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The reason this matters is for determining another question: Can a creature under the effect of the True Seeing spell see a creature under the effect of Nondetection inside the area of a Darkness spell?

The true seeing spell description reads:

This spell gives the willing creature you touch the ability to see things as they actually are. For the duration, the creature has truesight, notices secret doors hidden by magic, and can see into the Ethereal Plane, all out to a range of 120 feet.

As such it apparently gives the creature truesight (by means of divination magic). So the creature is granted a new sense, but is the use of that sense mutually exclusive to the use of their normal sight?

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Truesight is a type of vision, just like Darkvision. It is defined in the Players Handbook (under the heading Vision and Light) on page 185 as:

A creature with truesight can, out to a specific range, see in normal and magical darkness, see invisible creatures and objects, automatically detect visual illusions and succeed on saving throws against them, and perceives the original form of a shapechanger or a creature that is transformed by magic. Furthermore, the creature can see into the Ethereal Plane.

For me, the key words here are "see," and "visual." It does not give you the ability to detect auditory illusions, so "see things as they actually are" is not metaphorical. It literally refers to your sight.

See also Can you blind a Demilich/creature that has Truesight?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks, this is actually a really good answer. To think I was torn up on the subject for so long XD. I feel foolish. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dezvul
    Feb 8, 2020 at 21:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Dezvul No worries, it can certainly be ambiguous. As a general rule of thumb, there's no flavor text in 5e spells, and for the most part you can read all of the rules in a pretty literal sense. Blindsight for example (also under the "Vision and Light" section of the PHB) specifically says a creature can "perceive it's surroundings." I believe if truesight was a 6th sense, they would have used similar wording. \$\endgroup\$
    – Neato
    Feb 8, 2020 at 21:12

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