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Old 04-19-2017, 11:51 AM   #1
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default [Powers: Enhanced Senses] Illumination vs the Night Vision Feature

I don't think this was ever handled, but the Illumination Table from P:ES implies that a default character's eyes are (provided you get there gradually or at least adapt quickly) at +0 between 100 and 200,000 lux of illumination. That's a range of 2,000x, or 5 steps on the table.

How does this "free" range band work for characters with the Night Vision Feature (Night Vision that costs nothing, because you are penalized by bright light)? Does the character lose it by having that Feature? It seems unfair to do so, yet maintaining it could be unbalanced. For example, light levels above 2,000 lux are going to be moderately uncommon (that's around the maximum for midday on an overcast day), so Night Vision 3 [0] basically eliminates up to -3 in Darkness penalties with the only real drawback being a small penalty if you're outside on a bright day.
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Old 04-19-2017, 11:57 AM   #2
Anthony
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Default Re: [Powers: Enhanced Senses] Illumination vs the Night Vision Feature

2000 lux at midday is quite heavy clouds, not overcast. Typical overcast is 2 f-stops dimmer than full sun, or about 20,000 lux (one f-stop is half). See e.g. the Sunny 16 rule.

In any case, yes, you lose the extra range.
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:28 PM   #3
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: [Powers: Enhanced Senses] Illumination vs the Night Vision Feature

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
2000 lux at midday is quite heavy clouds, not overcast. Typical overcast is 2 f-stops dimmer than full sun, or about 20,000 lux (one f-stop is half).
Guess this isn't the first time Wikipedia has lied to me (the Daylight article there lists 1,000-2,000 lux for midday on an overcast day). That makes maintaining the new range less abusive than I thought.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony View Post
In any case, yes, you lose the extra range.
It just seems odd that humans get some huge range of good vision, and anything that's specialized to a slightly lower light level only get a really narrow range.
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Old 04-19-2017, 12:41 PM   #4
whswhs
 
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Default Re: [Powers: Enhanced Senses] Illumination vs the Night Vision Feature

Quote:
Originally Posted by Varyon View Post
It just seems odd that humans get some huge range of good vision, and anything that's specialized to a slightly lower light level only get a really narrow range.
That's really not the intent. We just don't have a formal set of rules for how many levels of increased brightness there are above unpenalized vision before you start having penalties again.
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Old 04-19-2017, 01:27 PM   #5
Varyon
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Default Re: [Powers: Enhanced Senses] Illumination vs the Night Vision Feature

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
That's really not the intent. We just don't have a formal set of rules for how many levels of increased brightness there are above unpenalized vision before you start having penalties again.
I understand that's not the intent, but it does end up being the effect.

Well, going off of this, you typically don't want to go above 2,000 lux unless you're doing detailed work. If we made human comfort range be from 100 to 2,000 lux, with higher light levels causing penalties due to glare and the like unless doing close detail work (where you still may need to position yourself to avoid glare), then things are much less problematic if we retain the same relationship (a character with Night Vision 3 [0] is unpenalized between 5 and 100 lux, and is penalized outside of detail work at higher light levels). Might be a jumping-off point, at least. I suspect it's a bit too narrow - it seems to me that an overcast day is usually good for avoiding vision penalties, while the bit from upthread indicates 2,000 lux is more for a heavily-clouded day (of course, that's for midday, when the sun is at its brightest).
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