Creative Solutions To Attacking The Darkness

[Monseigneur]

We all know the great trick:You can't see an enemy, you attack the magical darkness it's in. The purpose of this thread is to find new and creative ways to ruin all attempts at this. However, you cannot house-rule against it.

Example:"I attack the darkness."

"Alright. The darkness has hardness 80 and 5000 hit points per inch of thickness. Good luck."

[Quietus]

Easy. Place another hemispherical spell inside of it. Find out what people think when their arrows bounce off, or when they watch their melee guy walk up, step into the darkness, and their screams suddenly get cut off.

[Swordguy]

A darkness is simply the absence of light, you can't successfully attack something that isn't there. Problem solved.

[The Great Skenardo]

Zeno's Arrow.
"Well, in order to hit the guy in the darkness, the arrow has to travel halfway through the darkness. Before it can get that far, it must travel half of that distance. And before it can get that far..."

[Telonius]

Kidnap a local innocent and keep them with you inside the darkness. (Or, have an illusion of them up just before you cast darkness). The heroes might not want to attack in that case.

Buy a pair of Ring Gates. Mount one of them on the side of the wall next to where the adventurers will be, and put one of them in front of you. If somebody shoots you, it passes through the gate and hits them instead.

[Inyssius Tor]

"Uhh... unless I missed something, Darkness is a 20-foot sphere. Do your characters normally have the BAB and the reach to attack, what, each of the 70 squares blanketed by darkness in one round (because if they don't, the hidden-by-shadows guy can just move to a space where your characters have already attacked)?"

"If the darkness is, like, five feet square... frankly, your villains are pretty low on Int. I mean, he's gotta be in there!"

"I cast Magic Missile, and ready an action to five-foot step out of the way if someone charges me."

"The darkness attacks back."

[The Great Skenardo]

Solution: Faulty quantum mechanics.

You've attacked the darkness in front of you, but the location of the enemy is unknown to you. Therefore, there exist simultaneously an infinite number of waveforms, some of which contain an enemy that has been struck, and some of which contain an enemy unharmed. Now, the act of observation determines the state, so you simultaneously will have hit her and not hit her until you actually can friggin' see her.

[That Lanky Bugger]

PC: I attack the darkness!

DM: Great, swing at the darkness, roll to hit?

PC: I rolled a natural 20! Now I rolled another! Confirmed critical!

DM: You're doing good! Now roll damage!

PC: 4d6+20 means he takes 33 damage!

DM: Great! So, having successfully nailed the empty air with a critical hit, you hear a sharp whistling as you bring the blade down into the ground with a solid crunch, where it becomes stuck. It'll take a DC20 Strength check to remove it.

Edit: I would like to point out that one of my PCs developed a very successful tactic for foes in magically darkened spheres. He would perform a bull-rush THROUGH the darkness, and if he snagged a foe he'd do his best to push that foe out. Given he was a Half-Giant, it usually worked.

[Swordguy]

Solution: Faulty quantum mechanics.

You've attacked the darkness in front of you, but the location of the enemy is unknown to you. Therefore, there exist simultaneously an infinite number of waveforms, some of which contain an enemy that has been struck, and some of which contain an enemy unharmed. Now, the act of observation determines the state, so you simultaneously will have hit her and not hit her until you actually can friggin' see her.

Wait, you're pulling a derivative of the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle into this?

Sweet.

[Thoughtbot360]

Uhh... unless I missed something, Darkness is a 20-foot sphere. Do your characters normally have the BAB and the reach to attack, what, each of the 70 squares blanketed by darkness in one round (because if they don't, the hidden-by-shadows guy can just move to a space where your characters have already attacked)? If so, what are your villains doing expecting to be effectively protected by second-level spells?

I know! Attacking the darkness=shooting blindly hoping to hit the bad guys. What is all this crazy stuff about ring gates (besides, how will the bad guy know where the archer is standing?) If you've become such an unadaptable control freak need to make your darkness (YOUR DARKNESS, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!) out of McDickium, then I think its time for your players to become complete smegheads.

Edit: Dammit Tor! You edited it!

[The Great Skenardo]

Wait, you're pulling a derivative of the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle into this?

Sweet.

And the best part is, you'll never know if the explanation actually killed the catgirl until you look into the box!

EDIT: Schroedinger's Catgirl experiment!

[ExHunterEmerald]

Well, I have a counter-counter solution. There's nothing particularly against indiscriminate fireballing of the darkened area.
As for thwarting? I guess you could probably port an assassin into the darkness and ask your player if it's been three rounds yet...

[The Great Skenardo]

Certainly. Fireball is a wonderful solution to concealment problems in general. I think the classical problem is with fighter-types or archers or mages attempting to target with an attack something they can't see. This is somewhat like trying to attack an invisible assailant in a large open room. Picking a square and swinging randomly probably isn't going to work.

[mikeejimbo]

And the best part is, you'll never know if the explanation actually killed the catgirl until you look into the box!

EDIT: Schroedinger's Catgirl experiment!

Quantum Physics: Is there any problem it can't make harder?

[Swordguy]

And the best part is, you'll never know if the explanation actually killed the catgirl until you look into the box!

EDIT: Schroedinger's Catgirl experiment!

*Sniff* That was beautiful man.

+1 for you.

[Hyfigh]

Umm... Daylight spell?

Oh, creative... My bad.

[The Great Skenardo]

*Sniff* That was beautiful man.

+1 for you.

Hee hee. Sigg'd.

[dorshe1]

First, you hire a 20th level wizard. Then he creates spell 'Kill darkness' it is a level 8 spell so he can cast it a zillion times a day. He'll know the darkness is there because he casts divination spells and knows everything.

The End.

[ExHunterEmerald]

Certainly. Fireball is a wonderful solution to concealment problems in general. I think the classical problem is with fighter-types or archers or mages attempting to target with an attack something they can't see. This is somewhat like trying to attack an invisible assailant in a large open room. Picking a square and swinging randomly probably isn't going to work.

Sure it will. You just need manpower.
ONE: Seal exits.
TWO: Line up at one end of the room, and advance in a line without a gap. Like how you do for covering an entire field for someone.

[The Great Skenardo]

Sure it will. You just need manpower.
ONE: Seal exits.
TWO: Line up at one end of the room, and advance in a line without a gap. Like how you do for covering an entire field for someone.

...And hope like hell that she doesn't know Lightning bolt. I'm pretty sure you get an extra life or something if you manage to hit that many people at once with a lightning bolt; like jumping ten goombas in a row in Mario.

One imagines a small tinny tune playing after the deafening thunderclap and before the screams and scorched hair smells.

[ExHunterEmerald]

...And hope like hell that she doesn't know Lightning bolt. I'm pretty sure you get an extra life or something if you manage to hit that many people at once with a lightning bolt; like jumping ten goombas in a row in Mario.

One imagines a small tinny tune playing after the deafening thunderclap and before the screams and scorched hair smells.

How's Stealthy McPredator gonna line 'em up for a lightning bolt? They're filling the whole five-foot line, and unless she's lodged in a wall, she's not going to be able to get the line of effect.

[Quietus]

Skenardo, they'd only be able to catch one person with that lightning bolt, 'cause the line would be moving perpendicular to where the bolt would come from. It's their fireballs you need to worry about... those spreads can hurt.

[Roderick_BR]

AoE spells are usually the best. 20 feet sphere? Unless the buy is floating, you have only 4 possible targets. 3 if you enter one of them yourself.

You can go invisible too, and wait till his magical darkness end. If he tries to flee, you can see (unless he casts invisibility also).
You could be mean and throw in some caltrops too XD

About the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle idea...
Player: "I shot an arrow. Now, I may or may have not hit him"
DM: "Okay, so there's two possible outcomes. You hit him or you didn't hit him. You can't know if you hit him or not untill you see him. It means that he's both hit and unhit. That means he is now two possible results, two possible mages... Well, they both cast fireball at you."
:p

[daggaz]

Gate a devil with see in darkness and send him on in... Tell him he can keep whatever souls he manages to find in there, it'll be like an easter egg hunt, only the eggs will be stumbling around blindly in plain sight.

And Roderick.. I know they usually reserve this for monkeygrip, but..

The Heisenburg Uncertainty Principal doesn't work that way!!!

[The Great Skenardo]

Skenardo, they'd only be able to catch one person with that lightning bolt, 'cause the line would be moving perpendicular to where the bolt would come from. It's their fireballs you need to worry about... those spreads can hurt.

Eh, step to one side, cast defensively while occupying the bloke on the end's square. It'd be like
"Dodge this." ZZOT! Ding dada Ding! "Yeeoow!"

[Grendita]

Get your party fighter, and another random member, you hand the end of a rope to each of them, and you get them to spread themselves out (Say 30ft) and run with the rope strung between them so that it should catch the target.

Meanwhile the mage and any archers you have wait for the sound of him falling on his ass (Or Jumping the rope or the "Oh crap!") to which they frag him!

Or the more comedic approach, take a Qualls Feather Token (Tree) throw it in and shout the command word, see how he copes with a tree suddenly sprouting in his hidey hole.

[Nerd-o-rama]

You know, there are rules for attacking a square you can't see anything in. But you know that, I'm sure, and this is just ways to maximize your chances of finding the correct square and hitting?

Hmm...well, if they're moving, a Listen check to find them should be feasible. It's just opposed by their regular move silently. If you beat it by enough, you'll know what square they're in. Quicken True Strike, or do something else to negate miss chance, and fire away.

This isn't really very feasible, since it relies on them moving un-stealthily and on you having a good listen check and fifth-level arcane spells, but...I'll find something better later.

[Monseigneur]

I like where this topic has gone. Made me laugh.

PC:I attack the darkness.

DM:You have been transported to the Soviet Russian demiplane. In Soviet Russia, darkness attacks you! It has the stats of a Tarrasque, plus it deals 5 negative levels with a successful hit.

[Roderick_BR]

I like where this topic has gone. Made me laugh.

PC:I attack the darkness.

DM:You have been transported to the Soviet Russian demiplane. In Soviet Russia, darkness attacks you! It has the stats of a Tarrasque, plus it deals 5 negative levels with a successful hit.

Lol! Is it against the board's rules to use "In Sovietic Russia..." sigs?

[Indon]

"Okay, roll a sunder attempt. Do you have a ghost touch weapon? Abstract concepts are incorporeal, don't you know."