Cover Question

[Ogrork the Mighty]

If archer (A) is attacking target (T) who is engaged in melee with archer's ally (AA), the archer suffers the -4 penalty for firing into melee (unless he has the Precise Shot feat). I'm fine with that.

But does/should T get a cover bonus? What if AA was larger size than T?

Here is the setup:

A
......
......
AA
T

 

[MichaelH]

But does/should T get a cover bonus? What if AA was larger size than T?

Yes, T gets a +4 cover bonus to his AC. If AA is significantly larger to where T would have total cover, A cannot target T at all. If A can target T but the cover is deemed almost but not quite total, T could get a +8 cover bonus to AC. That would be a DM call, though. Check out pages 151-152 in the PH for this info.

 

[silentspace]

Yes, T gets a +4 cover bonus to his AC. If AA is significantly larger to where T would have total cover, A cannot target T at all. If A can target T but the cover is deemed almost but not quite total, T could get a +8 cover bonus to AC. That would be a DM call, though. Check out pages 151-152 in the PH for this info.

I don't think a creature can provide anything better than soft cover.

 

[irdeggman]

I don't think a creature can provide anything better than soft cover.

Per the notes in the illustration on pg 151 of the PHB it is cover (+4 to AC) in addition to the -4 for shooting into melee.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I don't think a creature can provide anything better than soft cover.

Normally, yes, but there would be rare cases where creatures would give total cover (instead of partial). For example a genatinous cube. Admittedly, that's the only one that pops into my head.