I don’t see a feat that fits, blind sight requires a major action and then active sustaining (not to mention covering a lot more territory than simply low-light vision or dark vision.)
Am I missing it?
There ain’t a specific feat for vision that isn’t tied to the boon, no.
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OK. I will make one then. 
If this is really important for your game and you can’t just handle it narratively, then keep it cheap. This is a bit too granular for most OL feats, and also highly dependent on the campaign that you’re running. Based on campaigns I’ve run, I would say have it as a 2-tier feat at 1 feat point per tier.
2 points seems rather low to get access to darkvision, considering it’s a PL5 boon.
Blindsight isn’t quite darkvision though; darkvision wouldn’t confer immunity to Blinded, and would also probably be more limited in terms of execution. The Flying feat is also only 3 feat points to mimic PL6 Flight, and I’d be hard-pressed to argue that Darkvision is worth the same as that.
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To note, some people do use boons like flight to simulate a character that can fly naturally, and they might take feats to make it easier.
They could take the flying feat, but instead, just utilize flight boon to describe them focusing on flying. Then they could take Superior Concentration, and when they are not using flying, they have the extra benefit of being able to maintain other boons if they want.
Lots of ways to go about it and still use what’s already there without creating something additional. Now of course, if you feel it is really needed you can go ahead for your game.
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You make good points!
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I will say, another thing you can do is simply just give them the vision. There are usually always trade offs for this sort of thing in one respect or another.
For example, I had a player in one of my games that was a suit of mechanized and arcane powered armor. They were bound to it, so for vision, I allowed them to have 360 vision b/c essentially they sensed the environment around them via arcane ways. However, this only extended out 60 feet at most, which meant they could not see anything farther away than that,and could be surprised by such attacks.
For dark vision, they might be able to see better in the dark, but the transition between visions could be jarring, and if light suddenly flares up it could temporarily blind them, etc. Plus limiting it to a limited range.
There should be some sort of cost to benefit ratio for sure.
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Darkvision (I-II)
Cost: 1
Prerequisites: None
Description
you excel at seeing in the dark, whether through genetically augmented eyes, elven magic, or intense nocturnal training.
Effect
For each tier of this feat that you possess, you can see dark places to a range of 30.
(so 60 ft at tier two)
Alternatively,
Perk: Nightvision
you have the innate sense to see in the dark for 60ft but beyond that, you see in the dark as anyone else does.
Flaw: Light Sensitivity
your eyes are sharp and keenly aware of many things, but this also makes you sensitive to sudden changes in light levels, often leaving you stunned or blinded.
Does this summarise this conversation well enough?
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I think I like the idea of making it a freebie with positives and negatives as a racial trait (and it could apply to something like night-vision goggles this way as well).
Pros: Able to see in total darkness up to 60ft and in low-light (from dusk to moonless night) as humans see during daylight.
Cons: Any light level higher than a typical ‘dusk’ level of light causes pain and difficulty with sight. Disadvantage 1 on all rolls. Noon-day light equivalent is blinding.
My modern-day dwarves will be wearing sunglasses on the surface…
Here’s the thing, if their vision is limited in DarkVision, then you are Double/Triple hitting them with what you just proposed.
Hey you get to see in the dark
BUT… only to 60 ft
AND… you get disadvantage 1 when you are in NOT dark
AND… you are blind in daylight
Alright, I won’t take dark vision, I’ll just make sure to use Blindsight… at least that’s how I’d do it as a player.
The things people suggested was that a change in light causes disorientation/blindness b/c the eyes have to adjust. In complete daylight, having disadvantage 1 can make sense, and then sunglasses could counteract that.
In your world, if that’s how the vision works, that’s how it works. The way I’ve always seen it (har har, but pun not intended), the “dark vision” is something that switches on when the light is different.
Humans, in the real world, actually do this. We have different receptors in our eyes, some we use when it’s dark, the others we use when it is brighter. However, sudden changes can affect, just like someone wearing nightvision goggles, if a sudden light flashes in your face you get blinded.
Now the big question is HOW can they see in complete dark? Is this some sort of heat vision, infrared, magical sensing/detection?
That will give you an idea how it works in your world to work the Perk/Flaw to work.
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It’s summer here, and it is time for me to get back to my role playing and campaign writing. I am working with Kobolds at the moment, and was trying to wrap my brain around how they are able to see in the dark when I found this thread. I read through the responses, and looked at a a homebrewery bestiary containing Kobolds.
In an attempt to run Open Legend games that leave D&D in the dust, I figured out that for me it is best to use as much of the OL terminology as possible. Specifically, I mean that to create darkvision for creatures who can simply see in the dark in OL I plan to specify it using a scaled form of Blindsight. First off the Duration will be “Passive Persists” with an Invocation Time of “Birth”. The Power Level will be N/A for non-applicable. This form of Blindsight is really specific to creatures that evolved in darkness, so they can easily be afflicted with the Blinded bane at any time. Finally, I’m going to create my form of Blindsight with 60’ visibility in the dark, normal vision in low-light conditions, and no other features.
The point I’m trying to make here is concerning cognitive resources in actual gameplay. The reason I got into Open Legend is the fine depth of its development with respect to character generation, and especially for the GM who has to make up many various encounters. One of my favorite things about the game system is that you can scale practically everything up, down, and sideways within the context of any story the game tells.
Thanks for your time and consideration reading this post,
Monchkrit Bashlan
3 Likes
For Darkvision, I think what may work best is to consider it a skinned version of the Light boon. For characters that want to have it, they need only invest a single attribute point in either Energy or Creation and declare that their character is using racial Darkvision rather than casting a light spell that other PCs can see. As monsters can’t see it either this swings both ways and seems to balance pretty well with the least amount of change. Also seems would work seamlessly against the Darkness boon as higher level Darkvision penetrates magical darkness.
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Personally i think making dark vision a simple feat similar to how there’s both a feat and boon for flying would keep the most consistency with how the game is. I also think adding the whole blinded thing is unnecessary to add on to the feat, as the GM can make the call if such a thing matters or not. With all that being said, I hope Dark Vision becomes an official thing, and not another one of those “You’re the GM, add whatever you want” abilities.
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