Quote from prex360 >>

I just want to make sure, but the caster is also affected by the blindness. Just cause you casted it doesn’t mean you can see in it correct?

Quote from prex360 >>

I just want to make sure, but the caster is also affected by the blindness. Just cause you casted it doesn’t mean you can see in it correct?

 unless you're a warlock with devils sight, which you can take at second level just like the ability to cast darkness.

Quote from Dannoric >>

The question is, can the *caster* see within the sphere of darkness?  The spell description doesn’t say. 

 Since drow have superior darkvision but can cast darkness as an innate spell, they run into this often and they are as equally affected by it as anyone else, characters like drizzt and jarlaxle just train to fight in it.

I believe "If the point you choose is on an object you are holding or one that isn't being worn or carried, the darkness emanates from the object and moves with it." 

Should be changed to "... or one that is being worn..." 

That is, it should be "is", not "isn't".

You need blindsight to see through

Can an arcane trickster rogue get this spell?

Technically speaking a firebolt or similar low level fire spell would count as a "magical light" meaning that it would get dispelled by darkness. this also means that in a corridor, or a forest, or anywhere with some kind of pillar or wall, you could make an inescapable web trap provided the enemy doesn't have a torch.

The problem is that in order to see anything, the light must bounce off of something, then travel through the air to your eyes. However, light cannot travel through the globe of darkness, which is why it can't be seen through, as the light of a fire on the other side of it can be seen around it, not through it. If the light could pass through it, it would illuminate whatever is in it.

Light cannot pass throught it.

Quote from SkyScraperC >>

Quote from TheNecrowmancer >>

Quote from Iocane >>

Quote from Cynnewulf >>

A darkness spell creates a sphere of magical darkness.  Unlike natural darkness, light doesn't shine in it and doesn't pass through it.  A campfire on the other side of the area effect of a darkness spell cannot been seen through it, though the flickering orange light of the campfire may be seen reflecting off any trees or walls or whatever else may be in the environment but outside the area of effect.

Everything inside the sphere will be heavily obscured to outside observers, and anyone inside the sphere is effectively blind unless they possess the specific ability to see in magical darkness, which is explicitly listed for those few rare creatures who can.  Non magical light sources like the campfire that are inside the sphere do not produce light at all while inside the area of the darkness spell.

 

I disagree that light outside of the the effect can't be seen through it. It's not a big black hole of light, obstructing all vision beyond it. If you were in a long hallway with torches on the wall providing light, then someone casts darkness a quarter on the way down, it doesn't block your visibility of the entire hallway. It just obscures the area where the darkness is in effect as if several torches were snuffed out. You could still see beyond it where torches are still providing light, but in the spell's area of effect it's dark.

Darkness is the opposite of a torch/light spell, but instead of producing illumination, it produces shadow/darkness. It's not a big black sphere in space that hides everything in and behind it, it's just the inability to see anything in the area of effect.

I think your interpretation of the spell is clearly wrong, though it's an interesting way to think about magical darkness outside of D&D. 

"A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it". 

This quote from the spell description indicates that magical darkness functions something like an opaque black cloud, at least because to see light on the other side of the darkness, one would have to see through the area which the darkness covers. But you clearly can't see through this darkness. Furthermore, in the hallway situation you imagine, the torchlight would have to illuminate some of the area covered by Darkness in order to reach one's eyes from the area further down the hallway. But clearly, nonmagical light cannot illuminate the aoe of Darkness. 

Also, if your interpretation were the case, it becomes very difficult to me to picture how darkness would provide the mechanical benefits that it does, such as providing advantage/disadvantage on attacks (because creatures within the darkness cannot be seen). Imagine casting Darkness on a relatively flat, open battlefield, from a distance and at some height. If you did this, then the darkness does not overlap with you, so by your interpretation, creatures within the aoe should be able to see and shoot at you from within the area of darkness without trouble, just as they can see the torchlight further down the hallway. And similarly, you can clearly see the silhouettes of everything within the darkness, because you can see everything behind the area of darkness, like more ground, trees, and the sky. It's hard to see what benefits there would be to casting this spell if either of these consequences of what you said were true. The control that the spell would offer on the battlefield would be extremely limited, to the point that it would be a laughable choice. 

I think part of what is going on here is that in D&D, darkness has to be more than the mere absence of light--there is a positive darkness, which is evoked through the casting of this spell (thus the evocation tag). If it were otherwise, I might expect this spell to be from the school of illusion (if one were simply creating a lightless image, perhaps, or because the Shadow spells are almost always illusion spells) or abjuration (to bar light from entering the aoe).  What does this mean? What kind of substance is darkness? I don't know, but it sounds like something interesting to explore as a spellcaster in any setting. 

 THANK YOU

Reading all of these comments has been bothering me greatly. The laws of physics need to be taken into account int D&D. Light travels in a straight line (save for when it is refracted by a transparent object such as glass or water, or reflected off of a surface).

If a creature inside the darkness is blinded and cannot see light outside of it, then that means any light traveling toward the darkness stops once it hits it. It can't stop and then continue on the other side of it. Notice how whenever there are dark rain clouds blocking the sun, you can't see it. This spell would do the same thing.

However, if the object creating light on one side of the darkness is bright enough, and the darkness isn't in a narrow hall or something, theoretically, light could reflect off of surrounding surfaces to emit a dim light on the opposite side, but that argument would need to be made to the GM in the moment.

However, if light cannot travel into it, light cannot travel through it. The laws of physics do not permit that.

 This exactly. The light bouncing off of anything cannot reach your eyes while in the darkness, unlike normal darkness, thus light does not travel through it. So in a narrow hallway, it would completely obscure one side from the other where it's cast.

How would you rule someone wanting to upcasting this spell at a higher level?  Longer duration? Larger area? Dispells higher level light spells in its wake?

If I'm inside the darkness spell with devil's sight and attack someone outside of the darkness that cant see through magical darkness would i always get advantage on attacks targeting him? Also same the other way around, if I'm outside of the darkness with devil's sight and attack someone in the darkness that can't see through magical darkness will I have advantage. And one last thing. In both of the cases above if the target had blind sight or an other way of seeing other then his eyes would it change the outcome of if i get advantage or not ?

Quote from JMIkeReedJr >>

How would you rule someone wanting to upcasting this spell at a higher level?  Longer duration? Larger area? Dispells higher level light spells in its wake?

None of those would break the game if within reason. Whatever is fun for your players. :)

Even going strictly by RAW there is one benefit to upcasting: you can make darkness that is not dispelled by the Daylight spell.

Quote from geokir100 >>

If I'm inside the darkness spell with devil's sight and attack someone outside of the darkness that cant see through magical darkness would i always get advantage on attacks targeting him? Also same the other way around, if I'm outside of the darkness with devil's sight and attack someone in the darkness that can't see through magical darkness will I have advantage. And one last thing. In both of the cases above if the target had blind sight or an other way of seeing other then his eyes would it change the outcome of if i get advantage or not ?

 Someone who can't see through the darkness who is inside it would be subject to the Blinded condition, so as per the condition, "Attack rolls against the creature have advantage, and the creature's attack rolls have disadvantage." If you are inside the darkness and can see through it, attacking someone who is outside it, you don't get disadvantage since you can see, but you don't automatically get advantage, because your weapon has to leave the darkness in order to hit the target, so they have a chance to see it coming. But you can take the Hide action while obscured by the darkness, which does then give you advantage. And the enemy would have disadvantage trying to attack you while you're inside the darkness.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/adventuring#VisionandLight

Key point is Magical darkness. Right in the beginning. 

so you can upcast continual flame to 3rd level  and dispel the light but you cant upcast darkness to resist the dispelling effect of lower level upcast light sources. seems like an oversight need to reword the line
"If any of this spell's area overlaps with an area of light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower, the spell that created the light is dispelled."
to
If any of this spell's area overlaps with an area of light created by a spell of lower level then this one was used to cast, the spell that created the light is dispelled.

Can you see from inside the darkness to outside the darkness? This isn't clear and I think would have to be DM specific ruling. The physical model of this question is as follows (assuming seeing something is a result of light waves reaching your eyes after bouncing off the perceived object): does it make it so that objects within the dark absorb light/light does not bounce off (so things inside the dark cannot be perceived) or does light dissipate when it reaches the darkness (cannot see out of it because the light would never reach your eyes after bouncing off an object)?

Quote from sarcastiksh0rtee37 >>

Can you see from inside the darkness to outside the darkness? This isn't clear and I think would have to be DM specific ruling. The physical model of this question is as follows (assuming seeing something is a result of light waves reaching your eyes after bouncing off the perceived object): does it make it so that objects within the dark absorb light/light does not bounce off (so things inside the dark cannot be perceived) or does light dissipate when it reaches the darkness (cannot see out of it because the light would never reach your eyes after bouncing off an object)?

 If you're in the area of magical darkness and don't have a sense that allows you to see in that area (truesight, devil's sight, etc.), then you are blind to everything outside the area as well. Light dissipates when it reaches the darkness.

Quote from 415productionz >>

Quote from SkyScraperC >>

Quote from TheNecrowmancer >>

Quote from Iocane >>

Quote from Cynnewulf >>

A darkness spell creates a sphere of magical darkness.  Unlike natural darkness, light doesn't shine in it and doesn't pass through it.  A campfire on the other side of the area effect of a darkness spell cannot been seen through it, though the flickering orange light of the campfire may be seen reflecting off any trees or walls or whatever else may be in the environment but outside the area of effect.

Everything inside the sphere will be heavily obscured to outside observers, and anyone inside the sphere is effectively blind unless they possess the specific ability to see in magical darkness, which is explicitly listed for those few rare creatures who can.  Non magical light sources like the campfire that are inside the sphere do not produce light at all while inside the area of the darkness spell.

 

I disagree that light outside of the the effect can't be seen through it. It's not a big black hole of light, obstructing all vision beyond it. If you were in a long hallway with torches on the wall providing light, then someone casts darkness a quarter on the way down, it doesn't block your visibility of the entire hallway. It just obscures the area where the darkness is in effect as if several torches were snuffed out. You could still see beyond it where torches are still providing light, but in the spell's area of effect it's dark.

Darkness is the opposite of a torch/light spell, but instead of producing illumination, it produces shadow/darkness. It's not a big black sphere in space that hides everything in and behind it, it's just the inability to see anything in the area of effect.

I think your interpretation of the spell is clearly wrong, though it's an interesting way to think about magical darkness outside of D&D. 

"A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it". 

This quote from the spell description indicates that magical darkness functions something like an opaque black cloud, at least because to see light on the other side of the darkness, one would have to see through the area which the darkness covers. But you clearly can't see through this darkness. Furthermore, in the hallway situation you imagine, the torchlight would have to illuminate some of the area covered by Darkness in order to reach one's eyes from the area further down the hallway. But clearly, nonmagical light cannot illuminate the aoe of Darkness. 

Also, if your interpretation were the case, it becomes very difficult to me to picture how darkness would provide the mechanical benefits that it does, such as providing advantage/disadvantage on attacks (because creatures within the darkness cannot be seen). Imagine casting Darkness on a relatively flat, open battlefield, from a distance and at some height. If you did this, then the darkness does not overlap with you, so by your interpretation, creatures within the aoe should be able to see and shoot at you from within the area of darkness without trouble, just as they can see the torchlight further down the hallway. And similarly, you can clearly see the silhouettes of everything within the darkness, because you can see everything behind the area of darkness, like more ground, trees, and the sky. It's hard to see what benefits there would be to casting this spell if either of these consequences of what you said were true. The control that the spell would offer on the battlefield would be extremely limited, to the point that it would be a laughable choice. 

I think part of what is going on here is that in D&D, darkness has to be more than the mere absence of light--there is a positive darkness, which is evoked through the casting of this spell (thus the evocation tag). If it were otherwise, I might expect this spell to be from the school of illusion (if one were simply creating a lightless image, perhaps, or because the Shadow spells are almost always illusion spells) or abjuration (to bar light from entering the aoe).  What does this mean? What kind of substance is darkness? I don't know, but it sounds like something interesting to explore as a spellcaster in any setting. 

 THANK YOU

Reading all of these comments has been bothering me greatly. The laws of physics need to be taken into account int D&D. Light travels in a straight line (save for when it is refracted by a transparent object such as glass or water, or reflected off of a surface).

If a creature inside the darkness is blinded and cannot see light outside of it, then that means any light traveling toward the darkness stops once it hits it. It can't stop and then continue on the other side of it. Notice how whenever there are dark rain clouds blocking the sun, you can't see it. This spell would do the same thing.

However, if the object creating light on one side of the darkness is bright enough, and the darkness isn't in a narrow hall or something, theoretically, light could reflect off of surrounding surfaces to emit a dim light on the opposite side, but that argument would need to be made to the GM in the moment.

However, if light cannot travel into it, light cannot travel through it. The laws of physics do not permit that.

 This exactly. The light bouncing off of anything cannot reach your eyes while in the darkness, unlike normal darkness, thus light does not travel through it. So in a narrow hallway, it would completely obscure one side from the other where it's cast.

Quote from AnselMerric >>

Quote from sarcastiksh0rtee37 >>

Can you see from inside the darkness to outside the darkness? This isn't clear and I think would have to be DM specific ruling. The physical model of this question is as follows (assuming seeing something is a result of light waves reaching your eyes after bouncing off the perceived object): does it make it so that objects within the dark absorb light/light does not bounce off (so things inside the dark cannot be perceived) or does light dissipate when it reaches the darkness (cannot see out of it because the light would never reach your eyes after bouncing off an object)?

 If you're in the area of magical darkness and don't have a sense that allows you to see in that area (truesight, devil's sight, etc.), then you are blind to everything outside the area as well. Light dissipates when it reaches the darkness.

For what is superficially such a simple spell, the details of it certainly are contentious. 

While I think the mechanics and mental theater of considering it as an opaque black sphere are the most straightforward, I don't like the storytelling consequences. What this means then is that it's actually just Fog Cloud that can't be blown away but doesn't last as long and isn't as big. And that to me doesn't feel "opposite" to the Daylight spell, which I think Darkness is meant to be.

I would rather play it as creating a sphere, inside of which everything is effectively invisible, everyone inside is blinded, and sources of light inside are extinguished for the duration. If you're outside the sphere, you can see normally anything that is outside the sphere, but nothing inside the sphere. Objects inside the sphere wouldn't cast shadows or silhouettes from light outside the sphere. Light sources outside the sphere can be seen from the other side of the sphere, but do not illuminate objects on the other side of the sphere (practically speaking, the light wouldn't likely "reach" the other side of the sphere anyway, unless it's a particularly bright source). [edit: the exception being maybe the sun, as it doesn't seem to fit that casting Darkness overhead could create a shadow and thus a massive column of non-magical darkness. Or just let light illuminate objects on the other side of the zone of Darkness.]

There would need to be some adjudication as to the appearance of the ground, but I imagine it unilluminated and vaguely continuous with the rest of the environment but devoid of any distinguishing detail or objects.

I know my suggestion is *way* more complicated. If players are going to get too excited about technicalities and loopholes, I can still agree to just use an opaque black sphere. But treating it like a transparent zone of invisibility and blindness distinguishes it from Fog Cloud in potentially interesting ways.

I need some clarification on combat within this magical darkness.

If two people are in mid combat when the darkness is cast, how would combat continue? 

• I assume there would probably be disadvantage to attack rolls?
• Would opportunity of attacks be nullified?
• If one party wanted to run away, would disengage action be required?

Terrible for stealth/infiltration if you have no way of seeing... such as Devil's Sight.

the entire spell's point is that you cant see unless you are the user or you have a light spell higher than level 2