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Lightbringer is a +1 mace that appears in the Lost Mine of Phandelver adventure.

It's found on the worktable by the Forge of Spells in Wave Echo Cave (p. 48).

The description says:

This +1 mace was made for a cleric of Lathander, the god of dawn. The head of the mace is shaped like a sunburst and made of solid brass. Named Lightbringer, this weapon glows as bright as a torch when its wielder commands. While glowing, the mace deals an extra 1d6 radiant damage to undead creatures.

I'm playing a warlock who cast the darkness spell at 4th level. My party member used Lightbringer in the area of darkness in order to reveal my location.

Can Lightbringer dispel, suppress, or pierce through the darkness created by a 4th-level darkness spell?

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It can illuminate an area of a darkness spell, as light from a magic item is magical light.

As per the darkness spell description, it blocks non-magical light:

A creature with darkvision can't see through this darkness, and nonmagical light can't illuminate it.

But does it explicitly allow magical light? Yes. Jeremy Crawford, whose rulings are considered official, says in two tweets:

Light from any magical source can illuminate the area of a darkness spell, but the darkness spell can dispel light created by a spell of 2nd level or lower, not light created by a non-spell.

If a source of magical light is not a spell of 2nd level or lower, darkness can be illuminated by that light.

Is light from a magic item "magical light"? According to our question What is considered magical light for the purposes of the Darkness spell?, light from a magic item is magical light.

I concur with this assessment. Words with no game rule meaning in D&D 5th edition (i.e. "magical light" isn't defined anywhere in the books) are interpreted by their natural English meaning. A magic item is clearly a "magical source", and I think it would be difficult to argue that light produced directly by a magic item is nonmagical.

Note that the level of a darkness spell doesn't have any effect, citing another Crawford tweet:

As written, the darkness spell can't be made more powerful with a higher level slot.

Therefore, Lightbringer, being magical, can illuminate an area affected by the darkness spell, regardless of level.

It can't actually dispel (i.e. end) the darkness spell, since no part of the item's description says it can. If you take Lightbringer back out of the area, for example, the darkness effect returns.

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RAW: No, it wouldn't illuminate or dispel darkness. There is no effect saying this specifically.

The lightbringer +1 mace from the starter set game Lost Mines of Phandelver can't remove the effects of the darkness spell and neither can any other magical weapon.

Jeremy Crawford's tweet is fairly clear on the subject:

Darkness cares only about light created by a spell.

Fairly simple. If it's not a spell then it doesn't work.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Lightbringer has nothing to do with the light cantrip. You are correct that it wouldn't dispel darkness - but Lightbringer (and/or its light) is not a spell. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast ♦
    Oct 12, 2018 at 2:25
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    \$\begingroup\$ And regarding your current last paragraph about Lightbringer not mentioning its brightness: Lightbringer says it "glows as bright as a torch" - and torches give off 20 feet of bright light and 20 more feet of dim light. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast ♦
    Oct 12, 2018 at 5:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ I really don't understand what light has to do at all with this answer. It simply is not related to the weapon in any way and has no bearing on the topic at hand. It is completely wrong to associate the light effect of the weapon with any spell. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rubiksmoose
    Oct 12, 2018 at 12:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ I have adjusted my answer to better fit the rules @V2Blast \$\endgroup\$
    – rpgstar
    Oct 12, 2018 at 14:42

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