dnd-5esaving-throwspells
I am confused. I have always played that Faerie Fire grants advantage regardless of whether a creature passes its dexterity save against it. However, that does seem to make a level one spell awfully powerful.
Are there any rulings that would explain whether failing the Dexterity save is necessary to bestow advantage against creatures in the area of effect when cast?
It does not say that the target will be "charmed", and the condition it imposes is significantly different than the description of the "Charmed" condition.
OID:
A dancing creature must use all its movement to dance without leaving its space and has disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws and attack rolls. While the target is affected by this spell, other creatures have advantage on attack rolls against it.
Charmed:
A charmed creature can't attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful abilities or magical effects. The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.
A dancing creature can attack the caster (with disadvantage -- and that disadvantage applies to any attack, not just against the caster) and can cast AoE spells that include the caster and anyone else they choose in the target area with no penalty. They just can't move freely. A charmed character can move freely but can't attack or target the caster.
Furthermore, if it were a Charm spell, it would not be necessary to specify that "[c]reatures that can't be charmed are immune to this spell." That appears to be listed as a special exception.
Jeremy Crawford has tweeted saying:
Being charmed means being subjected to the charmed condition
Since OID does not impose the Charmed condition, the Fey Ancestry resistance to "being charmed" does not apply.
Webster's dictionary says:
charm: to affect by or as if by magic : compel
Magically forcing someone to dance seems to fall completely within that definition.
I would give those with Fey Ancestry advantage on saves against all enchantment spells that compel the user to do something that is not their own free choice. This includes many spells that do not specifically say they are "charms" or that they impose the "Charmed" condition, such as command, compelled duel, and yes, Otto's irresistible dance. I believe those all fall within the common sense and dictionary definitions of "charmed" in this context, and there's nothing in the description of Fey Ancestry that says it only applies to things that grant the "Charmed" condition.
The darkness spell is described in such a way as to give the impression that it is something tangible that spills out around corners, but can be blocked by objects. Think of darkness as not unlike a fog cloud spell.
The darkness spreads around corners. [...] Completely covering the source of the darkness with an opaque object, such as a bowl or a helm, blocks the darkness.
Likewise, darkness engulfs non-magical light - or rather, it cannot be illuminated by non-magical light. This means that magical light can illuminate it.
Light in 5e is described as having bounds. Faerie fire indicates that afflicted creatures shed dim light, which only means that area imposes disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks; attacking into dim light behaves as normal.
This is where location comes into play. The bounds of the dim light must penetrate the bounds of the darkness spell in order to be seen. Put another way, there must be no darkness between you and the creature. You need to check the positions and radius of the area of darkness and creatures affected by the faerie fire.
If the radius of the darkness spell's area completely engulfs the radius of the dim light, they cannot be seen by you from any angle. If they are 5 feet or more away from the center of the darkness, they can be seen from the direction the dim light is from the center. This is sort of mathy, but really no more difficult than normal line of sight. Darkness spills out around corners continuously, so just visualize or draw the circles and draw a line to the center of the dim light.
Advantage and disadvantage hinge on who can see whom. In general, you have disadvantage on attacks against targets you cannot see, and advantage on attacks against targets who can't see you. However, when neither target can see each other (such as when a target is standing in darkness and you are not), you have neither disadvantage or disadvantage.
From the basic rules on advantage:
If circumstances cause a roll to have both advantage and disadvantage, you are considered to have neither of them, and you roll one d20. This is true even if multiple circumstances impose disadvantage and only one grants advantage or vice versa.
This means that faerie fire's advantage only has an effect when no disadvantage is imposed. It is important to note that, as explained in the question, faerie fire must be cast at a level greater than 2nd, or darkness will dispel it.
You have advantage against:
You have disadvantage against:
You have neither advantage nor disadvantage against:
This answer hinges on the fact that the darkness spell is dark in 3 dimensions, much like a 15-foot radius of fog or smoke. I believe this is true because of how the darkness spills around corners and can be blocked by objects.
If the darkness spell only "darkens" objects and ground in its radius, then it makes sense to imply that the faerie fire penetrates through it, making line of sight meaningless. Is it a floating black orb, or is it a radius of darkened objects? Again, I say the former, but I would personally leave this up to the DM.
Best Answer
No ruling necessary, just the text of the spell:
Faerie fire outlines objects. It also outlines those creatures that fail the save. It does nothing to those creatures that pass the save.
Moving on...
Only the creatures lit up by the spell are the ones "affected," so only against them are attacks advantaged.