Reach & Cover

[frankthedm]

Suppose AoO doesn't come into play. Suppose I want to make a regular attack with his ally interposed between us. Does he get a cover bonus from his ally, whom I am incapable of attacking anyway due to the limitations on Reach weapons?

Ally or enemy, they are still creatures.

Cover
To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target’s square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has cover if any line from your square to the target’s square goes through a wall (including a low wall). When making a melee attack against a target that isn’t adjacent to you (such as with a reach weapon), use the rules for determining cover from ranged attacks.

If you get Enarged personed; Low Obstacles and Cover might help you depending if the DM is willing to let that apply to creatures.

A low obstacle (such as a wall no higher than half your height) provides cover, but only to creatures within 30 feet (6 squares) of it. The attacker can ignore the cover if he’s closer to the obstacle than his target.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Ok, so then if you play by the house rule/varian rule of "If you miss your target due to it's cover, and you otherwise would have hit, you instead strike the cover". If you play by this rule, would this not suddenly allow you to strike an adjacent target with a reach weapon when you normally wouldn't be able to choose to do so?

 

[MarkB]

Ok, so then if you play by the house rule/varian rule of "If you miss your target due to it's cover, and you otherwise would have hit, you instead strike the cover". If you play by this rule, would this not suddenly allow you to strike an adjacent target with a reach weapon when you normally wouldn't be able to choose to do so?

If you're going to play by variant rules, it's up to you to decide how to handle situations arising from those variations. The simplest solution would be to apply the variant rule only to ranged attacks.

 

[frankthedm]

Ok, so then if you play by the house rule/varian rule of "If you miss your target due to it's cover, and you otherwise would have hit, you instead strike the cover". If you play by this rule, would this not suddenly allow you to strike an adjacent target with a reach weapon when you normally wouldn't be able to choose to do so?

Same damage as the character could have got improvising the shaft as a weapon. I consider it whacking somone with a club of equivalent size. 1d6+str mod.