Light as a cantrip that lasts an hour in 5e kinda screws opportunities for old-school dungeoncrawling.
Light as a cantrip that lasts an hour in 5e kinda screws opportunities for old-school dungeoncrawling. Think I'll bump it to a 1st level spell and add the old attack where you cast it into someone's eyes.
Light
1st level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, M (a firefly or phosphorescent moss)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour (or 1 minute)
You touch one object that is no larger than 10 feet in any dimension. Until the spell ends, the object sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. The light can be colored as you like. Completely covering the object with something opaque blocks the light. The spell ends if you cast it again or dismiss it as an action.
If you target a hostile creature, that creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be blinded for one minute. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target.
Light
1st level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Touch
Components: V, M (a firefly or phosphorescent moss)
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 hour (or 1 minute)
You touch one object that is no larger than 10 feet in any dimension. Until the spell ends, the object sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. The light can be colored as you like. Completely covering the object with something opaque blocks the light. The spell ends if you cast it again or dismiss it as an action.
If you target a hostile creature, that creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be blinded for one minute. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another Wisdom saving throw. On a success, the spell ends on the target.
When looking for old-school resource driven play light is definitely an issue. Returning it to first level is a good way to handle it.
ReplyDeleteI've also considered making it only a bright as a candle and requiring concentration as options.
Eye-targeting on this is pretty much the same thing as Blindness/Deafness, only Wis instead of Con, and since that's a L2 spell, Con tends to be higher Wis, and Deafness is less useful than light, it's a significant power boost for casters(although Blindness/Deafness can multitarget at level 3+).
ReplyDeleteAlso: you're probably going to have to do something about everyone besides humans/halflings having Darkvision, if you haven't already - put on the 5E rules in a vacuum, this mostly just makes humans/halflings worse.
I'm using the Basic spell list for this situation, so no Blindness or Deafness. I was comparing to hold person which is 2nd level and completely paralyzes the target.
ReplyDeleteCon is probably a better save though.
Yeah but you also have to deal with the fact that every race other then human has dark vision in 5e.
ReplyDeleteI can see that. I'd note Hold Person is also Concentration, though.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing Anomalous Subsurface Environment so elves and dwarves and robots have special vision and it's sufficiently a big deal. Not worried about that.
ReplyDeleteOoo...yes, adding concentration.
ReplyDeleteI always add this:
ReplyDeleteIf you cast light on a weapon and score a hit with that weapon on an undead enemy, the undead enemy takes an extra 1d6 damage.
Just be sure to enforce the material component. Tweak for a LIVE firefly, and then it raises the difficulty of casting...
ReplyDelete