I believe that some races should logically have darkvision. I'll list those races, as well as how much darkvision they should have, or what darkvision adjustments that a race should have.
Tritons and water genasi should both have at least 60 feet of darkvision because, well, the ocean is actually quite dark. It doesn't make sense why genasi and triton won't have darkvision. In fact, Volo's Guide says that Triton live deep under the sea. (I would also note that a lot of marine creatures that have been statted out in the monster manual don't have darkvision)
Tabaxi should have 60 feet of darkvision because cats, in real life have darkvision. It also doesn't make sense that the cat stat block doesn't have darkvision.
Dragonborn should have darkvision, especially since most other dragon-related stat blocks have darkvision. It is kinda weird that they don't. It is especially weird because the inferior and weaker version of dragoborn, kobolds, have darkvision.
Are there any races that you think should have darkvision or dark vision adjustments?
I believe tritons do have dark vision.--they changed this with the release of Theros.
no, in real life cats do not have darkvision. and don't go comparing D&D to IRL, as D&D lumps both infrared and thermoception into the same category but they're completely different concepts. In order to see infrared, you still need a light source....so most characters would still be totally blind underground since there are zero infrared lanterns in D&D. - the novels are even more stupid saying the character's eyes glow red like creatures are born actually emitting light out of their skull.
i'm fine with dragonborn not having dark vision. dragonborn don't have a lot of things dragons have. same with genasi.
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.
Honestly I would have gone the other way and pretty much only given darkvision to the races that currently have sunlight sensitivity. But I've always hated dealing with light mechanics. Constantly having to stop and figure out what you can see and how far does not create immersion, it breaks it.
If there is one thing D&D5e really doesn't need... it's more races with Darkvision. A metric-****-ton of races have it in this edition because they compressed "Darkvision" and "Low-Light Vision" into a single sense.
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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.
Honestly I would have gone the other way and pretty much only given darkvision to the races that currently have sunlight sensitivity. But I've always hated dealing with light mechanics. Constantly having to stop and figure out what you can see and how far does not create immersion, it breaks it.
i'm the opposite .especially online as you can control how far they can see in different scenarios (daylight i just set everyone to 120 - night its either 40 feet for torchbearers/light wielders and either 60-120 depending on the darkvision character. even just between 40 and 60 feet of visibility (forgetting that 20 of that 40 is dim light), it makes a big difference on a map.
tabletop is DM dependent though but its big for our group - especially when you have a non-darkvision character walking around in the dark with a torch which utterly throws stealth out the window.
I prefer the way 3e did it, distinguishing between low-light vision and darkvision, though I haven't gone so far as to house rule it, in part because for whatever reason the only two characters in my current campaign with darkvision would have it anyway.
Honestly I would have gone the other way and pretty much only given darkvision to the races that currently have sunlight sensitivity. But I've always hated dealing with light mechanics. Constantly having to stop and figure out what you can see and how far does not create immersion, it breaks it.
I'm with scatter, light-sensitive races should be the only ones with darkvision. Some of the subterranean races that currently don't have light sensitivity (I'm looking at you, Deep Gnomes!) should have light-sensitivity too. Dwarves and rock gnomes should keep darkvision, since they're shallow-subterranean races that spend a lot of time on the surface, but that should be counted as one of their major racial buffs. Everything else kicking around on the surface should lose it entirely, in favor of instead having "Low Light Vision: You do not suffer Disadvantage on checks based on sight while in dim light."
You're forgetting one thing....Cat's don't have dark vision in real life. They technically just have superior vision in the dark in comparison to other creatures (specifically humans). Dark vision changes *total darkness* into dim-light, and dim-light into bright light.
Ok, no real world creature has anything like the game version of dark vision. Earlier versions had infravision, low light vision and ultra vision. Low light is your cat, it sees in the visible light spectrum.but multiplies the sensitivity by some large factor. This is the same as the military starlight scopes for snipers. Infravision extended your your visual range into the infrared ( heat) part of the spectrum. This allowed you to detect body heat against the cooler background ( also cold bodies against warmer backgrounds). Ultravision extended your vision into the ultra violet ( like some insects and birds) . Because UV both penetrates water better than visible or IR, AND is scattered thru out both the day and night atmospheres it allowed vision in most above ground or open (clear) water environments.all of these relied on ambient external light sources and none actually worked in enclosed lightless areas (though many tables treated them as if they did). Dark vision is different. Because it allows you to see in total darkness it involves sending out some version of either visible, IR, or UV radiation from the viewer’s eyes and then looking for the return “echos”. It’s analogs are active radar and sonar where the others are passive. Because it doesn’t work in a silenced zone blindsight is the game’s version of sonar (active and passive.
Because UV both penetrates water better than visible or IR, AND is scattered thru out both the day and night atmospheres it allowed vision in most above ground or open (clear) water environments.
Mechanically speaking, UV vision in AD&D was basically the same thing as low light vision in 3.x and 4.x. Realistically speaking, it was complete nonsense (UV does not penetrate water better than visible or IR, water has maximum transparency in the blue-green visible range, and the amount of environment UV is consistently far lower than the amount of visible light). I assume someone misunderstood how a starlight scope worked when they came up with the concept.
Tritons and water genasi should both have at least 60 feet of darkvision because, well, the ocean is actually quite dark. It doesn't make sense why genasi and triton won't have darkvision. In fact, Volo's Guide says that Triton live deep under the sea. (I would also note that a lot of marine creatures that have been statted out in the monster manual don't have darkvision)
very few sea creatures rely on sight, and many can't see at all once you start getting into the deep-deep
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I believe that some races should logically have darkvision. I'll list those races, as well as how much darkvision they should have, or what darkvision adjustments that a race should have.
Are there any races that you think should have darkvision or dark vision adjustments?
I believe tritons do have dark vision.--they changed this with the release of Theros.
no, in real life cats do not have darkvision. and don't go comparing D&D to IRL, as D&D lumps both infrared and thermoception into the same category but they're completely different concepts. In order to see infrared, you still need a light source....so most characters would still be totally blind underground since there are zero infrared lanterns in D&D. - the novels are even more stupid saying the character's eyes glow red like creatures are born actually emitting light out of their skull.
i'm fine with dragonborn not having dark vision. dragonborn don't have a lot of things dragons have. same with genasi.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
Tabaxi do have Darkvision already.
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.
Honestly I would have gone the other way and pretty much only given darkvision to the races that currently have sunlight sensitivity. But I've always hated dealing with light mechanics. Constantly having to stop and figure out what you can see and how far does not create immersion, it breaks it.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
If there is one thing D&D5e really doesn't need... it's more races with Darkvision. A metric-****-ton of races have it in this edition because they compressed "Darkvision" and "Low-Light Vision" into a single sense.
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 the opposite .especially online as you can control how far they can see in different scenarios (daylight i just set everyone to 120 - night its either 40 feet for torchbearers/light wielders and either 60-120 depending on the darkvision character. even just between 40 and 60 feet of visibility (forgetting that 20 of that 40 is dim light), it makes a big difference on a map.
tabletop is DM dependent though but its big for our group - especially when you have a non-darkvision character walking around in the dark with a torch which utterly throws stealth out the window.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I prefer the way 3e did it, distinguishing between low-light vision and darkvision, though I haven't gone so far as to house rule it, in part because for whatever reason the only two characters in my current campaign with darkvision would have it anyway.
I'm with scatter, light-sensitive races should be the only ones with darkvision. Some of the subterranean races that currently don't have light sensitivity (I'm looking at you, Deep Gnomes!) should have light-sensitivity too. Dwarves and rock gnomes should keep darkvision, since they're shallow-subterranean races that spend a lot of time on the surface, but that should be counted as one of their major racial buffs. Everything else kicking around on the surface should lose it entirely, in favor of instead having "Low Light Vision: You do not suffer Disadvantage on checks based on sight while in dim light."
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Sorry, I forgot.
You're forgetting one thing....Cat's don't have dark vision in real life. They technically just have superior vision in the dark in comparison to other creatures (specifically humans). Dark vision changes *total darkness* into dim-light, and dim-light into bright light.
Ok, no real world creature has anything like the game version of dark vision. Earlier versions had infravision, low light vision and ultra vision. Low light is your cat, it sees in the visible light spectrum.but multiplies the sensitivity by some large factor. This is the same as the military starlight scopes for snipers. Infravision extended your your visual range into the infrared ( heat) part of the spectrum. This allowed you to detect body heat against the cooler background ( also cold bodies against warmer backgrounds). Ultravision extended your vision into the ultra violet ( like some insects and birds) . Because UV both penetrates water better than visible or IR, AND is scattered thru out both the day and night atmospheres it allowed vision in most above ground or open (clear) water environments.all of these relied on ambient external light sources and none actually worked in enclosed lightless areas (though many tables treated them as if they did). Dark vision is different. Because it allows you to see in total darkness it involves sending out some version of either visible, IR, or UV radiation from the viewer’s eyes and then looking for the return “echos”. It’s analogs are active radar and sonar where the others are passive. Because it doesn’t work in a silenced zone blindsight is the game’s version of sonar (active and passive.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Mechanically speaking, UV vision in AD&D was basically the same thing as low light vision in 3.x and 4.x. Realistically speaking, it was complete nonsense (UV does not penetrate water better than visible or IR, water has maximum transparency in the blue-green visible range, and the amount of environment UV is consistently far lower than the amount of visible light). I assume someone misunderstood how a starlight scope worked when they came up with the concept.
very few sea creatures rely on sight, and many can't see at all once you start getting into the deep-deep