Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

Drizzt's first trip to the surface is a good example of light blindness in the forgotten realms novels. I'm not sure what the novel is called but it has a pretty elaborate description of the pain and discomfort light-sensibility can cause (when confronted with bright light). I'm sure you can find more if you google or bing it.

Its not prescribed to be roleplayed any particular way. Its meant to remind underdark players that the surface is a hostile and unfamiliar environment, and vice-versa. How you roleplay that is up to you. But obviously ignoring the penalties in your roleplay doesn't mean that other players can't figure out that you've been blinded by the light. That you're light-sensitive. And because its somewhat unpredictable its also a liability. It creates roleplay opportunities - in my experience.

The light-blindness and darkness systems are meant to portray the light-blindness of underdark races. And the light-dependency of surface-races. They aren't crippling because I didn't want to make exploration impossible (per-se). Particularly because night and day cycles fairly quickly. So its hard to stay on the night-side of the cycle. And I'm sure I had other good reasons I can't think off right now.

Thanks for the reply, Rasael.

So, is it more high light-sensitivity, rather than 100% blindness?

As I said, how you roleplay it is entirely up to you.

I imagine some Drow can tolerate a bit more light than others. Particularly Drow who grew up in S'shamath - with all its magical lights. I wouldn't fault a player for saying the light hurt. And I also wouldn't fault a player for saying it only irritated him, and periodically causes him to be dazzled or be blinded.

That's quite interesting, and I do recall reading that about Sshamath.

Your reply answered my question well. I had been thinking myself that not all drow might react in the same way.

I kind of see it this way: The Surface and the Underdark are complete opposite extremes, and their denizens evolved over millennia to adapt perfectly to it.

To a Surfacer, the Underdark is a horror show of isolation -- Pitch Darkness and utter unbroken silence (save for the occasional rumbling of rocks and dripping water), with lurking abominations around any corner, underground lakes that contain creatures older than the planet itself, squid-faced horrors that literally want to suck out your brains, and perhaps worst of all, intelligent, semi-familiar humanoids that would enslave or kill you in an instant with no remorse or pity. It's the environment that makes it all horrific -- the total silence, the endless darkness (save for the occasional glowing, toxic fungus) is meant to create a sense of utter isolation. Even without the monsters, it would likely bring about sensory deprivation in a matter of hours. (Similar to a real-life person entering a sensory deprivation chamber, or even a dark sound-recording-booth.)

So to look at it from the opposite view, a creature such as a Drow, Duergar, or Svirf would see the surface as an utter assault on the senses: Birds constantly singing (even in winter -- even at night!), a constant nuclear explosion hovering over you in the sky, extremes of temperature, air that is almost never still, endless open space... To some Drow, this would be overload, and to others (perhaps with more Grit), it would be a curiosity, albeit an uncomfortable one. (Similar to a real-life person going to a carnival funhouse -- some people seek them out for fun, and others are completely overwhelmed by them.)


Both "factions" would see the other's environment as alien and disorienting, but some would handle it better than others. Just my two-cents on the matter.

~ DFM