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View Full Version : hindsight is 20-20...but what if I need more?



dehro
2019-06-22, 02:24 PM
I've created something of a magical sniper, i.e. a warlock with the eldritch spear invocation and the spell sniper feat.
he's a tiefling so he can see in the dark, up to a point.
I admit that this particular combination of abilities is not going to come up very often, especially indoors, but it was thematically relevant for this character
That said, how do I make it so that he can actually see far enough to enjoy the full benefit of his feat and his extended reach? dark vision only goes so far, and yes, spell sniper negates cover, but I feel common sense should still apply.. until I find a way to break it, so to speak.
Is there such a way? would I need it in daylight too or can I just leverage the RAW in that case? what ways are there to extend one's dark vision, true sight and other such things? using a familiar as a spotter seems super cheesy and I would expect a reasonable DM to either disallow it or impose a penalty on the roll, on the basis of how I would need to do some on the fly triangulation to compensate for the different viewpoint.
Items, spells, feats..does anyone have a workable suggestion, preferably only using core books?
Let me reiterate, I know that it's unlikely to really come up very often, if at all, but my character kind of is on a mission to find out how to get the drop on his backstory enemy from enough of a distance that he can remain mostly or completely unseen until it's too late. (This is his ingame reasoning, not a plan thought out with the books in hand). In game on an open enough battlefield, climbing a tree or taking flight to get to a vantage point and sniping at enemies from there is also a nice notion, though again, super situational.
how would you tackle this?

Galithar
2019-06-22, 03:45 PM
Totem Barbarian Eagle feature that allows you to see a mile away 'as if it were no more then 100 feet away' depending on DM ruling whether that means darkvision functions or not. I don't think it's RAW but I've seen plenty of DMs allow it.

Combine this with anything that gives 100+ foot darkvision. Off the top of my head that's Drow and other improved darkvision races, Shadow Sorcerers and Gloomstalker Rangers of a race with Darkvision to start. (All of that is without looking at a book and I'm probably misremembering something please correct me where I'm wrong!)

Contrast
2019-06-22, 05:15 PM
Pick up Devils Sight or Goggles of Night. Think thats about as good as you can do. I'd let someone use their action to see through their familiar and then attack with disadvantage on immediately subsequent turns.


Totem Barbarian Eagle feature that allows you to see a mile away 'as if it were no more then 100 feet away' depending on DM ruling whether that means darkvision functions or not. I don't think it's RAW but I've seen plenty of DMs allow it.

This I am astounded at. You've had enough players playing Eagle barbarians with 100+ft darkvision that you can say you've you've seen it 'plenty' of times?

Galithar
2019-06-23, 04:28 AM
Pick up Devils Sight or Goggles of Night. Think thats about as good as you can do. I'd let someone use their action to see through their familiar and then attack with disadvantage on immediately subsequent turns.



This I am astounded at. You've had enough players playing Eagle barbarians with 100+ft darkvision that you can say you've you've seen it 'plenty' of times?

Seen in theoretical discussions mostly :P
It's hard to see something that no one would actually take in real play, but I've talked to many DMs that have said they'd allow it because... well what would it break? You can no longer get within 65 feet of the party and be effectively invisible? Darn :P I guess my ambush encounter will have to actually roll stealth, even at night.

It seems to come up everytime I end up talking to someone about totem Barb's somehow.

Man_Over_Game
2019-06-24, 10:53 AM
The classic solution to being able to see enemies far away for Warlocks is to pick up Pact of the Chain and get an Imp as your scout. Turn it invisible, send it out, have it spot your targets for you.

Mjolnirbear
2019-06-24, 11:19 AM
Or finally pick up that 1000gp item.

That RAW doesn't let you see farther, but most DMs would allow I think.

darknite
2019-06-24, 01:32 PM
Totem Barbarian Eagle feature that allows you to see a mile away 'as if it were no more then 100 feet away' depending on DM ruling whether that means darkvision functions or not. I don't think it's RAW but I've seen plenty of DMs allow it...

That's a shifty interpretation. Darkvision's definition says it works to a 'specified range'. While an Eagle Barbarian may be able to see a mile away that does not overcome the specific limitation of darkvision to the range specified for the creature possessing it.

Contrast
2019-06-24, 01:40 PM
That's a shifty interpretation. Darkvision's definition says it works to a 'specified range'. While an Eagle Barbarian may be able to see a mile away that does not overcome the specific limitation of darkvision to the range specified for the creature possessing it.

It doesn't just let you see 1 mile away though. It specifically lets you see 1 mile away 'as though looking at something no more than 100 feet away from you'. So if you have darkvision at 100ft...

There is an argument to be made that makes your darkvisions new radius 1 mile (class features can extend darkvision - gloomstalker being the non-controversial example).

Regardless, they agreed with you it was pretty sketchy RAW wise (and I would be inclined to agree not intended either). I wouldn't be surprised if a DM disallowed it (though at the same time it isn't really broken and is pretty cool in terms of making the barbarian more relevant out of combat so *shrugs*).