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<blockquote data-quote="Forged Fury" data-source="post: 5318072" data-attributes="member: 95059">Right. If the DM knew what they were doing, total modifiers would be +4 AC to the opponent due to the soft cover being provided by the archer's ally and a -4 to the archer's attack due to firing into melee&nbsp; (resulting in an effective -8 to the archer's attack roll). As long as the DM wasn't then assigning an additional -4 to the attack from firing into melee, the penalties would ultimately be equivalent.To the OP: The only rule in 3.5 that I can think of that is similar to what you are thinking is that an ally doesn't block your movement (although I believe they do prevent you charging through their square). Your DM is actually somewhat correct, allies do provide your opponents with soft cover from your ranged attacks if they are between you and your opponent, based on the criteria of soft cover. This even applies to reach weapons, per the cover rules. IIRC, the Precise Swing feat in the Eberron Campaign Setting eliminates that penalty for reach weapons.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Forged Fury, post: 5318072, member: 95059"] Right. If the DM knew what they were doing, total modifiers would be +4 AC to the opponent due to the soft cover being provided by the archer's ally and a -4 to the archer's attack due to firing into melee (resulting in an [U]effective[/U] -8 to the archer's attack roll). As long as the DM wasn't then assigning an additional -4 to the attack from firing into melee, the penalties would ultimately be equivalent. To the OP: The only rule in 3.5 that I can think of that is similar to what you are thinking is that an ally doesn't block your movement (although I believe they do prevent you charging through their square). Your DM is actually somewhat correct, allies do provide your opponents with soft cover from your ranged attacks if they are between you and your opponent, based on the criteria of soft cover. This even applies to reach weapons, per the cover rules. IIRC, the Precise Swing feat in the Eberron Campaign Setting eliminates that penalty for reach weapons. [/QUOTE]

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