Darkvision & Light

Bright Light:

• Normal vision
• No penalties
• Sources: daylight, torches within radius, Light spell

Dim Light (Lightly Obscured):

• Disadvantage on Perception checks relying on sight
• Shadows, twilight, torch's outer radius

Darkness (Heavily Obscured):

• Effectively blinded
• Can't see anything
• Auto-fail sight-based checks
• Attacks against you have advantage, yours have disadvantage

What Darkvision Does:

• See in darkness as if it were dim light (within range)
• See in dim light as if it were bright light
• Vision is in shades of gray (no color)

Range: Usually 60 feet (some races have 120 feet)

Key Limitation:

• Darkness becomes dim light, NOT bright light
• Still have disadvantage on Perception checks in darkness
• Enemies can still hide in darkness from you more easily

Races with Darkvision:

• Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Half-Orcs, Tieflings
• Humans, Halflings, and Dragonborn do NOT have darkvision

Superior Darkvision (120 ft):

• Drow, Deep Gnomes, some subclasses
• Works the same, just longer range

Blindsight:

• Perceive surroundings without sight
• Not affected by darkness or invisibility
• Common on bats, oozes, some monsters

Truesight:

• See in magical and normal darkness
• See invisible creatures
• Automatically detect illusions
• Very rare (high-level spell effect)

Devil's Sight (Warlock invocation):

• See normally in magical and nonmagical darkness
• 120-foot range
• Combos well with Darkness spell

Common Light Sources:

• Torch: 20 ft bright, 20 ft dim (lasts 1 hour)
• Lantern: 30 ft bright, 30 ft dim
• Light cantrip: 20 ft bright, 20 ft dim
• Dancing Lights: 10 ft dim each

Spells Affecting Light:

• Darkness: Creates magical darkness (darkvision doesn't work)
• Daylight: 60 ft bright light
• Dancing Lights: Dim light only

Important: Darkness spell blocks normal darkvision. Only special abilities like Devil's Sight or Truesight can see through it.