I don't think so, but it's possible. It would have possibly been in the 2E days and definitely in the 3E days. If someone has a 3E DMG (mine is in storage), they could look it up.
D&D 5E (2014) How do you adjudicate firing through combatants?
- Thread starter SpiderMonkey
- Start date
I don't think so, but it's possible. It would have possibly been in the 2E days and definitely in the 3E days. If someone has a 3E DMG (mine is in storage), they could look it up.
Sorry, I meant the 5e DMG.
Chocolategravy
First Post
It takes 50% cover which will almost never come up with just a single creature. Try it, get a couple friends to stand in combat poses within 10 feet of each other then see how much of the 5 by 5 foot square you're standing in actually has 50% blockage.
And don't forget you can shoot during your move, you can walk up the the 5 foot square your friend is in and fire from there and back out, or take a step to the side, fire and step back etc. Cover from creatures is almost never going to come up outside of crowds.
And don't forget you can shoot during your move, you can walk up the the 5 foot square your friend is in and fire from there and back out, or take a step to the side, fire and step back etc. Cover from creatures is almost never going to come up outside of crowds.
Nebulous
Legend
I never liked the idea of firing projectiles into combat with no chance of hitting allies, BUT, in the interest of fairness and ease of play, it's better to just ignore that hazard. The rules say that cover (including an ally) provide +2 AC to the target. If there were multiple covers, you could go up to +5 AC. Again, there's no specific rule that says you hit your friends, although it would certainly be likely to happen (assuming you're trying to shoot past a group of allies). The DMG I believe also has an alternate rule for hitting cover.
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You are assuming that the target at a given range and the intervening creature are not moving. Especially while in melee and if using a grid system (which a decent percentage of games do), the foe could be in any portion of the grid at any time. Which means that some times, they cover up 0% of a foe and other times, they cover up 100% of a foe. Even if one were not using grids, there is a certain amount of assumption of non-stationary foes.
Also, based on range, a close intervening creature could cover 99% of a far target creature when talking about a straight line. He's 10 times bigger and just at the right angle.
Sure, with move, fire, move, the odds increase that a given foe will not have cover, but it is far from guaranteed.
Also, I am not sure of your claim that a PC could stop in the square of a fellow PC and fire. A Reaction could paralyze that PC and prevent him from moving and the rules on two PCs being in the same square would prevent that. Moving through, yes. There are rules for that. Stopping? Not so sure.
This implies not the end of the move for your turn, but the end of your current movement.
Line of Sight, Cover Rules (+2 to +5) and Alignment 
some would weigh the odds and some would shoot anyway
some would weigh the odds and some would shoot anyway
Flexor the Mighty!
18/100 Strength!
I'm house rulling it like I always did before, cover bonus and if you miss because of the cover you roll an attack on the cover, friend or foe. Came up Sunday when the thief shot his bow into a melee and hit the cover, then rolled a max damage critical on his buddy. If you don't want to shoot your friends don't shoot ranged weapons into a melee they are fighting in. I'm going to be house ruling a lot of combat stuff in 5e since we do use a map and models.
canucksaram
First Post
LabyrinthLord's is the simplest and perhaps best way to handle it: You aim, hold your shot a moment too long, interrupt your instincts to release the shot lest you hit your ally, or whatnot, and that adds up to disadvantage.
On a 1 (typically the anti-natural 20 for most D&Ders) you hit someone from your side that is close to the original target, and if you miss your attack roll by just 1 you hit someone from their side that is close to the original target (assuming that the target is surrounded in some part by its own allies and members of your party).
