marroon69
Topic Author
Posts: 41
Joined: Mon 30 Nov 2020, 15:38

Weather and vision distances

Mon 14 Dec 2020, 06:19

On page 133 in the Travel section there is a discussion about hexes of visibility..are they talking about tactical or travel maps? I am thinking tactical but even that seems pretty far. Or is it both? 10 depending on the map type you are on?

Text I am discussing
FAIR WEATHER: Maximum visibility in darkness is 10 hexes (15 with strong moonlight).

In fair weather at night on travel map(hexes are 10 km) you can see 100 kilometers? or on tactical map(hexes are 10 m) you can see 100 meters?

Both seem pretty generous for a night without a strong moon.
 
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Ser Stevos
Posts: 48
Joined: Mon 09 Nov 2020, 03:36

Re: Weather and vision distances

Mon 14 Dec 2020, 08:23

I believe they are just referring to 100 meters in darkness with fair weather. It gives a baseline to work with when the rules explain line of sight during rains, etc. I think it'll be up to the referee to decide how much the PCs can see at night and what weather conditions are affecting that line of sight. The 100 meters are just a maximum limit in darkness.
 
andresk
Posts: 177
Joined: Mon 05 Oct 2020, 16:38

Re: Weather and vision distances

Mon 14 Dec 2020, 09:30

Full moon nights are really bright. You can easily see farther than 150m in an open area. A full moon will cast strong shadows like a dimmed down sun.
 
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omnipus
Posts: 742
Joined: Mon 22 Jun 2020, 20:58

Re: Weather and vision distances

Mon 14 Dec 2020, 21:30

10 hexes on the travel map would be 100km. So it's not that. :P

I agree though, there are many occasions throughout the rules where the word "hex" is used very simply and several occasions where this is potentially very confusing.

As for the distances, it really depends a lot on a ton of factors. Cloudy night? Ambient light? Are your eyes adjusted to night vision? Even full-moon factors can vary enormously. You can sometimes see surprisingly far, but the ability to focus or make out details is almost non-existent. The eye uses entirely different physiology to see at night as compared to day (and the techniques you need to use to get good at it are also therefore completely different!) Real nerd shit.

I'm running a game in Foundry, which fortunately provides for "Vision" and "Dim Vision" -- allowing me the opportunity to simply house rule this that within bright vision you can see pretty much fine, but within the range of dim vision (2-3x bright vision) you can only make out vague details like "That's a peron, that's a truck, that's a tank," and not always correctly. This will fuel my crazed desire for traumatizing blue-on-blue scenarios.
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