See "Invisible" in Sil

[DavidMedley]

Supposedly:
difficulty = opponent’s will + 2 per square of distance between you
Perception helps you detect ‘invisible’ opponents.
See Invisible grants a +10 bonus to seeing otherwise invisible enemies
Keen Senses provides a +5 bonus to spotting ‘invisible’ enemies.

I'm a bit confused by my recent experience, though. With Perception 15 and see invis equip, I was harrassed and killed by a Whispering Shadow. When I died, the game revealed that 2 were adjacent to me and 3 more nearby. I never saw any of them. Monster.txt says they have Will 5.

How did I not see *any* of these for several turns? Should be like 1d10+25 vs 1d10+5, plus a few points for range? Does it have to do with my pathetic basic torch?

[wobbly]

Whispering shadows are not invisible. They have a darkness aura that stacks the more there are. You need light. They also do darkness damage. Armour doesn't protect, only light.

[DavidMedley]

OK, wish I could change the title of this thread, then. So if it has light radius -1, what do I have to do to overcome that?

[Quirk]

OK, wish I could change the title of this thread, then. So if it has light radius -1, what do I have to do to overcome that?

You need more light.

Fight them in already-lit rooms to gain 1 light to offset their darkness. Bows of Radiance and Staffs of Light can permanently lighten corridors and dark rooms.

Wield a weapon that increases light radius, or wear a Helm of Brilliance. Lanterns are useful.

Skills-wise, Inner Light strengthens your light by 1 so the darkness has to be stronger to overcome it, Song of Trees increases your light radius.

Currently, dropping glowing items that do not need fuel adds the light together so dropping a Feanorian lamp on the floor while wielding a light gives you more light than you can carry; I don't like this, and am liable to stop it working like that in a rebalancing sometime soon, though probably there will be other light buffs to compensate.

[wobbly]

I'm going to add Easterling Warriors & Giants as light sources, though you'll want to take a lot of care there.

One thing thats not immediately obvious is how much stealth helps here. Killing them before they breed is a big deal and they are a nightmare on louder builds. You don't want to waste too much on stealth if you're not a stealth buid, however having a couple of pts in stealth by this depth is a cheap-ish investment.

[DavidMedley]

Keen Senses?

Would Keen Senses let me see dark creatures at net light 0? I.e. would that ever count as being "just beyond the edge of a pool of light?"

[wobbly]

Every square has a light level. You radiate light, they radiate -light. If your square is still lit & an adjacent square isn't that's "edge of pool of light". If they overpower your own square, then no.