Why aren't the caves dark?

[Filatus]

A light source on your person actually gives a penalty to hide checks, mechanically. If you remove all light sources, you'll find that ultravision actually does slightly enhance the visibility of dark area's. It's like a very low light source without the penalty to hide checks.

[Eegxeta]

That's what I used to do with feh too.. but then every one around him were shining beacons of searing the eyes to a crisp lights. So after a while I just gave up lol

Darkvision and low-light vision work by increasing the distance someone can see in a dark environment. Low-light vision doubles the distance a character can see in low-light conditions (example a human carrying a torch can see 20ft in every direction clearly and would need to make a spot check for anything beyond that, an elf carrying a torch can see 40ft in every direction clearly.) Darkvision allows a character to see up to 60ft in low-light and total darkness and is unaffected by light sources. So if the game can be moded to do this having a light source wouldn't negate these abilities.

[miltonyorkcastle]

Because being in a party where nearly everyone has glowing equipment makes the dark and low light vision useless.

Yup, and that's a Bioware thing. It may be possible to override, but the payoff would have to be worth the effort put in to make the changes, and the lighting issue is generally minor.

That said, don't stop making suggestions. We may yet find easy ways to try new ideas, and who knows, you might even fall upon something we haven't thought of before.

[darkstorme]

It should also be pointed out (as it has, from time to time) that Layonara is not D&D.  We use many of the same rules, but the NWN version of Layonara works from NWN's approximation of D&D's rules.

So Darkvision is defined by NWN's rules, as is low light vision.  This isn't to say that they couldn't be better, but their definition varies from the stock D&D definition.

[Dorganath]

Yup, and that's a Bioware thing. It may be possible to override, but the payoff would have to be worth the effort put in to make the changes, and the lighting issue is generally minor.

Pretty much.

It would take a massive effort to de-light everything in the game engine.  Bioware automatically adds light and other effects to weapons that have elemental damage bonuses over a certain level. This is not an explicit addition but an automatic one that doesn't even show in the item properties.  We could probably update code to remove light effects when crafting or enhancing items, but this does nothing for any items that are dropped as loot off of monsters. Spell effects and class abilities that add elemental damage to weapons or produce light in other ways would need to not show these effects any more, which would then make it more difficult to know when they expire.

Some people like to glow though, so there would have to be options available for them also, so there's a choice for everyone.

All that aside, the way NWN handles light and visible distance have little if anything to do with racial characteristics and the like. Such things can affect what we see on-screen but they have little to no effect mechanically.

Taking it all together and then adding in the idea of potentially darkening hundreds of areas does not make a lot of sense in terms of cost vs. reward.

The kinds of things that have been raised here are great for PnP settings and GM-driven RP settings, whether tabletop or online.  For unattended mechanics, however, one needs to learn to accept the compromises and limitations of the NWN gaming system.

[Hellblazer]

Darkvision and low-light vision work by increasing the distance someone can see in a dark environment. Low-light vision doubles the distance a character can see in low-light conditions (example a human carrying a torch can see 20ft in every direction clearly and would need to make a spot check for anything beyond that, an elf carrying a torch can see 40ft in every direction clearly.) Darkvision allows a character to see up to 60ft in low-light and total darkness and is unaffected by light sources. So if the game can be moded to do this having a light source wouldn't negate these abilities.

Yes as in d&d but if I always rpied it this way and even on the sessions I gmed or my brother gmed we also had a personal rules that is infact in nwn, which is the penalty that deep creatures receives to day light.

Example, stay in your dark room for a couple of hours then light a bright light.. it hurts  well up to being temporarily blinded. Ever go to the bathroom in the middle of the night and then curse when you open the light of the bathroom? So in essence someone with low light vision would in fact get penalized if a strong source of light was near him blinding him.

[Dremora]

Speaking from the point of view as a career dark elf: Why not apply penalties to non-Deep races when they enter the Deep without dark/ultavision.
Its obviously very low on the list and prolly not as simple as it sounds but since we're passing over the realm of it anyway, figured I may as well throw it out there.

Even with things like light on armor or a torch it will only throw the darkness ahead into further blackness except like 1-2 ft infront so might make the Deep even more deadly mechanically (apply flat-foot penalty or just put the same as we Deep races get in sunlight on) for non-Deep races and make those who are more capable of fighting within it. Though granted I dont know how tough the place is anyway

Like I said, just an idea for the future should it take anyone's fancy.

[Dorganath]

Any serious suggestions need to be made here.

They'll get lost in this forum, as it's intended for questions about the game and the game world, not suggestions for changing/improving the game world.