out of the darkness area.
So to be clear if enemy moves out of the darkness AOE to cast a spell, I assume the imp's move happens after the enemies move, but before they cast their targeting spell?
But would only be able to do it once. (ie if enemy moves half their movement to cast, them imp cane move the same amount to keep them in the darkness., if enemy then moves the rest of their movement, the imp would not be able ot move a second time).
Only issue I can see is one round setup action to cast the darkness on a stone, and then interaction to give the to the imp and for the imp to move into position.
Technically yes, because the rule says:
So your perceivable circumstance could be "if the enemy moves out", and your Reaction "I follow them".
And:
So if the trigger was "the enemy moved out", you'd take your Reaction right after that trigger finishes.
Seems there's easier ways to do this
Playing D&D since 1982
Have played every version of the game since Basic (original Red Box Set), except that abomination sometimes called 4e.
I'll try not to belabor the point in this thread since it's not a popular interpretation around here . . . but Darkness is a buff for the creature that is within the Darkness. An area of darkness in 5e is a Heavily Obscured area. The concept of a Heavily Obscured area is that you cannot see anything in that area. If you drop your car key into that area, you'll have trouble finding it because it is obscured from your view. However, things that are outside of the area are not obscured. This is what allows a character within a nighttime environment to be able to look up and see the stars or to be able to see the campfire that is several hundred feet away.
So, if you are in a well-lit area and you cause an area of Darkness to surround an enemy spellcaster, that would be a tactical error. You would no longer be able to see that spellcaster because that spellcaster is now obscured from you. But he can still see you since you are in a well-lit area and thus are not obscured from him. Your attacks against him have disadvantage. His attacks against you have advantage. You cannot target him with spells that require you to see him. He can target you with spells that require him to see you.
This is the whole reason why the Darkness spell is designed such that half of the text is all about being able to basically pick it up and carry it around with you and to be able to turn it on and off by simply covering and uncovering the object. It allows you to be able to hide yourself within this darkness as needed but then you can turn it off when you need to try to look at something that is close to you.
Now you will see at least 10 or so responses to this post trying to tell you that I am wrong, but you should research the relevant rules for yourself and also think about the common sense situation of standing in a small nook that is dark and shadowy while looking out at the rest of the world around you that is lit up in bright sunlight.
That’s not how it works. A person without the ability to see into or in darkness cannot see you outside the darkness. They are blind inside it.
That is where you are wrong. You see those because there is nothing between you and the object. If there is something blocking you aka darkness spell, you could not see through it to see the objects.
If you plan to use this trick of a mobile spell. You need before it happens to explain to the DM what you plan to do and how it should work. I recommend you also do this as a dry run in a non combat in game moment to work out the kinks and to make sure both you and the DM are on the same page. While you discuss this, yo may want to discuss walking in total darkness and how disorienting this can be. Even for just 15.1 feet.
Had one DM say he understood, but turned out they did not and had to back track it a bit to get it to work.
One other point, you probably just have two spell slots. Cast it and you are down to one spell left.
No. They are not. They are very explicitly only blinded while trying to see something in the area. It is the area itself that is obscured from view.
Yes, there is a visual obscurement, or "barrier" (in the air-quote sense) when trying to see in, generally. That's because the area itself is obscured from view.
This is incorrect.
Heavily Obscured areas, including areas of Darkness do not actually block Line of Sight. Whether or not Line of Sight is blocked is a separate concept and is covered under separate rules in the game. Instead, obscured areas obscure your view of objects that are located within them. The opaqueness of Heavily Obscured areas causes total obscurement such that you cannot see those objects at all -- you are blinded when attempting to see them. In contrast, in a Lightly Obscured area you actually can see those objects, but with some difficulty.
That's incorrect. The darkness spell does not mention anything about the inability of light being able to penetrate it. Instead, nonmagical light can't illuminate it.
It's important to remember that the actual effect of the spell is mechanically identical to an area of mundane Darkness except for what is explicitly different about it as per the spell description. It is extremely common for players and DMs to make assumptions about the spell which are simply not written anywhere.
That's incorrect.
There is no difference. If you agree that a character can see through mundane Darkness in order to see the moon and the stars above, then they can also see through the darkness spell in order to see the moon and the stars above. This is because the effect that is created by the darkness spell is mechanically identical to mundane Darkness except for what is explicitly different about it as per the spell description. The darkness spell is not an example of "something blocking you" as related to the separate concept of Line of Sight. Instead, it is an example of a Heavily Obscured area which has nothing to do with the concept of Line of Sight.