Night vision range?

Yssa · 03-04-2019, 07:43 PM

According to Exploits,

Quote:

Each level of this ability (maximum nine) allows you to ignore -1 in combat and Vision penalties due to darkness, provided there’s at least some light; e.g., Night Vision 4 eliminates darkness penalties up to -4 and reduces -7 to just -3.

and that within 3x the radius of a light source the vision penalty is -3.

Does night vision affect this range, or just the penalty within it?

For example:

If someone with night vision 5 is holding a torch (with a 2yd light radius), they should be able to see out to 6 yards unpenalized, since their +5 is greater than the -3 range penalty. is the 7th yard away in total darkness (-10; night vision doesn't help, meaning they see the same distance as non-night-visioned character, just more clearly) or does night vision let them see farther but at some higher penalty?

Anthony · 03-04-2019, 10:55 PM

Depends on tolerance for complexity. If you want, rather than a flat -3 out to x3, treat it as -1 per step on the range/speed chart, so it's -2 out to x2, -3 out to x3, -4 out to x5, -6 out to -x7, -7 out to x10, -8 out to x15, -9 out to x20.

dripton · 03-04-2019, 10:57 PM

As written, Night Vision only helps where there's some light. And as written, the torch falls off completely after 6 yards. So, if the torch is the only light, then the character with Night Vision 5 would have non-penalized vision to 6 yards, then nothing beyond that.

The moral of the story is that torches aren't very good. You really want some Continual Light items. Carry something with maximum brightness Continual Light, and the character with Night Vision 3 or better will have perfect vision to 12 yards. If that's not far enough, throw a Continual Light item into the general vicinity of where you need to see. Or consider Infravision or Dark Vision spells. (Dark Vision-20 is a game changer.)

Yssa · 03-06-2019, 06:11 AM

Thank you both! Those are both useful ways of thinking about it: option 1 seems more logical in the physics sense, option 2 in the rule book sense. Both physics and rule books are wonderful things I'm pretty comfortable flouting when the story demands though, so I'm not sure what I'll do. . .

03-04-2019, 10:55 PM	#2
Anthony Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Berkeley, CA	Re: Night vision range? Depends on tolerance for complexity. If you want, rather than a flat -3 out to x3, treat it as -1 per step on the range/speed chart, so it's -2 out to x2, -3 out to x3, -4 out to x5, -6 out to -x7, -7 out to x10, -8 out to x15, -9 out to x20. __________________ My GURPS site and Blog.

03-04-2019, 10:57 PM	#3
dripton Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Northern Virginia, USA	Re: Night vision range? As written, Night Vision only helps where there's some light. And as written, the torch falls off completely after 6 yards. So, if the torch is the only light, then the character with Night Vision 5 would have non-penalized vision to 6 yards, then nothing beyond that. The moral of the story is that torches aren't very good. You really want some Continual Light items. Carry something with maximum brightness Continual Light, and the character with Night Vision 3 or better will have perfect vision to 12 yards. If that's not far enough, throw a Continual Light item into the general vicinity of where you need to see. Or consider Infravision or Dark Vision spells. (Dark Vision-20 is a game changer.)

03-06-2019, 06:11 AM	#4
Yssa Join Date: Mar 2019	Re: Night vision range? Thank you both! Those are both useful ways of thinking about it: option 1 seems more logical in the physics sense, option 2 in the rule book sense. Both physics and rule books are wonderful things I'm pretty comfortable flouting when the story demands though, so I'm not sure what I'll do. . .