- Is there a difference between "daylight" and "bright illumination"?
- Where is the dividing line between bright and shadowy illumination?
Daylight seems pretty obvious to me -- it's when I walk out my door in West Texas, into 100 degree weather and a cloudless sky, and the sun is scorching my eyeballs.... That's daylight!
But from what I've found, D&D recognizes three illumination levels (bright, shadowy/dim, and darkness), and bright light encompasses daylight. But the "bright" light of a torch and daylight are a far cry from each other. Do the rules differentiate between daylight and bright light normally? (An example of when it does is the Shadow Blend supernatural ability of some shadow creatures and templates.)
On the other end, when is bright light no longer bright? What exactly is dim light?
Bright light seems to encompass a huge range of light, from brightest daylight to relatively dim light.... just not dim enough to be a hindrance. Given the examples for "shadowy illumination", and the fact that you can easily hide in dim light, I gather that dim light is pretty dang dim? Like, the walk-through-the-house-and-hurt-yourself-on-furniture-corners level of dim?
MusingsIt seems to me D&D could make do with at least one more light level, if not two:
Bright (hurts your eyes to look into the source):Normal (no eye strain while reading):
- high-noon-in-summer daylight
Dim (harder to see detail, so eye strain while reading, but large details are still easy to discern):
- cloud-cover,
- near a torch in darkness, or
- a brightly-lit room
Gloomy? (difficult to make out large details):
- thick forest cover
- several feet away from the torch, or
- a low-lit room
- a ways into a cave with only faint light from the entrance,
- a clear, moon-less night,
- even further from the torch, or
- a dark room with moonlight spilling in
Darkness (no perceivable light)
Any two levels (except darkness) could probably be combined as far as game effects go, but I do feel some game effects are hard to figure out with only three.
Context of QuestionThe reason I ask is that I'm planning a sneaky character, and I'm trying to wrap my head around when exactly he can sneak, especially when factoring in special abilities like the Shadowdancer's Hide in Plain Sight, the Shadow Creature's Shadow Blend (Lords of Madness, p. 167), or the Telflammar Shadowlord's abilities (Unapproachable East).
I am well aware, RAW, that he needs to be in dim light to make a hide check, but how dim is dim enough? What constitutes the "some sort of shadow" (other than his own)* that a Shadowdancer's HiPS requires? What constitutes "an area with at least some shadow" that Shadow Jump requires?
* I disagree with those who claim that "shadow" in this context is equal to "shadowy illumination". Since his shadow will never, on its own, create an area with dim enough illumination to count as "shadowy illumination", I feel that by including this qualification, the designers assumed the ability would be used in brighter conditions than, say, moonlight. Otherwise they could have just left it off, since moonlight is already "shadowy illumination" and he can already hide, no more shadows needed.