The logic of concealment and cover -- why a miss %?

[RangerWickett]

In the d20 System, why does concealment provide a miss chance to attacks, instead of giving a penalty to attack rolls? How do you feel about the rule? Do you think it'd be better if we didn't use % rolls in D&D? How do similar games like Mutants & Masterminds and Castles & Crusades handle it?

 

[Steverooo]

Shooting an arrow through bushes does, indeed, result in a good chance of missing! All the little limbs deflecting the arrow aside... I can see your point, though. I WISH Concealment/Cover (and Invisibility!) only gave a -2/-4 to hit, with Blindfighting giving a reduction of -2. Invisibility is WAY too powerful for its spell level, by the Rules As Written!

 

[Scribble]

In the d20 System, why does concealment provide a miss chance to attacks, instead of giving a penalty to attack rolls? How do you feel about the rule? Do you think it'd be better if we didn't use % rolls in D&D? How do similar games like Mutants & Masterminds and Castles & Crusades handle it?

My thought is that concealment tends to confuse you a bit... Like, you see the person through the tree branches, but you're not sure if that piece your looking at is really its leg, or a branch...

Meaning, that your aim may be true, but there's a chance that what you're aiming at might not be what you think it is...

 

[whydirt]

I know that in 1st Edition Mutants and Masterminds the % chance to miss is simply divided by five and turned into a straight d20 roll. I do think it's odd that pretty much the only things in D&D that are percentage based are chance to miss from concealment and spellcasting failure for armor.

Personally, I wish the % spellcasting failure would be turned into Concentration checks and just give bigger penalties from armor.

 

[Psion]

Some d20 varaints do treat it as a hit/AC/defense modifier.

But I think it works out well the way it is. It's an element that you can't overcome by just stacking on the hit modifiers. It makes certain feats, class abilities, and magic a chance to shine in a way that is more significant than just stacking on modifiers.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Cover gives an AC bonus because essentially you have a smaller target to hit - your weapon may strike the cover which preventing the strike from connecting with your target. If you are more skilled with your weapon (higher BAB) you are less likely to be affected by this.

Concealment prevents the attacker from knowing precisely where the target is, it does not stop the strike itself, its just that the target may not be where you strike. The most skilled attackers will have the same difficulties determining exactly where the target is within the concealment as a novice would, unless they have abilities that trump the concealment.

 

[JoeGKushner]

D&D still has a lot of things associated with older editions of things that don't fit.

Death at -10 hit points.

% roll to stabalize.

Two turning rolls for clerics.

Randomly rolled hit points.

Randomly rolled stats.

It's got a long way, even with the optional rules in the DMG to handle some of these things.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

What Psion said.

Penalties to 'To Hit' and to certain skills disproportionally affect lower level characters. A -5 to hit for a 1st level character would be trivial in most cases to a 20th. A flat % miss chance for concealment keeps it relatively effective throughout the life of a character.

Some would argue that a 20th level character should be less affected by it. I can't dispute the logic. OTOH, 20th level characters are deadly enough already. If a flat miss chance means the BBEG lives for three rounds instead of two, I'm willing to suspend some disbelief.

I suppose you could allow 'Spot' checks at some arbitrary but consistent and high DC to allow a character to negate concealment.

 

[Stalker0]

One it does do is make cloaks of diplacement virtually indespensible at high levels. With fighters virtually guarranteed to hit on their 1st attacks, 50% miss chance goes a long way. Of course, there is the occasional encounter with a guy wiht true strike that trumps that effect, but its still worth it for many encounters.

 

[frankthedm]

Cover should give a Miss chance as well. Your weapon swing or arrow either hits the rock and stops dead or you stike your foe's AC as normal. Taking cover should be superior to taking concealment.