Gruns
Explorer
Hey all.
Are there any very good FAQ's regarding cover/concealment out there? Our group normally gets along just fine, and I usually just go with what seems logical when it comes to rules disputes, and everyone is usually fine with that. However, recently we're having trouble agreeing with cover.
Picture this: A manticore on the corner of a flat roof versus a ranger out in the open about 15 feet down and 5 feet away on the ground below. As the ranger shot at the manticore, I gave it +4 AC as the angle would have given the manticore some cover. I informed the PC of this, no problem. The problem occured when the manticore shot some tail spikes back at the ranger. Two of the spikes hit the ranger's AC exactly. The ranger's PC argued that because the manticore had cover, the ranger should have cover. I told him the ranger was standing in the middle of nothing, and had no cover at all. He then quoted the PHB about "If you can draw a line from your square to an opponent's and pass through cover, then you have cover." (or something; paraphrasing) I told him this made no sense, but couldn't find a way to disprove the theory. So I told him the manticore flew up, out of cover, shot his spikes, then flew back to the roof. This rules workaround seemed unecessary to me.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until after the session that I think I found the key to what I was missing. On pg 151 of the PHB, the last line of the "Low Obstacles and Cover" paragraph mentions that the attacker can ignore cover if he is closer to the obstacle than his target. This makes perfect, logical sense to me and is what I was trying to show him.
Now concealment. Can someone tell me if there's a similar rule regarding concealment? Picture a guy hiding in the weeds along a road. According to the PHB, if he shoots at a person standing wide open in the middle of the road, he has a 20% chance to miss due to the fact that a corner of his square passes through concealment. This makes no logical sense to me, thus I feel I'm missing something. Anyone have any help here? Thanks
Later!
Gruns
Are there any very good FAQ's regarding cover/concealment out there? Our group normally gets along just fine, and I usually just go with what seems logical when it comes to rules disputes, and everyone is usually fine with that. However, recently we're having trouble agreeing with cover.
Picture this: A manticore on the corner of a flat roof versus a ranger out in the open about 15 feet down and 5 feet away on the ground below. As the ranger shot at the manticore, I gave it +4 AC as the angle would have given the manticore some cover. I informed the PC of this, no problem. The problem occured when the manticore shot some tail spikes back at the ranger. Two of the spikes hit the ranger's AC exactly. The ranger's PC argued that because the manticore had cover, the ranger should have cover. I told him the ranger was standing in the middle of nothing, and had no cover at all. He then quoted the PHB about "If you can draw a line from your square to an opponent's and pass through cover, then you have cover." (or something; paraphrasing) I told him this made no sense, but couldn't find a way to disprove the theory. So I told him the manticore flew up, out of cover, shot his spikes, then flew back to the roof. This rules workaround seemed unecessary to me.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until after the session that I think I found the key to what I was missing. On pg 151 of the PHB, the last line of the "Low Obstacles and Cover" paragraph mentions that the attacker can ignore cover if he is closer to the obstacle than his target. This makes perfect, logical sense to me and is what I was trying to show him.
Now concealment. Can someone tell me if there's a similar rule regarding concealment? Picture a guy hiding in the weeds along a road. According to the PHB, if he shoots at a person standing wide open in the middle of the road, he has a 20% chance to miss due to the fact that a corner of his square passes through concealment. This makes no logical sense to me, thus I feel I'm missing something. Anyone have any help here? Thanks
Later!
Gruns