Light-driven fog reveal

By default, fog of war is revealed by token movement. But sometimes you want a scene light to reveal fog on its own — a streetlamp that’s always on, a lantern in a fixed position, a magical light, a bonfire in a clearing. The “Reveals fog of war” toggle on a light makes that happen.

Turning it on

1. Place a light on the scene (see Lights — basics).
2. With the light selected, switch to the Vision tab in the Light Tool.
3. Toggle Reveals fog of war on.

The fog inside the light’s reach immediately clears. Walls in the light’s path block the reveal — the same visibility shape that determines the lit area determines the fog reveal.

How the soft edge works

The fog reveal uses the same Edge softness value as the lit area itself (Geometry tab → Edge softness):

• Edge softness 1 — soft radial fade on the fog reveal, matching the soft glow of the light.
• Edge softness 0 — hard cut-off on both the lit area AND the fog reveal.

So you can match the visual style of the light’s outer rim to the style of its fog reveal — they always agree.

Tip

For maximum effect, pair “Reveals fog of war” lights with Fog memory in the Scene Lighting panel. Fog memory keeps any explored area dimly visible even when no light is illuminating it, so a lit lantern reveals an area, and that area stays softly visible after the lantern’s gone or the player walks past. See Fog memory.

When to use it

Some good reasons to toggle “Reveals fog of war” on a light:

Scenario	Why
Streetlamps in a city scene	Players should see the road they’re walking on without each individual token having a long vision range.
Magical wards / glyphs	A “permanent revelation” effect inside the area of a glyph, regardless of whether a token has vision.
The party’s campfire	Fixed light that everyone can see, no need to attach it to a specific token.
Always-on dungeon torches	Spaces where you’ve decided “everyone’s seen this room” — torches with the toggle revealing the rooms in advance.

When NOT to use it

A few cases where it’s better off:

• A torch that the party is carrying. Attach the light to a token instead so it follows them — its vision automatically reveals fog. Adding “Reveals fog of war” on top would be redundant.
• Stealth-genre scenes where fog reveal should be tied tightly to player movement. Letting a streetlamp pre-reveal an alley defeats the tension.
• Cinematic-only lights (rim lights, fill lights, gobos) that are decorative rather than informational. Leave the toggle off.

Caveats

A few small things to know:

• The reveal is persistent, just like token-driven reveal. Toggling the light off later doesn’t put fog back — once revealed, always revealed (until you manually re-fog with the Fog tool).
• The light needs the scene to actually have fog of war enabled. If your scene has fog disabled (Fog tool → Reveal All has been used), the toggle has nothing to reveal.
• If a light has walls: false (the “Respects walls” switch off), the fog reveal does too — it ignores walls and reveals fog as a full disc / cone, ignoring obstacles.

Related

• How fog of war works — the underlying reveal mechanic.
• Lights — basics — placing the light.
• Radii, edges, and shadows — Edge softness, which controls the fog reveal’s edge too.
• Fog memory — keep explored areas visible after the light’s gone.