D&D: Alternate Vision Rules

Hey there Greyhawkers! Today is an off day for me, because I want to discuss D&D instead of setting lore. Strange I know, but this issue popped in my head recently and has been a concern of mine for a very long time I imagine, but has only become more pronounced in recent 5E rules. I am talking about playable races with darkvision. I apologize in advance if you've read a rant like this on other blogs years ago, it's caught up to me finally.

I will not get into a lengthy comparison with previous editions for expedience sake. I know AD&D had varying degrees special sight like infravision, later low-light vision, etc. I am going to assume the nine presently playable races in the PHB have traits consistent over their D&D history. Okay, my gripe is that darkvision (seeing normal in dimly lit conditions or seeing dim in darkness) is an easy crutch for D&D games to get around pesky things such as lanterns and torches. Sure, human and halfling characters still need to use these devices, but can easily circumvent this need through simple spells or magic items. Why is this important to me? Because as a DM, having a party that is either intentionally or unintentionally comprised of characters entirely with darkvision takes an entire tool out of your storytelling tool bag; fear of the dark. For a game that is traditionally built on dungeon crawling and cave exploration, PCs venturing into the darkness is part of the challenge. If this challenge is nullified easily by the game itself, then the DM may as well provide ample lighting for the PCs and move on.

Quick note: yes, magical darkness can be used to nullify superior PC vision, but if it's used too much it becomes obvious and personally directed at the players which isn't cool either.

Out of nine playable races in the 5E PHB, only three do not have darkvision. That means if a group of five players randomly picked their race at character creation, there would 3.33 heroes with darkvision at start. If the number leans to 4 out of 5, from my experience, that one outlying player is immediately pressured to make up for this visual deficiency somehow or become a burden to his night-sight allies. In my opinion, an option to remove this mechanical advantage, is to leave darkvision to creatures or races that live a majority of their life underground, which is logical, and give them a more personalized vision trait. Now let's examine these six races with darkvision and what can be given alternatively.

Side note: why don't Dragonborn have darkvision? Intuitively, being related to dragons you'd think they would! I saw this as the designers realizing that there were too many races with darkvision and made the unfortunate choice to exclude this new race from the club. Moving on...

Dwarves: Most PC dwarves are either hill or mountain. Sure, they work in dim conditions at home, but do they not have lighting in their stone halls? Of course not! Now the subrace Duergar deserve DV being a true Underdark culture. For those dwarves who tend to spend most of their time in the light I'd instead give them Expertise in Investigation skill (double proficiency bonus to checks) based on their years of detailed crafting in dim conditions. I'd also give dwarves, a martial culture Blindfighting, a trait which will negate the disadvantage of combat in darkness.

Elves: Again, elves who are an above-ground race are assumed to be superior to humans in every regard. This is summed up in the Keen Senses trait which gives them advantage to Perception checks. This is huge on its own because perception is all the senses, not just sight. So the fact they have DV is overkill. Drow, like Duergar deserve it because they are a true underdark culture. Instead of DV I'd give elves as a whole the ability of Telescopic Sight, so they suffer no range penalties and give them advantage on a single aimed shot per round (think Legolas archery in LotR).

Gnomes: Deep Gnomes, Underdark, yadda yadda. Rock gnomes however, more so than dwarves I gather, tinker in dim places so their eyesight should be ideal for up close things. This is why I suggest Keen Senses on Investigation (advantage on all checks).

Half-Elves: Not totally cool like parent elves, these characters still deserve some good eyesight, but certainly not full on darkvision. Let's make them resilient since they are typically outcasts by giving them Keen Senses on Survival (advantage on all checks). Think Tanis in Dragonlance.

Half-Orcs: Okay half-orcs have darkvision, why? Cause orcs like to raid at night, might be sensitive to light, I don't know, but that shouldn't make these characters on par with drow or duergar or heck plain elves! Let's scale them back with Expertise in Perception (double proficiency bonus on checks) and Blindfighting like above.


Tieflings: The newest, popular entry to the PHB, these characters have fiendish heritage. They are not necessarily from the Underdark, but neither are they from the Abyss either (I'm sure all demons and devils have DV). Let's make Tieflings unique by giving them Infravision, a trait that gives them Keen Senses on Insight (advantage on all checks), to spot lies and read people's intentions and Expertise on Perception (sight only) to locate creatures who are hidden, based on the ability to see faint heat signatures. Obviously this only works on living creatures.

How's these house rules look? Got a better idea or tweak? Let me know in the comments!