Seeing a light in the dark

[picklejuice]

I don't know if I suck at google or what, but I can't seem to find the answer to my question.

If I'm sitting in a dark cave or someplace at night without stars out - it's dark - how far away can I spot a torch?

Snipers used to target people by just a lit cigarette, but a full-blown torch held up by a henchman in the middle of a desert plain on a starless night...

How far away can I spot that?

Is that effectively daylight distances, since I'm in the darkness and my eyes are starved for light?

I'm asking because it's something we tend to overlook in the game - the fact that most adventurers are carrying around a burning FIRE in places that just don't have light. Kinda noticible, isn't it?

Isn't it?

[Zeb]

I believe in the Underdark book the rule was you could see a light source at 10x its illumination radius.

Dont think it specified if that was bright or dim light radii.

[Rubik]

Unfortunately, due to the way the rules are written, you can see the torchlight if you're within the torch's light radius, but you cannot see the fire from outside of it.

It's stupid, yes. It's also RAW.

[Dr. Yes]

I don't know if I suck at google or what, but I can't seem to find the answer to my question.

If I'm sitting in a dark cave or someplace at night without stars out - it's dark - how far away can I spot a torch?

Snipers used to target people by just a lit cigarette, but a full-blown torch held up by a henchman in the middle of a desert plain on a starless night...

How far away can I spot that?

Is that effectively daylight distances, since I'm in the darkness and my eyes are starved for light?

I'm asking because it's something we tend to overlook in the game - the fact that most adventurers are carrying around a burning FIRE in places that just don't have light. Kinda noticible, isn't it?

Isn't it?

If you're asking for realism, you would be able to see that for miles around. The party would be substantially more visible than in daylight, since instead of a speck on the horizon they're now a beacon against a largely homogenous black background.

[Curmudgeon]

It's stupid, yes. It's also RAW.
Well, not if your campaign uses Underdark, as Zeb mentioned. The supplementary rules there let you see a light source at 20x its radius of illumination in pitch darkness, or 10x its radius in dim light.