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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8619052" data-attributes="member: 6877472">I had a moment like this when I was running Forge of Fury (the Tales from the Yawning Portal version).&nbsp; The players had decided, against my warnings, to take the fight to the dragon.In an attempt to replicate the dragon's tactics from the 3e module, the black dragon's lair is an underwater lake, with only two routes to the island it's put it's treasure on.&nbsp; You can swim (with a fully aquatic dragon running amok) or take a path of rocks sticking out of the water, forcing the party to basically move single file (with a dragon with a line of acid running amok).&nbsp; The dragon is stated to be able to lift only it's head out of the water to breath, giving it partial cover.I carefully looked at the 5e rules and asked the other DM's if this was right, that mere water could provide cover.&nbsp; Everyone said &quot;do what the module says&quot;.What was left silent was how to treat the dragon when it was completely submerged.&nbsp; Left with no guidance, I decided that would give it total cover.Needless to say, the encounter was an actual 5e TPK and everyone had to use their &quot;free AL resurrection&quot;.&nbsp; When I posted about this on this very forum (since I was still curious about the fight's mechanics), I got lambasted for my ruling, since I had &quot;added mechanics to the fight that weren't present or intended&quot;.Which, I'll grant, but I mean, if the module says &quot;3/4th of a dragon in water grants partial cover&quot;, is it really so strange to think &quot;4/4th of a dragon in water is total cover&quot;?&nbsp; Why not just say &quot;if the dragon is in water, it gets partial cover&quot; to avoid any rookie mistakes?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8619052, member: 6877472"] I had a moment like this when I was running Forge of Fury (the Tales from the Yawning Portal version). The players had decided, against my warnings, to take the fight to the dragon. In an attempt to replicate the dragon's tactics from the 3e module, the black dragon's lair is an underwater lake, with only two routes to the island it's put it's treasure on. You can swim (with a fully aquatic dragon running amok) or take a path of rocks sticking out of the water, forcing the party to basically move single file (with a dragon with a line of acid running amok). The dragon is stated to be able to lift only it's head out of the water to breath, giving it partial cover. I carefully looked at the 5e rules and asked the other DM's if this was right, that mere water could provide cover. Everyone said "do what the module says". What was left silent was how to treat the dragon when it was [B]completely[/B] submerged. Left with no guidance, I decided that would give it total cover. Needless to say, the encounter was an actual 5e TPK and everyone had to use their "free AL resurrection". When I posted about this on this very forum (since I was still curious about the fight's mechanics), I got lambasted for my ruling, since I had "added mechanics to the fight that weren't present or intended". Which, I'll grant, but I mean, if the module says "3/4th of a dragon in water grants partial cover", is it really so strange to think "4/4th of a dragon in water is total cover"? Why not just say "if the dragon is in water, it gets partial cover" to avoid any rookie mistakes? [/QUOTE]

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