Talk: Darkness (spell)

True seeing

Doesn't True Seeing pierce Darkness as well?? -- Pstarky 10:43, 15 Jun 2005 (PDT)

• Yes. Both in BoW and with default True Seeing. -- Austicke 10:58, 15 Jun 2005 (PDT)

Not flat ground

Is it a bug that darkness doesn't work fine on a ground that is not perfectly flat? Is there a way to deal with this problem? -- 84.61.166.169 July 2007

Darkness and ultravision/true seeing effect

1) Darkness effect isn't applied to all creatures in the area of effect, the creature who casted the spell will only have the invisibility type darkness effect (= eLink2):

else if (oTarget == GetAreaOfEffectCreator())
   {
       SignalEvent(oTarget, EventSpellCastAt(OBJECT_SELF, GetEffectSpellId(eLink), FALSE));
       // Creatures immune to the darkness spell are not affected.
       if ( ResistSpell(OBJECT_SELF,oTarget) != 2 )
       {
           //Fire cast spell at event for the specified target
           ApplyEffectToObject(DURATION_TYPE_PERMANENT, eLink2, oTarget);
       }
   }

2) Despite what Countess Terra said in the True Seeing talk, True Seeing and Ultravision does negate the 50% concealment of Darkness only if you cast one of these spells while under the darkness area of effect (the trasparent visual effect disappear). If you enter in a darkness area of effect, you will gain the 50% concealment of Darkness (the trasparent visual effect appear).

3) The Darkness effect can be dispelled since it isn't an ExtraordinaryEffect nor a SupernaturalEffect.

4) While under a Darkness area of effect, if the Ultravision or True Seeing effect is dispelled but not the darkness one, an apparently permanent blind effect will occur. -- Simoncr1s 13:30, March 2, 2010 (UTC)

• Points 1-3 are correct. My playtesting disagrees with point 4. Since the script is being posted EffectDarkness() includes both the darkness blindness and the darkness invisibility, while EffectInvisibility(INVISIBILITY_TYPE_DARKNESS) applies only to the darkness invisibility. Casting Trueseeing on a creature with the darkness effect will destroy the darkness effect (including both darkness blindness and darkness invisibility). Adding the darkness effect to a creature with true seeing will allow both trueseeing and darkness to remain simultaneously, but when trueseeing is lost so is the darkness effect (including darkness blindness and darkness invisibility). Adding trueseeing to a creature that has just the darkness invisibility (EffectInvisibility(INVISIBILITY_TYPE_DARKNESS)) will not remove the invisibility. WhiZard 21:17, March 19, 2010 (UTC)

• Well I forgot to say how I made tests... casting Trueseeing on a creature with the darkness effect will not destroy the darkness effect, I just tested with a char with 5 cleric levels and animal domain: I used Trueseeing under an hostile darkness effect (I killed the npc caster, maybe this can lower the caster level of the effect), I used lesser dispel on myself. Sometimes the logs will say the darkness effect has been dispelled, sometimes nothing will happen, sometimes Trueseeing will be dispelled. In this last case, the bug happens. - Simoncr1s 14:27, March 23, 2010 (UTC)

• Was the caster hostile at the time you entered the darkness? Also did you reenter the darkness area after the trueseeing? My test applied EffectDarkness() to my PC then applied EffectTrueSeeing() to the PC 1 second later, then 1 second after that returned in numeric fashion the type of all valid effects on my PC. The only type returned was trueseeing. When you perform this the other way (trueseeing before darkness) you get both trueseeing and darkness showing as effects and when trueseeing is removed, neither show. WhiZard 14:51, March 23, 2010 (UTC)

• OK, I see this permanent blindness is generated by spell ID as the GetHasSpellEffect() would ring true but GetFirstEffect() and GetNextEffect() will not trace it, even as an invalid effect. The good thing is that this can be cured by recasting the ultravision/trueseeing spell. WhiZard 21:54, April 8, 2010 (UTC)

Fix to the caster immunity

As Simoncr1s mentioned the caster seems immune to the darkness/blindness part of the effect. which means the caster is still able to see outside the orb. I tried to search the nwvault and the grimoire for a change where the caster is as blind as anyoneelse inside the orb. Is this the spell actually was meant to work or is there an easy way to change the script?

HurinWillSmite (talk) 19:44, April 26, 2013 (UTC)

More On Dispelling Darkness, Shadow Conjuration + Wiki Description

In many cases, caster opponents who are not using Ultravision or True Seeing seem unable to target a Darkness user while it is within the dark zone. I am assuming it depends on whether they are capable of casting AoE spells or not, if a spell can be launched at them. However, if an AoE version of dispel is applied towards a shrouded opponent's area, the entire list of darkness benefits are removed (along with other buffs, depending on the dispel version), yet the darkness graphic FX (the dark zone) still remains. I would have expected the dark graphic to disappear when the darkness effects ended.

Is this normal and intended or a bug?

Does spell focus in illusion increase the DC of Shadow Conjuration: Darkness or does it still rely on the evocation school? Will armor penalize that (shadow) version? (These 2 questions may be better addressed in the Shadow Conjuration article. If so, I will strike here and move it over.)

Finally, my version of the game does not describe True Seeing as an alternate counter to Darkness, only Ultravision (yes, I realize in-game, True Seeing pierces darkness as well). Was the tlk changed in some patch? If so, my version of v1.69 never applied it (I was under the impression that the wiki descriptions were intended to relate the actual in-game information with any clarifications or redefinitions of the intent of the description to be included in the notes.) TIA for some clarity on these issues. --Iconclast (talk) 05:48, August 9, 2013 (UTC)

• The shadow conjuration article has an answer to your DC question (ignoring for the moment that darkness has no saves, hence no DC). For the "will armor penalize" question, you are referring to arcane spell failure? The shadow version does have a somatic component, and that info should (will) get added to the shadow conjuration article. It looks like the "true seeing" bit got added to this article before the decision to stick to in-game text, and no one else has noticed the discrepancy since. You want to delete that and add it as a note (it should be the second note, I think, before the notes that refer to both true seeing and ultravision)? --The Krit (talk) 06:54, August 9, 2013 (UTC)

• I did read it but the no-save qualification missed my brain. Doh! No need to reword IMO. Yes, I was referring to the somatic component of the shadow version compared to the standard darkness. I am also not 100% certain how casting via scrolls (or other items) can relate to spell failure. Though I cannot recall any instance where casting an arcane-specific spell via an item has failed (except for the UMD scroll check, that is), I can't seem to find an article which specifically addresses the possibility of arcane spell failure with item casting so must assume that armor has no effect in those situations. If this has been addressed somewhere, please provide a link.

So is the dark zone supposed to continue (by design) even after the beneficial effects of darkness have been dispelled? If so, it seems misleading for the player who is relying on the graphic display to indicate the spell's true status.

Article modified. Check wording for conciseness, plz TK. Tx. --Iconclast (talk) 14:55, August 9, 2013 (UTC)

• I think (not tested specifically) that most causes of spell failure are ignored/bypassed when casting via items — concentration checks, taunted, components, and deafened. That leaves spell failure effects, which are uncommon enough that I don't want to make a guess based on general experience. The darkness question is not something I have seen, so I don't know what is going on.

The new note looks mostly good. I might have dropped "incorrectly", but that's getting into minutiae. --The Krit (talk) 15:04, August 10, 2013 (UTC)

Possible Bug

I've been testing this spell under a wide range of conditions and have just encountered a situation that makes no sense at all to me. I am hoping someone can shed some light on the possible reason the Darkness effects are acting the way they do. (I've furnished as much information as possible so that the test can be easily repeated. if necessary.)

This was tested within the Chapter3.nwn module of the Bioware default campaign. I have no haks or overrides installed beyond those that the default installation adds.

There is a creature TAG M3Q2FGolem0 that spawns at 3 locations on entry to area named Fort Ilkard: Creator Race Ruins. The creature skin (full power version) claims to provide immunity to spells 9 and lower. However, when Darkness is cast over a ranged-attack caster nearby, the golem behaves the same as if the spell was having its effects i.e. pausing/standing within the Darkness AoE each time attack is paused. Also, traps can be set with impunity within the Darkness AoE as if the hostile had been made blind to that action.

What could be the explanation why this spell's effects are being applied even against a creature with a supposed immunity to it? I suspect it has something to do with how the game checks spells but am uncertain at which part of the check sequence could be causing the anomaly. Any insight is appreciated. TIA. --Iconclast (talk) 12:54, May 20, 2016 (UTC)