I'm missing something - what's the difference? Searched a few threads not answering my question.
Take any monster etc with sunlight sensitivity, ok with bright light - why? For example, light cantrip creates bright light - why is duergar etc not penalized in bright light but only in sunlight?
I get vampire / sunlight thing . . . other types of creatures though doesn't make sense.
I understand that... in game though I don't see why the equivalent of shining a flashlight right in a nocturnal creatures eyes would have no negative effect on it.
I understand what you are saying and I don't have a good definitive answer for the difference. Perhaps sunlight has some subtle magic effects on some creatures of the underworld. Or maybe duergar and troglodytes sunburn easily.
Light spell is like a cloudy day with snow on the ground you can see well but no major glare, direct sunlight is like a sunny day surrounded by snow reflecting off everything blinding you.
Bright light is bright light regardless of source...
[citation needed] :)
It would appear this is not the case, based on the fact that one source of bright light produces an effect that another source of bright light does not.
I don't disagree with you. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be good answer - it's just that sunlight is special in some way. That's weird, and that's my point.
In the most general sense RAW seems off to me. I know it's about imaginary monsters etc just seems weird.
Bright light is bright light regardless of source...
Perhaps the better way to think of it is that that there are four categories of light:
darkness - imposes the blinded condition on creatures that lack darkvision; creatures with darkvision are effected as if a normal creature in dim light
dim light - sufficient light that creatures without darkvision aren't effectively blinded, but still imposes a penalty to vision-based perception scores & checks of those creatures; creatures with darkvision act as if in bright light
bright light - enough light to eliminate penalties to vision-based perception scores & checks of all creatures with normal and darkvision
sunlight - bright enough to impose penalties to creatures sensitive to light stronger than normal bright light, but has no effect on other creatures (unless otherwise specified by the source of the light)
I understand that... in game though I don't see why the equivalent of shining a flashlight right in a nocturnal creatures eyes would have no negative effect on it.
The effects of direct light from a single source are different from diffuse light from all around you. As Noksa pointed out above.
I have very light blue eyes, and days that are hazy but bright (sun behind thin clouds) are considerable trouble for me if I don't have sunglasses. That's because the light is getting into my eyes through more than just the iris. The light to our eyes can come in through the whole iris. When the light is coming from more than just one direction (being diffused by the clouds, rather than just coming mostly right from the sun, or bouncing off fresh snow from all around me), the effect is markedly brighter than a single-source bright light.
Similarly, even without clouds, sunlight is coming at us from multiple angles--it's being diffused just by the air, but also bouncing off mountains, buildings, etc. A single bright light isn't doing nearly the same thing.
And...the sun is just brighter. Ridiculously brighter. A 100 watt LED bulb puts out about 90 lumens per watt. So the lux (lumens per square meter) of a 100 watt LED is 9,000 lux. That's 9000 lumens on a single square meter surface that's perpendicular to the light source.
Sunlight? At zenith (directly above), the sun is 1050 watts. And the sun puts out 93 lumens per watt. So that's 98,000 lux. Over ten times as bright at the affected surface as a 100 watt LED bulb. And for the nocturnal creature's consideration, it's all around an not as escapable as a single light source.
I can answer this. I just went outside to get my mail and it's a bright, sunny day. I came inside and went into my kitchen which has 7 bright floodlights in it and it seemed like my kitchen was dimly lit compared to outside. Sunlight really is a lot brighter than any artificial light that we have in our houses and spells create the equivalent of light bulbs, not sunlight.
I don't disagree with you. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be good answer - it's just that sunlight is special in some way. That's weird, and that's my point.
Sunlight is special. The creatures/races that have sunlight sensitivity have so because their history tends to involve grand-scale events that caused their entire lineage to become magically cursed. This is why not every subterranean race has this trait. For example, Drow & Duergar have Sunlight Sensitivity, but the Deep Gnomes don't. The Duergar were enslaved by mind flayers for ages, and the Duergar God used its power to magically alter the Duergar into a completely distinct race from all other Dwarven lineages. The Drow were cursed and banished to the Underdark by the Elven Gods due to the Drow worshipping Lolth. Deep Gnomes are gnomes that just happened to establish a settlement in the Underdark and prefer the environment.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Bright light does not indicate brightness. For example, different sources may create 10 feet of bright light or 60 feet of bright light. The sun makes countless miles of bright light.
"Bright light" only indicates that there is enough light for most creatures to see clearly, but not all bright light is the same brightness.
Sunlight is literally magically different to bright light. A full spectrum light bulb in D&D would not necessarily produce the effects of "sunlight" even though in our world the light put out is the same. It is a metaphysical difference. It falls under the same effect as those giant, intelligent, spell casting fire-breathing, flying lizards. You now, the ones that violate several laws of biology and physics.
Sunlight is literally magically different to bright light. A full spectrum light bulb in D&D would not necessarily produce the effects of "sunlight" even though in our world the light put out is the same. It is a metaphysical difference. It falls under the same effect as those giant, intelligent, spell casting fire-breathing, flying lizards. You now, the ones that violate several laws of biology and physics.
But some monsters/races have sunlight sensitivity when it doesn't make sense to say they have sensitivity to a particular spectrum--or sensitivity to some magical part of sunlight, like vampires. An underground race isn't light sensitive 'because it's UV'. They're light sensitive because they don't have a lot of light where they come from.
I mean, it also makes sense for some things to be sunlight sensitive for spectrum and metaphysical reasons, don't get me wrong. But we don't have to rely on those explanations for simple subterranean creatures, because we can just say accurately that sunlight is way, way, way brighter than the light generated by most spells (and most lightbulbs, given that we're using lightbulbs as spell-analogues here :)
So we've got multiple justifications, all of them good, and each one working for a different creature. Vampires, for example, I wouldn't rule are sensitive to 'really really bright light'. Even if you could surround one with enough LED light equivalents. I'd rule that to be a spectrum or even metaphysical thing (cursed by their evil, etc). But Drow, I'd be tempted to go with just the 'really really bright' theory there.
I can accept multiple reasons for multiple creatures. Drow probably are sensitive to any bright light, and their skin is likely more sensitive to UV. They live deep underground after all.
Magnesium flares might be a handy thing to pack when encounters with drow are likely. I wonder where you would get them in D&D country? There was a magnesium dagger in Three Hearts and Three Lions that had anti-fey properties when ignited.
I can accept multiple reasons for multiple creatures. Drow probably are sensitive to any bright light, and their skin is likely more sensitive to UV. They live deep underground after all.
Magnesium flares might be a handy thing to pack when encounters with drow are likely. I wonder where you would get them in D&D country? There was a magnesium dagger in Three Hearts and Three Lions that had anti-fey properties when ignited.
That might be a great way to bring in alchemists and such. Plenty of reason to accept some crazy gnome mixing chemicals in a lab and toting them around to possibly explode in everyone's face :) Or work as planned and everyone cheers. Love it.
I can accept multiple reasons for multiple creatures. Drow probably are sensitive to any bright light, and their skin is likely more sensitive to UV. They live deep underground after all.
Magnesium flares might be a handy thing to pack when encounters with drow are likely. I wonder where you would get them in D&D country? There was a magnesium dagger in Three Hearts and Three Lions that had anti-fey properties when ignited.
As I posted above, Drow are literally magically cursed by the Gods of Faerun because they chose to follow the evil Goddess Lolth. They live underground because they were banished by divine magic. They are sensitive to sunlight because sunlight carries divine energy.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I'm missing something - what's the difference? Searched a few threads not answering my question.
Take any monster etc with sunlight sensitivity, ok with bright light - why? For example, light cantrip creates bright light - why is duergar etc not penalized in bright light but only in sunlight?
I get vampire / sunlight thing . . . other types of creatures though doesn't make sense.
Sunlight is bright light, but it is a special kind of bright light. Light also produces bright light, but it is not sunlight.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I understand that... in game though I don't see why the equivalent of shining a flashlight right in a nocturnal creatures eyes would have no negative effect on it.
I understand what you are saying and I don't have a good definitive answer for the difference. Perhaps sunlight has some subtle magic effects on some creatures of the underworld. Or maybe duergar and troglodytes sunburn easily.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Light spell is like a cloudy day with snow on the ground you can see well but no major glare, direct sunlight is like a sunny day surrounded by snow reflecting off everything blinding you.
In the most general sense RAW seems off to me. I know it's about imaginary monsters etc just seems weird.
Bright light is bright light regardless of source...
[citation needed] :)
It would appear this is not the case, based on the fact that one source of bright light produces an effect that another source of bright light does not.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I don't disagree with you. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be good answer - it's just that sunlight is special in some way. That's weird, and that's my point.
Quote from HawaiiSteveO >>
Perhaps the better way to think of it is that that there are four categories of light:
The effects of direct light from a single source are different from diffuse light from all around you. As Noksa pointed out above.
I have very light blue eyes, and days that are hazy but bright (sun behind thin clouds) are considerable trouble for me if I don't have sunglasses. That's because the light is getting into my eyes through more than just the iris. The light to our eyes can come in through the whole iris. When the light is coming from more than just one direction (being diffused by the clouds, rather than just coming mostly right from the sun, or bouncing off fresh snow from all around me), the effect is markedly brighter than a single-source bright light.
Similarly, even without clouds, sunlight is coming at us from multiple angles--it's being diffused just by the air, but also bouncing off mountains, buildings, etc. A single bright light isn't doing nearly the same thing.
And...the sun is just brighter. Ridiculously brighter. A 100 watt LED bulb puts out about 90 lumens per watt. So the lux (lumens per square meter) of a 100 watt LED is 9,000 lux. That's 9000 lumens on a single square meter surface that's perpendicular to the light source.
Sunlight? At zenith (directly above), the sun is 1050 watts. And the sun puts out 93 lumens per watt. So that's 98,000 lux. Over ten times as bright at the affected surface as a 100 watt LED bulb. And for the nocturnal creature's consideration, it's all around an not as escapable as a single light source.
(Sunlight stat source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight)
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
I can answer this. I just went outside to get my mail and it's a bright, sunny day. I came inside and went into my kitchen which has 7 bright floodlights in it and it seemed like my kitchen was dimly lit compared to outside. Sunlight really is a lot brighter than any artificial light that we have in our houses and spells create the equivalent of light bulbs, not sunlight.
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Sunlight is special. The creatures/races that have sunlight sensitivity have so because their history tends to involve grand-scale events that caused their entire lineage to become magically cursed. This is why not every subterranean race has this trait. For example, Drow & Duergar have Sunlight Sensitivity, but the Deep Gnomes don't. The Duergar were enslaved by mind flayers for ages, and the Duergar God used its power to magically alter the Duergar into a completely distinct race from all other Dwarven lineages. The Drow were cursed and banished to the Underdark by the Elven Gods due to the Drow worshipping Lolth. Deep Gnomes are gnomes that just happened to establish a settlement in the Underdark and prefer the environment.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Bright light does not indicate brightness. For example, different sources may create 10 feet of bright light or 60 feet of bright light. The sun makes countless miles of bright light.
"Bright light" only indicates that there is enough light for most creatures to see clearly, but not all bright light is the same brightness.
On the non-magic side, sunlight isn't just light. It's UV, IR, and white light.
It might be said that Vampires and such have a severe allergy to UV =)
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Sunlight is literally magically different to bright light. A full spectrum light bulb in D&D would not necessarily produce the effects of "sunlight" even though in our world the light put out is the same. It is a metaphysical difference. It falls under the same effect as those giant, intelligent, spell casting fire-breathing, flying lizards. You now, the ones that violate several laws of biology and physics.
But some monsters/races have sunlight sensitivity when it doesn't make sense to say they have sensitivity to a particular spectrum--or sensitivity to some magical part of sunlight, like vampires. An underground race isn't light sensitive 'because it's UV'. They're light sensitive because they don't have a lot of light where they come from.
I mean, it also makes sense for some things to be sunlight sensitive for spectrum and metaphysical reasons, don't get me wrong. But we don't have to rely on those explanations for simple subterranean creatures, because we can just say accurately that sunlight is way, way, way brighter than the light generated by most spells (and most lightbulbs, given that we're using lightbulbs as spell-analogues here :)
So we've got multiple justifications, all of them good, and each one working for a different creature. Vampires, for example, I wouldn't rule are sensitive to 'really really bright light'. Even if you could surround one with enough LED light equivalents. I'd rule that to be a spectrum or even metaphysical thing (cursed by their evil, etc). But Drow, I'd be tempted to go with just the 'really really bright' theory there.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
I can accept multiple reasons for multiple creatures.
Drow probably are sensitive to any bright light, and their skin is likely more sensitive to UV. They live deep underground after all.
Magnesium flares might be a handy thing to pack when encounters with drow are likely. I wonder where you would get them in D&D country? There was a magnesium dagger in Three Hearts and Three Lions that had anti-fey properties when ignited.
That might be a great way to bring in alchemists and such. Plenty of reason to accept some crazy gnome mixing chemicals in a lab and toting them around to possibly explode in everyone's face :) Or work as planned and everyone cheers. Love it.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
As I posted above, Drow are literally magically cursed by the Gods of Faerun because they chose to follow the evil Goddess Lolth. They live underground because they were banished by divine magic. They are sensitive to sunlight because sunlight carries divine energy.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
'Bright light' is a term for an affect and does not denote how bright the light actually is, we only know it is brighter than 'dim light'.
'Bright light' is just not bright enough to impede any enemies. It is bright enough to see in though.
Maybe its better to say 'bright light' illuminates an area without the designated point or object actually producing a glaring affect.