Night Vision as a multiplier?

[Calvin]

I'm using maptool for my campaign, and one of maptool's features is the lighting and sight system.

So as I have it set up, areas that are fully lit are a no penalty to see/hit/etc, and areas with dim or coloured light are -3 to see/hit/etc. Anything unlit can't be seen.

The trouble is that nightvision works by reducing the lighting penalties, and since maptool doesn't really have a way to do progressive lighting beyond 0/-3/-infinite I'm limited by the software.

What maptool can do though is create a vision type that multiplies the value of any given light source. A default example would be low light vision from D&D, it doubles the reach of any light source.

My general idea then is to work out what the effective multiplier would be for Night Vision 1 through 9.

My initial idea was to base it off of the speed/range table, basically by dividing the value at that penalty (-1, -3, etc) by 2, which is the value for a penalty of 0.

So NV1 is a x0.5 multiplier, NV2 is a x2.5 multiplier, etc.

And this seems entirely reasonable for low levels of night vision, but at level 9 (which is what one of my PCs has) that results in a x35 multiplier.

Are my numbers off? Does this still make sense? Or is there a better way to do this?

[Anthony]

The way the light levels in Enhanced Senses work, each level of night vision is two steps on the range/speed chart, so x2/x5/x10.

[Leynok]

Using your method, yes level 9 would be a x35 multiplier from light sources.
Honestly I think your method is pretty great (and could go beyond level 9, since you're no longer capped by the -10 vision which automatically blinds you), but you would have to keep in mind that most humans shouldn't realistically have more than a few levels.
If it is really a problem for you, you may have to simply work out a linear multiplier (say just multiply light by 1+ your Night Vision level), or refund your player the levels past what you think is excessive.

[evileeyore]

So... how would this work in a uniformly dim area?

Say operating under moonlight (-5) on a flat grassland...

[Calvin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

The way the light levels in Enhanced Senses work, each level of night vision is two steps on the range/speed chart, so x2/x5/x10.

I'll switch it to follow those rules then.

Originally Posted by Leynok

If it is really a problem for you, you may have to simply work out a linear multiplier (say just multiply light by 1+ your Night Vision level), or refund your player the levels past what you think is excessive.

Not too big a problem, they're running NVGs though, rather than paying CP.

Originally Posted by evileeyore

So... how would this work in a uniformly dim area?

Say operating under moonlight (-5) on a flat grassland...

Wouldn't matter, you couldn't have that in maptool. It's either Lit, Dim, coloured (which is a type of Dim light), or Dark.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Calvin

Wouldn't matter, you couldn't have that in maptool. It's either Lit, Dim, coloured (which is a type of Dim light), or Dark.

Right... so you have Dim or Coloured.... I'm guessing this version of Night Vision would do nothing on a uniformly Dim or Coloured map then.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Calvin

Not too big a problem, they're running NVGs though, rather than paying CP.

Real NVGs (and, for that matter, real night vision) has issues with glare -- you can't really have more night vision than the level needed for the brightest thing in your field of view. Other than that, however, it's likely to turn the entire map to 'no penalty' unless it's dark enough that unaided vision is useless.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Real NVGs (and, for that matter, real night vision) has issues with glare -- you can't really have more night vision than the level needed for the brightest thing in your field of view. Other than that, however, it's likely to turn the entire map to 'no penalty' unless it's dark enough that unaided vision is useless.

Or the maps are sufficiently large.