Darkness

Level 2 Evocation spell available to Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. Fills a 5m sphere with magical darkness. Nobody shoots into it, nobody shoots out of it, and everything inside is effectively Blinded. The most double-edged spell at this level, and in the right build it is close to broken.

Spell description: Create a cloud of magical darkness that Heavily Obscures and Blinds creatures within. Creatures cannot make ranged attacks into or out of the darkness.

Spell properties

• Range: 18m (60ft)
• Area: 5m (16ft)
• Duration: 10 turns
• Concentration spell
• Conditions applied: Heavily Obscured. Blinded.
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Darkness at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Darkness

• Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 3

Source item: Scroll of Darkness

DARKNESS

Level 2 Evocation Spell

Create a cloud of magical darkness that Heavily Obscures and Blinds creatures within. Creatures cannot make ranged attacks into or out of the darkness.

Range: 18m (60ft) AoE: 5m (16ft) Radius Duration: 10 turns

Action Level 2 Spell Slot

AREA: DARKNESS

Duration: 10 turns

AoE: 5m (16ft) Radius

Heavily Obscured. Creatures cannot make ranged attacks into or out of the area. Ordinary Darkvision does not see through it.

Condition: Blinded

• The creature cannot see. Attack Rolls have Disadvantage and attacks against it have Advantage.

When to cast Darkness

Cast this without thinking and you have just blinded your own party. Congratulations. Cast it with Devil’s Sight and you are a war crime. The difference is one Warlock Invocation.

Here is the trick. Devil’s Sight lets you see through your own Darkness. Nobody else can. So you stand in a black sphere hitting everything with Advantage, while they swing at you with Disadvantage, assuming they can find you at all. Eldritch Blast from inside a Darkness cloud is the closest thing a Level 3 Warlock has to cheating.

No Devil’s Sight? Use it as a wall. Drop it on the enemy archers and they cannot shoot. Drop it on yourself and retreat and nothing can target you. Still good, just less fun.

Two gotchas. Ordinary Darkvision does not work. This is magical darkness, so your Drow is just as blind as everyone else, sorry. And it is Concentration, so one solid hit to your caster and the whole plan evaporates.