Can You Read in Shadowy Illumination? Why or Why Not?

[Duke of Urrel]

Can you read in shadowy illumination? Why or why not?

I am following the general rule that when in doubt, we should assume that physics works the same in D&D as in the real world. So if light is so dim that our attacks against a creature are 20% likely to miss, we may assume that this light is dim enough to make reading difficult or even impossible. On the other hand, a text doesn't try to dodge when you read it, so maybe dim light doesn't make reading any harder.

I am thinking about the possibility of reading by the shadowy light of the Darkness spell, of reading 30 feet away from a torch if you are a human, or of reading 60 feet away from a torch if you are an elf. Can you do it, or is shadowy illumination too dim for you to read by?

If you come across Explosive Runes but only the shadowy light of the Darkness spell falls upon them, can you try to read them and trigger the explosion? Or are the Explosive Runes impossible to read in light this dim, so that you are protected?

Does it matter how big the text is? For example, if you have only the light of the Darkness spell to read by, can you complete a spell by reading the text of a magic scroll, which is probably written in very big runes? Using only the light of the Darkness spell, can you prepare a spell by studying a spelltext in your spellbook, which is probably written in much smaller runes?

What do you think?

[KillianHawkeye]

Take a look at the description of a candle.

A candle dimly illuminates a 5-foot radius and burns for 1 hour.

Can you read by candlelight? I would say yes.

[The Viscount]

Didn't your mother ever tell you not to read by shadowy illumination? You'll ruin your spot modifier!

Consider the following text from low-light vision

A spellcaster with low-light vision can read a scroll as long as even the tiniest candle flame is next to her as a source of light.

and this line from elf's section on low-light vision

She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Together these suggest that you would need low light vision to read in shadowy illumination.

[Duke of Urrel]

I agree that you should be able to read by candlelight. But what about magical Darkness? This is a different thing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/darkness.htm).


Even creatures that can normally see in such conditions (such as with darkvision or low-light vision) have the miss chance in an area shrouded in magical darkness.

Normal lights (torches, candles, lanterns, and so forth) are incapable of brightening the area, as are light spells of lower level. Higher level light spells are not affected by darkness.

If I really wanted to, I could fight to make a distinction between dim light (such as candlelight or Faerie Fire) on the one hand and magical Darkness on the other. However, to be honest, I don't really feel like fighting for the view that you can't read in magical Darkness. I only wanted to ask the opinion of the Playground first. There may be balance concerns that I'm not aware of, for example, or experience playing in different ways that I don't have. But my overall opinion is that it is more in accord with the Rule of Fun to allow everybody to read in magical Darkness.

There should also be some drawbacks to using the Darkness spell, but maybe it's enough of a problem that an area of Darkness looks dusky when it's surrounded by normal light but looks eerily bright when it's surrounded by normal darkness. Whenever you carry magical Darkness around with you, you unavoidably look suspicious, even to observers with no better than human vision. It's good for creating concealment in a fight, but it's not really good for hiding in if the magical Darkness itself contrasts with the surrounding light conditions.

[rel]

Yes you can but you have to squint and it takes time.

A Candle produces shadowy illumination. You (or at least I) can read by candlelight. Therefore you can read by shadowy illumination.

Expect reading tasks to take longer than normal, require you to be closer than normal and possibly require decipher script checks.