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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 5854529" data-attributes="member: 92305">As far as hitting your ally in in melee, I was using the, albeit optional, rule on page 24 of the 3.5 DMG. That would consider your ally as "cover" for the bad guy, which is basically what he is, right? I mean, why the -4 penalty? It's to avoid the cover provided by your ally as the two of them swoop and dip, move aside and swing, in the dance called melee.   In tonight's fight, one of the PC's, Caelis, was locked in melee with a zombie-type character. The other PC, Silaigne, wanted to chunk his hunting spear at the zombie-critter. Normally, Silaigne would need a 10 to hit the zombie. Since the zombie is in melee with Caelis, the -4 penalty applies, making that, for all practical purposes, a 14+ needed to hit the zombie. According to DMG page 24, this means a roll of 1-9 completely misses, a roll of 10-13 means the zombie's cover (which is the PC Caelis*), and a throw of 14+ means the zombie was hit.   *The throw must also beat Caelis' AC.  So, if Caelis' has AC 14+, there will be no damage.   Example:  Caelis is in melee with the zombie.  Silaigne wants to chunck his critter sticker (a hunting spear) at the zombie as the two fight.  The zombie has an AC 10, but the throwing into melee penalty makes this an AC 14. Silaigne makes his attack throw and ends up with a 12 total.  This means he missed the zombie but may have hit Caelis.  Caelis' has AC 13.  So, the spear misses Caelis, too.  Had Silaigne thrown a 13, then Caelis would be hit.  Had Silaigne made a 14 or better on the throw, then the zombie would have been hit.</blockquote>

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