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<blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 9033852" data-attributes="member: 58197">There are two key rules in play:<ul>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Total cover will block a spell unless the spell says otherwise. (PHB Chapter 10, &quot;Casting a Spell,&quot; the section on targets.)</li>
<li data-xf-list-type="ul">Many spells specify that you must be able to see the target.</li>
</ul>The questions then are, first, what counts as total cover? And second, what qualifies as &quot;seeing?&quot; I'd answer the first with &quot;any solid barrier,&quot; and the second with &quot;any form of visual perception or perception that is noted by the rules as equivalent to vision&quot; (e.g., blindsight) -- with the caveat that the perception must be &quot;live,&quot; so to speak; you can use a mirror but not a portrait.Such a barrier counts as total cover. You cannot target that creature with any spell, unless the spell notes that it ignores cover (e.g., sacred flame).If &quot;an obstruction such as a wall&quot; is what prevents the target being seen, then it has total cover from the wall; whether you can see it doesn't matter, you can't target it because of cover.If something else prevents you seeing the target directly (e.g., a fog cloud spell), you are still visually perceiving the target. As I said above, I consider this good enough to target.See previous. Indirect vision is still vision, but total cover blocks the spell whether you can see it or not.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Dausuul, post: 9033852, member: 58197"] There are two key rules in play: [LIST] [*]Total cover will block a spell unless the spell says otherwise. (PHB Chapter 10, "Casting a Spell," the section on targets.) [*]Many spells specify that you must be able to see the target. [/LIST] The questions then are, first, what counts as total cover? And second, what qualifies as "seeing?" I'd answer the first with "any solid barrier," and the second with "any form of visual perception [I]or[/I] perception that is noted by the rules as equivalent to vision" (e.g., blindsight) -- with the caveat that the perception must be "live," so to speak; you can use a mirror but not a portrait. Such a barrier counts as total cover. You cannot target that creature with any spell, [I]unless[/I] the spell notes that it ignores cover (e.g., [I]sacred flame[/I]). If "an obstruction such as a wall" is what prevents the target being seen, then it has total cover from the wall; whether you can see it doesn't matter, you can't target it because of cover. If something else prevents you seeing the target directly (e.g., a [I]fog cloud[/I] spell), you are still visually perceiving the target. As I said above, I consider this good enough to target. See previous. Indirect vision is still vision, but total cover blocks the spell whether you can see it or not. [/QUOTE]

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