Xaeyruudh's Index

House Rule: Darkness

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This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the darkness spell in the Xaeyruudh campaign.

The Xaeyruudh Campaign

There are a few modifications/clarifications of this spell.

Range

The range of the spell is changed to Medium (100 ft + 10 ft per level), with the restriction that the caster must have line-of-sight to the target. You cast the spell at a space, not at an object.

Area

The effect of the spell is changed to a 20-foot radius spread. Unlike fireball —which basically creates 33,510 cubic feet of fire, which smooshes into the available space— darkness affects a sphere with a radius of 20 feet… the same 33,510 cubic feet, but no smooshing. If you’re more than 20 feet from the center of the darkness effect, you’re not surrounded by darkness.

The Definition of Darkness

A spherical space, 20 feet in diameter, becomes dark. Pitch black; impenetrable to normal vision, low-light vision, infravision (if you’re using a ruleset that includes that), and darkvision. Torches lit within the darkness or carried into the darkness are not extinguished, and they still produce heat and ignite flammable things normally, but their light cannot be seen. Nothing within the sphere can be seen from outside the sphere. From any position within the darkness, nothing can be seen, either within or outside the darkness. This magical darkness can be dispelled normally by dispel magic and similar spells, but it is not dispelled by light-related spells. Casting a light spell in the space occupied by a darkness spell (or vice versa) creates a region where magical and nonmagical methods of vision are partially effective. If the light has a higher spell level than the darkness, vision (including low-light, infravision, and darkvision) is restored by an amount equal to 10% per spell level of difference.

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