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A Fighter PC without Darkvision who has donned a shield in their left hand and wishes to attack with a sword in their right hand. Their ally, a Gloomstalker Ranger, bought them a Bullseye Lantern so the Gloomstalker could stay in the dark behind the fighter shooting arrows at enemies, while the Fighter attacks a lit enemy in melee.

Is the Fighter able to strap the Bullseye Lantern to a belt or otherwise have it shining and moving with them without constantly requiring the use of a hand? Does this answer change for "the lantern faces wherever the Fighter faces" vs. "the Fighter has precise control over the angle of the lantern"?

Thomas Markov
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Kerrick
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3 Answers3

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Normally, yes

Everyday objects behave as you would expect them to, unless there is explict rules text explaining how something works in game terms. Otherwise, the rules books would need endless amounts of boring and mundane text explaining how the normal world works.

If real life experience is any guide, under normal circumstances you need a hand to hold and point a lantern that has a directed beam. You might be able to comission a special helmet where you can mount it, similar to the modern lights you can use when jogging at night, but the lantern is much bulkier and heavier than those, so how well that would work would be up to the DM.

Nobody the Hobgoblin
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    Not to mention that, while D&D generally abstracts away stuff like location of hits, an unprotected lantern full of oil with an ignition source mounted on your head, during combat, seems like a a terrible idea. I might allow it, but I'd also probably have it break and douse you with flaming oil on a critical hit, or an unusually poor roll involving Athletics or Acrobatics. Maybe set it down as you approach enemies, so it illuminates a cone starting behind you? Or homebrew a version of a bullseye lantern fueled by Continual Flame so it doesn't use fuel or produce heat? – ShadowRanger Nov 01 '23 at 23:23
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    I'll add that if you have ever tried to attach narrow beam flashlight to your belt to have hands free, you know why it doesn't work. Light just swings wildly and pretty much never shows you what you want to. I can only imagine how much worse it would be with a heavy lantern on a string instead of light flashlight on a stiff clip. And I wasn't even trying to fight, just walked and tied knots etc. – Mołot Nov 02 '23 at 00:00
  • @ShadowRanger The continual flame upgrade is what we did in our game, and that still required a hand. We occasionally used our unseen servant for that, or we set it down as a free object interaction if needed. – Nobody the Hobgoblin Nov 02 '23 at 04:59
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    ...huh, I did not realize a Bullseye Lantern was a real-world item until you called it an everyday object. After doing a bit of research, I have a much better understanding of how one would work. – Kerrick Nov 02 '23 at 05:00
  • @Kerrick you can generally assume that non-magical D&D objects are probably either real world objects, or originally based on them in early editions with some evolution over time. Researching the object in question in a non-TTRPG context is a great place to start for anything like this. – coppereyecat Nov 02 '23 at 15:42
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    A Bullet Lantern, at least the one I have, is not comparable in any fashion to a flashlight. It's not as bright, and the lit cone is MUCH wider than any of our flashlights. I light it, and set it on the ground and it is useful in setting up the campsite, illuminating the cooking/eating area, etc. It doesn't focus the beam as much as kill the area behind it from being lit. (yes, I have an oil-based lantern, with a wick.) As far as wearing it on the head, I'm not sure why they would want to affix a bullet lantern up there, vs. a miner's helmet... but whatever. – CGCampbell Nov 02 '23 at 16:39
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Some designs of dark lanterns or bulls eye lanterns could be hooked on a belt

Some models of bullseye lantern, e.g. police lamps of the 1800s had belt clips. There are design considerations and compromises that go into that design, but police lamps are similar to what one might expect adventuring types to be looking for.

Mechanics and Lamp Direction

Optional Facing Rule

Dungeon Master Guide p.252 has an optional rule for facing in combat. Having a lantern fixed forward facing on a character's belt would dictate that the light be facing the forward arc and thus the direction in which the character is attacking.

Combat without Facing Rule

If the optional facing rules are not being used, then the character can attack directly behind them and there isn't a combat rule that the limited directionality the character (and light is facing) and which direction they're attacking.

Narration Reference

A bit of narrative example of what wearing a lantern was like from The Youth by Robert Louis Stevenson

He was like the lad- die with a lantern under his coat in the game he described so well. "We wore them buckled to the waist upon a cricket belt, and over them, such was the rigour of the game, a buttoned topcoat. They smelled noisomely of blistered tin; they never burned aright though they always burned our fingers; their use was naught; the pleasure of them merely fanciful; and yet a boy with a bull's eye under his topcoat asked for nothing more!"

GcL
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This is up to the DM

Interestingly enough, this is one of those cases where I think "I'm sure there's something in the rules for interacting with objects regarding adventuring gear!" but the rules are strangely silent. The only text for bullseye lanterns specifically is

A bullseye lantern casts bright light in a 60-foot cone and dim light for an additional 60 feet. Once lit, it burns for 6 hours on a flask (1 pint) of oil.

The other texts for lamps and hooded lanterns, and even torches, are not helpful either. The only slight clue is torches saying

If you make a melee attack with a burning torch and hit, it deals 1 fire damage.

You would need to be holding a torch to do this, but lanterns don't have this feature so ultimately this is unhelpful.

The section on Interacting with Objects is equally silent, in fact more or less states that it is up to the DM.

A character's interaction with objects in an environment is often simple to resolve in the game. The player tells the DM that his or her character is doing something, ... and the DM describes what, if anything happens.

If you are in combat, it would require the Use an Object action to light and attach the lantern to your belt or whatever. Whether that would be two separate Use an Object actions would be up to the DM.

So, at the end of the day, it is up to the DM whether or not you can. In my opinion, and from the real world, this will not break anything. You need a free hand to actually light it, but beyond that it simply produces light. Having it on your belt might make it sway a bit more, but not enough to really matter unless you're sprinting, which would be its own edge case to deal with as a DM.

TheLittlePeace
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    I am the DM, and I'm asking so I can rule "fairly" for the player. :) – Kerrick Nov 01 '23 at 20:14
  • Fair enough. That's mostly why I included my thoughts on the matter at the end - free hand to light it, but after that it's lit and you can do whatever you want with it, unless its doused or otherwise would go out, its lit. It doesn't stop being lit just because you put it on a belt. – TheLittlePeace Nov 01 '23 at 20:16
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    If it’s not fixed in place, like on a helmet, how would it be illuminating what they would need to see? And I’m not sure I would want a oil based lantern mounted on my head that’s lit. – NotArch Nov 01 '23 at 20:26
  • @NotArch Cones are decently wide (~53 degree angle), even with it swaying with your movement you could get a good idea of the area directly in front of you. However, that is not discussed in the rules themselves. If that is how you would rule, then that is fine. My main point is that it is up to the DM. – TheLittlePeace Nov 01 '23 at 20:32
  • I don't understand why I am being downvoted. I only stated that it would be up to the DM. I cited sources to show that the rules have nothing pertaining to this situation. I give my opinion on what they as a DM could do given my experience as a DM. All of these things are things I've seen on this site. Then Hobgoblin shows up, says the same thing without citing anything except an answer that quotes similar things to me, dodges the belt issue, and that's okay?... I've got three downvotes, one explanation, and it's basically telling me why my personal ruling is wrong. – TheLittlePeace Nov 01 '23 at 21:00
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    I dunno, I upvoted you. ‍♂️ – Kerrick Nov 01 '23 at 22:43
  • It's a bit in the presentation. Your headline doesn't add anything new to a conversation about roleplaying games. It's always up to the GM. – T.J.L. Nov 02 '23 at 12:18
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    @T.J.L. I disagree, and have up-voted. It's not spelled out in the RAW, therefor it almost specifically HAS to be DM-ruled. Nothing at all wrong with pointing this out, especially since it disagrees with the other answer (as of when I wrote this. +1 – CGCampbell Nov 02 '23 at 16:35
  • @CGCampbell Again, it's a matter of presentation. "This is up to the DM" is a truism - it is obviously true and not headline worthy. It doesn't add anything new or interesting, and it doesn't summarize the situation in any useful away. Everything is up to the GM. A headline like "The Rules Do Not Address This" would be a place to start. – T.J.L. Nov 06 '23 at 19:52