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05-03-2018, 03:49 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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Darkness, visibility and to hit penalties
Darkness is cast over a group of PCs.
It only covers their hexes (or perhaps one additional) The opponent is not in Darkness and has no other vision penalties. What is the penalty for the opponent to hit in with a melee weapon? -4 once they identify the hex of one of the PCs? Even if it is the wrong PC? -6 Because the PCs are effectively invisible? Or -10 for total darkness? What is the penalty for the PCs to hit out? 0? If there is a high vision penalty outside the darkness is the to hit penalty the higher of this or the normal penalty? Eg vision penalty -9 trumps a -4 or -6? Are the melee to hit rolls capped at 9? |
05-03-2018, 11:36 PM | #2 |
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
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Re: Darkness, visibility and to hit penalties
Also in close combat where you are both in total darkness is it just -4 to hit? because you very much know where your target it?
And would this apply to "incidental" slams and the like as you discover people in the hexes that you charge through? |
05-08-2018, 11:19 AM | #4 | ||||
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Darkness, visibility and to hit penalties
I'll take a stab at this, though I have no particular rules expertise.
Quote:
The -10 penalty would be reserved for situations where the attacker cannot see anything at all. Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
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05-09-2018, 08:19 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Re: Darkness, visibility and to hit penalties
Regarding the statue, you could use the +4 from backstabbing for a perfectly lined-up shot against a defenseless opponent.
Actually, attacks at +4 with +2 to defenses (mirroring Deceptive Attack) should work just fine for everyone, although maybe don't improve the odds of critical hits for those.
__________________
Per-based Stealth isn’t remotely as awkward as DX-based Observation. |
05-30-2018, 10:05 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Re: Darkness, visibility and to hit penalties
Attacking out of the darkness...
I always interpreted darkness (spell) as being dark for those inside... no light penetrates. Full darkness penalty Great for use by opponents with other senses to rely on. Otherwise, same penalty attacking in. |
05-30-2018, 12:17 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Darkness, visibility and to hit penalties
This had always been my assumption as well. The second line of the spell, however, states, "Those inside the area can see out normally but can see nothing else within the area" (Spells, p. 46). One of my players discovered this recently and used it effectively in combat, casting it on the swashbuckler's hex. The golem was at -4 to hit, so the PC, who had been pummelled due to some freakishly poor defense rolls, was able to stay engaged long enough to clinch a victory.
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11-28-2019, 06:24 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Saint Paul, MN
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Re: Darkness, visibility and to hit penalties
I'm resurrecting this thread on the theory that additional related questions should be kept together in an existing thread to aid future searchers.
If you cast an area of darkness in the middle of a well-lit corridor, can people on one side of the darkness see things on the other side of the darkness? An illustration, where A, B, and C are characters and the X's mark the edge of the area of darkness: Code:
| A | | | |XXX| | B | |XXX| | | | C |
The Blackout spell, by contrast, would block light entirely. No light can shine into, out of, or through the area. How do others rule on this? |
Tags |
darkness, dfrpg |
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