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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 6446917" data-attributes="member: 6702445">Okay, I have a question about cover.  The description of half cover on p. 196 of the PHB says this:"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."It seems straightforward to me, but this has been a source of disagreements at my table.  Let's say a squishy sorcerer is standing behind a meatwall paladin.  Does the cover provided by the paladin work both ways?  In other words, if a goblin is in the room on the far side of the paladin and the sorcerer doesn't move, does that mean the sorcerer's attack is made at -2 for half cover?  If so, doesn't that essentially negate the whole idea/value of a front line and second line, for PCs and monsters alike?  The player says the sorcerer's attack shouldn't be penalized because it's "like ducking around a tree trunk," and so far I've been allowing that character to attack without the cover penalty.  But I'm starting to wonder if I'm doing that right.  In open spaces, we could just assume move-attack-move, but this group likes to make extensive use of choke points, so the sorcerer wouldn't always have the option of moving to a better position.Then there's the question of what happens if the goblin runs forward and engages the paladin in melee.  This is where most of the disagreements have come up in my game.  I say the sorcerer attacks the goblin at -2 because of cover.  The player says, "No, the paladin is my cover."  I say cover works both ways there, but the player clearly feels that he's getting the shaft.  If I am interpreting this correctly, is there anything else in the rules I can point to as evidence, or does it come down to the sentence I quoted above?It may be relevant to mention that I'm teaching 5E to the entire group, and they used to play D&D 3.5 exclusively.  They are having a hard time adjusting to the lack of five-foot step, which is part of the source of the disagreement.</blockquote>

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