Hitting friends in meelee with missle weapons

[Particle_Man]

I play a dwarf with a high AC and combat expertise. Yet I take damage in combat, not from my opponents, but from the archer (a scout) behind me. He has Precise Shot, but according to the rules, I act as cover. I find it odd that my +1 Full Plate armor is irrelevant to my taking damage; if he misses by 1-4, he hits me. I even take skirmish damage!

Is there some way that we are reading the rules wrong that will allow me to mitigate this horrible fate? I haven't found anything in the FAQ or errata. I am playing a good character so I can't just kill the scout. Heck, are there any d20 games that have dealt with this problem in a way I could convince my DM to adapt?

 

[Timeron Malachi]

The simplist solution I can think of is probably the most obvious: Have the scout move around to the other side.

Or, conversly, you could delay your action so that he fires first, and then you charge. He could use his move action to go around behind the enemy, and then get his skirmish damage, and then you could charge.

As for how the rules go on that one, I think we just house-ruled that you don't hit your buddy unless you roll a one.

Or, when your scout rolls to hit the orc you're fighting, and misses by 1-4, he rolls again, and if it hits your AC, *then* it hits you. So, he has to make a second roll, sort of like confirming a critical hit.

 

[IronWolf]

I play a dwarf with a high AC and combat expertise. Yet I take damage in combat, not from my opponents, but from the archer (a scout) behind me. He has Precise Shot, but according to the rules, I act as cover. I find it odd that my +1 Full Plate armor is irrelevant to my taking damage; if he misses by 1-4, he hits me. I even take skirmish damage!

Is there some way that we are reading the rules wrong that will allow me to mitigate this horrible fate? I haven't found anything in the FAQ or errata. I am playing a good character so I can't just kill the scout. Heck, are there any d20 games that have dealt with this problem in a way I could convince my DM to adapt?

Didn't 3.5 do away with hitting the cover unless you use the variant rule in the DMG which gives a chance for hitting the cover? I could be wrong, but I thought this came up in our group awhile back.

 

[Mark Chance]

...if he misses by 1-4, he hits me.

Only if the attack roll is sufficient to hit your character.

 

[Quasqueton]

if he misses by 1-4, he hits me. I even take skirmish damage!

If the miss (within 4 points) hits your AC, then you are damaged.

Your AC is 20
The target's normal AC is 17
You being between the archer and target means you give a +4 cover bonus to the target's AC. So the target's AC becomes 21. If the archer hits AC 21, the target takes damage. If the archer hits AC 20, the shot hits you and deals damage to you (it equals your AC). If the archer hits AC 17-19, the shot hits you but doesn't do damage (bounces off your armor).

If the target's normal AC is say 14, then the cover bonus makes it 18. If the archer hits AC 18 or better, the shot hits the target like normal. If the archer hits AC 14-18, the shot bounces off your armor (no damage to you).

So the shot hitting you does not do damage unless the shot beats your AC.

Quasqueton

 

[Christian]

Relevant text (DMG 3.5 pg 24): "If a creature is providing cover for another character and the attack roll exceeds the AC of the covering creature, the covering creature takes the damage intended for the target." (Emphasis mine.)

If you're playing 3.0, you can find virtually the same wording on pg. 133 of the PHB, the only difference being that it's not an optional rule in that version. " ... if the cover is struck and the attack roll exceeds the AC of the covering creature, the covering creature takes the damage intended for the target."

 

[IronWolf]

Relevant text (DMG 3.5 pg 24): "If a creature is providing cover for another character and the attack roll exceeds the AC of the covering creature, the covering creature takes the damage intended for the target." (Emphasis mine.)

Just to make sure (I don't have my DMG on hand), the pp24 reference from the 3.5 DMG is in the variant rule section, right?

 

[JimAde]

And I don't think you should be taking Skirmish damage. That's a form of precision damage, right? Like a Sneak Attack or the OOBI Precision damage? I seriously doubt the scout is carefully aiming to hurt you.

 

[Warehouse23]

I'd have to disagree on the skirmish damage. The scout is trying his darndest to hit the [orc]. Just because the [dwarf] is in the way doesn't negate the skirmish damage, which is applied to the attack regardless of what gets hit.

 

[JimAde]

It seems to me that Skirmish damage is Precision damage, right? As such, I think it would apply only to the target you're actually aiming at, since you are trying to hit a specific spot on that target. Say you are going to shoot the target under the arm where his armor is weak (for example). It's immensely unlikely that the dwarf who jumps in the way would also just happen to stick an especially vulnerable part of his anatomy in exactly the same spot.

If the Skirmish damage was something like a Flaming enhancement, then I would agree. But for Skirmish, or Sneak Attack, or any other kind of precision damage I would say no.