Broken Spells in SC and Broken Items in MIC?

[Hypersmurf]

Unless the majority of your combat time is spent in 10 foot wide corridors, it's really not that hard to avoid cover penalties as long as you follow RAW regarding cover (You only need a line from one corner of your square to one corner of any of their squares that doesn't pass through a cover-providing square).

Not quite - you need lines from one corner of your square to all corners of one of their squares. If any line from the corner of your square you choose to their square passes through a cover-providing square, they have cover. You don't just need one line to be clear, you need all the lines to be clear.

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|...............|
|...............|
|......[color=RoyalBlue]o[/color]........+####
|......[color=red]h[/color]........|   ##
|[color=orange]...............[/color]|    #####
|[color=orange]...............[/color]|
|[color=orange]...............[/color]|
|[color=orange]...............[/color]|
|[color=orange].....[color=lime]@[/color].........[/color]|
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The elf is within 30 feet of the orc - no problem with range increments! - and in a nice wide open room... but the dwarf is providing the orc with cover. The orc will have cover if the elf is in any of the orange squares - the elf needs to move at least 25 feet to have a clear shot.

Or convince the dwarf to take a 5' step out of the way.

-Hyp.

 

[Mistwell]

I've also never really had trouble getting around cover. It's pretty rare that it is an issue. You could actually reduce the price of that item and most people I game with would shrug and still ignore it.

 

[brehobit]

I've also never really had trouble getting around cover. It's pretty rare that it is an issue. You could actually reduce the price of that item and most people I game with would shrug and still ignore it.

I know we play loose with the cover rules. I suspect a mainly dungeon-crawl group that doesn't play lose with these rules would find them to be really important.

And, If I'm getting this right, my spiked-chain wielding marshal could stand behind the meat shield and attack the foe in front of the meat shield with no penalty. _that_ would be handy. Really handy. I assume I still couldn't take AoO if that foe provoked though, right? So good, but not great. For the right build (like my 9th level marshal) I'd pay 6-10K for that. I suspect a bow-ranger might also like it a lot.

Mark

 

[Hypersmurf]

And, If I'm getting this right, my spiked-chain wielding marshal could stand behind the meat shield and attack the foe in front of the meat shield with no penalty. _that_ would be handy. Really handy. I assume I still couldn't take AoO if that foe provoked though, right?

Right, and right.

-Hyp.

 

[Mistwell]

I know we play loose with the cover rules. I suspect a mainly dungeon-crawl group that doesn't play lose with these rules would find them to be really important.

And, If I'm getting this right, my spiked-chain wielding marshal could stand behind the meat shield and attack the foe in front of the meat shield with no penalty. _that_ would be handy. Really handy. I assume I still couldn't take AoO if that foe provoked though, right? So good, but not great. For the right build (like my 9th level marshal) I'd pay 6-10K for that. I suspect a bow-ranger might also like it a lot.

Mark

Yeah now that i think about it the issue of cover for our ranged-weapon themed folks does come up a lot (from fellow party members being in the way). I can see it being useful for them. I remember the look on one of our newer player's faces when he was told he had a -8 to attack with his bow (-4 from cover from fellow player between him and foe, and -4 from foe being in melee combat with same fellow player). Suddenly the player understood why precise shot was useful.

 

[AnonymousOne]

so this item fails the "Would anyone not take it?" test.

No it doesn't it fails the "would any ranged character not take it" test, quite different.