Okay so last week at our Pathfinder game night, I totally screwed up how darkness spells and shadow damage worked. Yeah, it was a mess. Felt dumb, honestly. My players were confused, I was confused, everything dragged. Knew I had to figure this out before next session.
Where the Confusion Started
It happened when Rogue player tried hiding in magical darkness from the Wizard’s spell. Then Shadow Demon hit her with some claw attack doing ‘shadow damage’. I think I said something like “Okay, the darkness makes you harder to see, but that attack still kinda finds you?” It felt super vague. Player asked: “Does the darkness do anything against the shadow claw? Does shadow stuff like darkness?” I just kinda waved my hand and we moved on, but it bugged me.
Cracking Open the Books
After the session, dumped my Core Rulebook and Bestiary on the table. Grabbed a notepad. No more guessing!
Step one: Darkness Spell (the basic one)
- Read the spell description again, slowly. Okay, it makes an area concealed. That’s the key word!
- Concealed means attackers need to roll a flat check (DC 5) to see if they even hit you at all. Like swinging blind.
- It doesn’t just give penalties to the attacker’s roll; they might completely miss even if their roll was good!
- Checked the ‘Darkness’ entry in conditions too. Yep, same concealed rule.
Step two: Shadow Damage
Flipped to the Bestiary entry for the Shadow Demon. Its claw attack says ‘Negative Damage’. Wait. Negative damage? Not ‘shadow damage’? Did we misread it? Double-checked the player who got hit… they said ‘shadow damage’. Ah ha! There’s the slip-up!
- Pathfinder doesn’t actually have a damage type called “Shadow Damage”. Whoops.
- Looked up Negative Energy, Negative Damage. It’s like the opposite of positive healing energy, hurts living things.
- No mention of it interacting with darkness spells just because it sounds shadowy. Big lightbulb moment!
Putting it All Together
So, what should have happened at the table?
- Darkness Spell: Makes the Rogue concealed to the Shadow Demon. Demon has to roll DC 5 flat check before rolling its attack. Fail? Misses totally. Succeed? Then it rolls its attack normally against Rogue’s AC.
- Demon’s Claw Attack: Does Negative Damage. Darkness spell doesn’t give resistance to negative damage. If the attack hit (after any flat check!), the Rogue takes the full negative damage. Ow.
- The name “Shadow Demon” and “Negative Damage” is just flavor! The mechanics don’t link them automatically.
Testing My Understanding
Wanted to make sure I got it solid. Grabbed my dice and two miniatures.
- Setup: Orc Warrior (mini A) standing in area covered by Darkness spell. Goblin Archer (mini B) outside the darkness, shooting in.
- Goblin shoots at Orc. Orc is concealed. Roll Flat Check: d20, need 5 or higher. Rolled a 3. “Miss! Arrow sails past harmlessly.” Even if Goblin rolled high attack, wouldn’t matter.
- Next shot: Rolled Flat Check – got a 7! Okay, now Goblin rolls its attack vs Orc AC. Succeeds? Then hits, does piercing damage. Darkness didn’t stop the damage type, just made it super hard to target reliably.
- Tried imagining the Goblin had a “Negative Damage” dagger. If it somehow got close, Flat Check first (because darkness), then attack roll, then if hit, apply negative damage. Darkness doesn’t magically block negative energy.
Sharing with the Group
Before our next game, I sent a super quick message to my players:
“Okay, folks, clarity check after last week’s darkness/shadow snafu:
– Darkness makes you concealed: Enemies need flat DC 5 check just to try hitting you.
– No such thing as ‘shadow damage’ in the rules. The demon was doing NEGATIVE damage.
– Darkness doesn’t block negative damage; it just makes you harder to target.
– ‘Shadow’ in the name? Just spooky flavor! Doesn’t change mechanics.
My bad for mixing things up! Won’t happen again.”
Man, it felt good to get that straightened out. Made a little sticky note for my GM screen: Darkness = Concealed (Flat Check DC 5). Negative Damage ≠ Shadow Damage. Simple, but exactly what I needed. Game night was way smoother after that!