So Tim of Gothridge Manor pointed out some details on the Light spells. Including this tidbit found in Old School Essentials
Reverse: Darkness, creates a 15' radius of magical blackness. It prevents normal sight, but not infravision. It can be used to blind creatures or to dispel a light spell. .I went to the copies of B/X I bought and sure enough it is the same.
In OSE and BX both Dwarves and Elves have infravision. This means that Dwarven allies or Elves themselves can cast a Darkness spell. This results in the Dwarf or Elf being able to attack normally if they are inside the darkness spells but everybody is attacking them as if they have been blinded. In DnD B/X blinded creatures can't attack.
For reference here is ODnD take on darkness found in the Greyhawk Supplement
3 comments:
In OSE Infravision is described as:
"All non-human monsters and demihuman races have a special kind of vision that allows them to see in the dark. This is called Infravision."
So, I assume only human monsters in the Darkness spell would be blinded, correct?
Yup it main impact would occur in a human centric campaign for example running a campaign mostly in the City State of the Invincible Overlord or Waterdeep.
You scared mi into checking the Swords & Wizardry rules. But all if fine there, Darkness is dark, even to darkvision:
Darkness 15-foot Radius
Spell Level: Magic-User, 2nd Level
Range: 120 feet
Duration: 1 hour
Darkness falls within the spell’s radius, impenetrable even to darkvision.
A Light spell or Dispel Magic can be used to counteract the darkness.
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