Warlock Devil's Sight + Darkness.

[Artrysa]

So, with Devil's Sight you can see in magical darkness. Which means that you can stand in the middle of the Darkness spell and shoot outwards at enemies with advantage. But sometimes it randomly doesn't give advantage even though I'm completely within the spell's aoe. Does anyone know if this is a glitch or just something I'm overlooking?

[Sentient_Toaster]

You might be overlooking a source of disadvantage, which would cancel out your advantage. You might also be dealing with an enemy that can ignore even magical darkness (e.g. devils tend to have Devil's Sight, and enemies that rely on Blindsight etc. will not be hampered, either).

[Silyon]

I mean, just because you're not taking disadvantage from the darkness doesn't mean you have advantage against the enemy, especially if they know you're in it somewhere.

[Lily]

The game is weird. I've noticed that if the enemy has dark vision, even if they can't shoot into the darkness, you wont get advantage against them.

Edit: It might be superior dark vision that does this, I'm not sure. The Spider Matriarch, Duergar and Drow enemies you don't get advantage against.

[jonnin]

Originally posted by Lily:

The game is weird. I've noticed that if the enemy has dark vision, even if they can't shoot into the darkness, you wont get advantage against them.

yea I think its darkvision which is buggy / inconsistent.

[Aerohank]

Originally posted by Artrysa:

So, with Devil's Sight you can see in magical darkness. Which means that you can stand in the middle of the Darkness spell and shoot outwards at enemies with advantage.

Does it? I thought you only had advantage againt enemies blinded by the darkness - which means they have to be in it themselves.

[psychotron666]

Originally posted by Silyon:

I mean, just because you're not taking disadvantage from the darkness doesn't mean you have advantage against the enemy, especially if they know you're in it somewhere.

Yes it does. Blinded condition (which enemies in magical darkness will have) gives you advantage on attacks against them.

[Artrysa]

Originally posted by Sentient_Toaster:

You might be overlooking a source of disadvantage, which would cancel out your advantage. You might also be dealing with an enemy that can ignore even magical darkness (e.g. devils tend to have Devil's Sight, and enemies that rely on Blindsight etc. will not be hampered, either).

No I was just attacking some goblins. Some I did get advantage on and other not. The only thing that affected me in that particular instance was low ground, but that shouldn't affect advantage in any way.

Originally posted by Silyon:

I mean, just because you're not taking disadvantage from the darkness doesn't mean you have advantage against the enemy, especially if they know you're in it somewhere.

If you are standing in Darkness you should get a condition called Attacking from Shadows, which gives you advantage. I believe you get this buff any time you can not be seen by an enemy, as long as you can see them.

Originally posted by Lily:

The game is weird. I've noticed that if the enemy has dark vision, even if they can't shoot into the darkness, you wont get advantage against them.

Edit: It might be superior dark vision that does this, I'm not sure. The Spider Matriarch, Duergar and Drow enemies you don't get advantage against.

I was attacking goblins and only some I didn't get advantage on, so I'm not sure if that's it. But I'll keep an eye out in the next fight to see if that theory lines up.

[northernwater]

Originally posted by Lily:

The game is weird. I've noticed that if the enemy has dark vision, even if they can't shoot into the darkness, you wont get advantage against them.

Edit: It might be superior dark vision that does this, I'm not sure. The Spider Matriarch, Duergar and Drow enemies you don't get advantage against.

Superior Darkvision only extends the distance of Darkvision. Nothing else.

[northernwater]

Originally posted by Artrysa:

So, with Devil's Sight you can see in magical darkness. Which means that you can stand in the middle of the Darkness spell and shoot outwards at enemies with advantage.

The advantage is gained by the enemy being Blinded. If they are not Blinded then no advantage. Standing in Magical Darkness with Devil's Sight is still very powerful because it prevents ranged attacks into the Darkness unless the enemy has Devil's Sight.

Edit: My words are only partly true. I did not take into account Attacking from Shadows.

[northernwater]

Here is a nice combo:
Dire Raven can cast Magical Darkness when it lands from flight or simply cast Magical Darkness somehow on yourt enemies - arrow or spell.
Equip your Ranger with the EverySight Ring. They now can shoot the blinded target your raven just landed next to with advantage.

This is because the Eversight ring, despite not saying so, grants Devil's Sight with no Superior Darkvision.

[northernwater]

Originally posted by Artrysa:

If you are standing in Darkness you should get a condition called Attacking from Shadows, which gives you advantage. I believe you get this buff any time you can not be seen by an enemy, as long as you can see them.

I just did a test.

I placed a character in magical darkness. This character had Devil's Sight and was Hiding. A ranged target out of range had no advantage(so the advantage from both hiding and attacking from shadows canceled out the single instance of disadvantage).

So I think your problem may be out of range.

[Artrysa]

Originally posted by northernwater:

Originally posted by Artrysa:

So, with Devil's Sight you can see in magical darkness. Which means that you can stand in the middle of the Darkness spell and shoot outwards at enemies with advantage.

The advantage is gained by the enemy being Blinded. If they are not Blinded then no advantage. Standing in Magical Darkness with Devil's Sight is still very powerful because it prevents ranged attacks into the Darkness unless the enemy has Devil's Sight.

No, you don't just gain advantage when an enemy is blinded. When you are within the Darkness spell with Devil's Sight you should get advantage from "Attacking from shadows". You can look it up, it is a intended mechanic. But at the moment it's inconsistent.

[Artrysa]

Originally posted by northernwater:

Originally posted by Artrysa:

If you are standing in Darkness you should get a condition called Attacking from Shadows, which gives you advantage. I believe you get this buff any time you can not be seen by an enemy, as long as you can see them.

I just did a test.

I placed a character in magical darkness. This character had Devil's Sight and was Hiding. A ranged target out of range had no advantage(so the advantage from both hiding and attacking from shadows canceled out the single instance of disadvantage).

So I think your problem may be out of range.

No, that's not it either sadly. I've been solidly within range, but not within melee, while using Eldritch Blast. Still it keeps being unreliable. :(

[northernwater]

Originally posted by Artrysa:

Originally posted by northernwater:

I just did a test.

I placed a character in magical darkness. This character had Devil's Sight and was Hiding. A ranged target out of range had no advantage(so the advantage from both hiding and attacking from shadows canceled out the single instance of disadvantage).

So I think your problem may be out of range.

No, that's not it either sadly. I've been solidly within range, but not within melee, while using Eldritch Blast. Still it keeps being unreliable. :(

Did you verify there was no source of disadvantage before shooting. There was no red down arrow before shooting.

Well let us know what you find.