Straight to the point to keep it short. I think it's a bit silly to have light sensitivity affect those races the way it does. It basically means, intentional or not, that any of those that play that class are virtually unable to get to 25 dexterity. I understand that the penality has to be there, it is part of the race, I fully understand and do not try to get that changed, however, I would like to see how this mechanic is in effect.

I was told that, if the room is flagged properly, I can get to 25 dex and worked correctly as Nezmar did flag a room dark for me, however, he pointed out that it is a flag problem then and would, most likely, require way too much work to fix, as every single room would have to be re-flagged.

I think everyone would agree if I said that not being able to get to 25 dex is quite an impairment. And do not get me wrong, I do not want it removed all together, drow/duergar should be susceptible to sunlight..but other light? Would torchlight trigger the weakness?

So the first idea I'd like to put forth, kudos to Aldeis for that, is to actually change the flags or the way they affect the characer. There could be sunlight, which would weaken a drow/duergar, or artificial light, a torch-lit area for instance, that would not.

The second idea is to give those affected by that weakness a spell or ability to darken the room and create an artifical darkness that would last for a minute or two or so and would have to be resummoned, negating the penality while in effect.

Please discuss.

Alright. I'm going to get a little nerdy and expound upon the thoughts that Thaladred posted. I'm certainly no expert, (and if you or anyone can figure out any numbers more accurate than this, please do) but from what I can understand/find, this is the way I can break it down...

Light is measured in lumens. A lux is lumens per square meter. A 40 watt lightbulb puts out about 400 lux of light. Outdoor light, in lux, seems to vary from around 120k at noon with no cover and lower with varying conditions such as clouds and shade. I can't find any specifics on torch light or fire light (partially because the size of which is so varying that its nearly impossible to get a good average), but I think its safe to assume that your average torch that would be placed upon the wall of a castle or the lamps that light a street can't produce very many more lumens, or lux than a low wattage light bulb.

Now, even in D&D, a game which a large amount of MUDs and various roleplaying games which races such as Drow, Duergar (Gray Dwarves), Drider and other underworlders come from a character intended to be from a "lightless" area is given a range of sight of 60 feet in such conditions. Low light increases that range by 30 feet beyond that. This being said, it can be assumed that most societies in the underdark have some varying degree of lighting, albeit low, to make such a civilization fully functional and more readily governed and protected by a caste or organization.

I understand that the lighted flag has been thoroughly used throughout the game in thousand of rooms without regard to the races of Drow and Gray Dwarves, but I believe that the lighted flag itself should not affect said races. I still do believe however, that any area in which one would experience daylight should affect the races that come from the underdark. It is their innate flaw, and they have 'abilities' that should in theory compensate for that. But as it stands, they have more drawbacks than benefits, especially considering that the spell true sight which several classes get override their innate bonuses.

Really one could claim that all the current DL content is not deep enough underground, and so all current content causes the adverse effect upon the drow. Its not technically underdark, even the current drow mobs are just an outpost of sorts near the surface.

So um...yeah....

Without giving too much away, I can honestly say there is to my knowledge a zone that is started that pertains primarily to those that reside in the 'underdark' and so I will make sure when its finished that all those rooms down there will be properly flagged to benefit the drow more then others.

That being said, yes currently drows suffer for being too near the surface. Lets see what happens when we get some content thats more to their liking, perhaps even some stuff that may benefit them greater. /wink /wink

Anywho, good point and noted by this builder atleast. Lets see what happens in the future.
Sol.

I can agree with everything that's been said here. Drow do suffer from never being able to reach 25 dex, due to builders flagging their rooms as lighted with disregard. I believe a spell could be created for this, but I'd have to say that it's a spell that clerics would get, regardless of their race. *maybe* druids. Or perhaps giving it to the same classes that can cast light bearing spells.

*shrug*

Other options include using macros to create the effects desired.