D&D 5E Attacking on an ally's space

[Prakriti]

Imagine you're playing on a grid. The party is holding a door against a group of orcs. The fighter in the front rank is within 5' of the orcs and can attack, but the rogue is in the second rank and cannot reach. In order to attack, the rogue wants to move onto the fighter's square, attack an orc, then move back to his original position.

Is this within the rules?

 

[Geeknamese]

I wouldn't allow the rogue to attack through the fighter's occupied square. The rogue can fire ranged attacks with the orcs having half-cover and still get his sneak attack bonus damage.


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[jimmifett]

either rogue uses reach weapon, ranged weapon, or delays until the fighter has moved away from the door. Unless the fighter was size Large. that might be a different story

 

[Mercule]

I wouldn't allow the rogue to attack through the fighter's occupied square. The rogue can fire ranged attacks with the orcs having half-cover and still get his sneak attack bonus damage.

I agree with not allowing the Rogue to "pause" in the Fighter's square. Even when it's only split movement, I'd still consider it to violate the restrictions on p 190 of the PHB. That does actually say, "you can't willingly end your movement in its space," though, so I guess there's some wiggle room. I still stand by my interpretation, until shown otherwise.

The half-cover bit seems off, though. I can't find the rule, but I'd swear that allies don't count as cover, though enemies do. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know because it would definitely impact my players.

 

[Oofta]

I agree with not allowing the Rogue to "pause" in the Fighter's square. Even when it's only split movement, I'd still consider it to violate the restrictions on p 190 of the PHB. That does actually say, "you can't willingly end your movement in its space," though, so I guess there's some wiggle room. I still stand by my interpretation, until shown otherwise.

The half-cover bit seems off, though. I can't find the rule, but I'd swear that allies don't count as cover, though enemies do. If I'm wrong, I'd like to know because it would definitely impact my players.

Page 74 basic rules

A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to AC and
Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an
obstacle blocks at least half of its body. The obstacle
might be a low wall, a large piece of furniture, a narrow
tree trunk, or a creature, whether that creature is an
enemy or a friend.

 

[guachi]

Normally, I wouldn't allow this, either. Not only wouldn't I allow it, I don't think it's allowable within the rules.

If I were forced to allow it, I'd give the rogue disadvantage on the attack for fighting in a tight space.

 

[MiraMels]

My first instinct was to say "yeah that's totally within the rules-as-written and i'd allow it" but consider that it also implies that every single orc the fighter is holding the door against will be able to move up and deliver its full compliment of attacks, so, i guess it's up to you and what kind of tactical challenge you wanna deliver. Just be consistent.


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[jaelis]

Only if you let the orc dodge into the fighter's space to attack the rogue

 

[Caliban]

RAW, no it doesn't work. If you do want to allow it to work, then I'd say the rogue and fighter are considered to be squeezing while they share the space, giving the rogue disadvantage on their attack. Plus they'd possibly provoke an Opportunity Attack afterward as they move away from the orc (barring a cunning action Disengage, having mobility, or being a Swashbuckler). And the Opportunity Attack would be made with advantage because they are squeezing.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

This situation was discussed at length during the playtest, when the concept of attacking in the middle of your movement was first brought up. The exact scenario involved a fighter holding a narrow doorway, with a team of four or five goblins taking turns to run up and hit before returning to the back of the line.

The official solution, which works in practical terms to prevent egregious abuse, is that movement through allied space is treated as difficult terrain; a rogue directly behind the fighter could move up and swing, but just that forward-and-back would cost like 20 feet of movement (depending on whether you count it as entering or leaving or both), which meant the third goblin back wouldn't be able to return to its original position (and staying in the allied space would impose horrible squeezing conditions where both goblins were at disadvantage on everything).