After last Tuesday's game, I have had the opportunity to review reach weapon and cover rules from the PHB 3.5 (pp 150-152) and PRPGa3 (pp 74-75).
I have linked a document to my web site to illustrate the examples:
http://home.tir.com/~zombie/id59.html
These are my interpretation of the rules with changes. I am open to more discussion but I believe that I now have it right.
so those are all legal attacks but the noted ones have some cover penalties?
ReplyDeleteEverything but the last reach examples are legal attacks. The first ones have no penalties. The low cover examples have a +2 AC penalty as do the corner attack examples.
ReplyDeleteThe scenarios all assume level ground. Slopes, pits, flying and standing on raised objects (chair, table, etc.) could make some legal attacks illegal and vice versa.
If that's your ruling, can we take a feat called, say, Legionaries Training, that makes attacks possible thru friendly squares?
ReplyDeleteA feat might be appropriate but I do not think that one exists today. I suppose that one could be made (we could call it something like Percisie Reach or Legionaries Training) but I am not sure if it should. The ranged feats only reduce or eliminate cover penalties. They do not negate total cover.
ReplyDeleteI guess the issue is if a creature (friend or foe) standing between you and the enemy provides total cover.
The Careful Targeting feat will take care of any melee cover modifiers except for total cover for melee and reach attacks and has no prerequisites.
The Careful Targeting, Exact Targeting and Pinpoint Targeting (which replaces Improved Precise Shot) feat chain is what should be used for ranged combat. (Point Blank Shot, Deadly Aim, Rapid Shot and Precise Shot round out the selections.)
Well I know I'm straying into the realm of realism/making sense here, but there's a big difference between sticking someone with a pole over your allies shoulder and playing William Tell. Soldiers DID this throughout history. They did NOT shoot arrows into melee -- something the D&D/PF rules allow.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of matching it to the ranged feats though, so I think for my game you will have to have Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization (in addition to whatever other feats you need to take, such as Exotic WP) in order to bring the cover rating down by 1; ie: no penalty for attacking over your halfing friend, and -2 for attacking thru a man-sized ally square.
The new feats Careful Targeting, Exact Targeting and Pinpoint Targeting as written seem to work for ranged and melee combat. Careful Targeting seems to be the most useful one for melee. Exact Targeting could be useful in certain situations. i.e. making attacks through arrow slits or door windows.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the Reach Weapon feat chain to reduce the cover penalties should be:
Exotic Weapon Proficiency
Weapon Focus
Careful Targeting
Exact Targeting
I think that the Ranged Weapon feat chain to reduce the cover penalties should be:
Point Blank Shot
Percise Shot
Careful Targeting
Exact Targeting
Pinpoint Targeting works for either and removes almost all penalties or armor modifiers.
Again these do not account for total cover and no line of sight. Total cover (i.e. a wall) should not be bypassed. Maybe no line of sight can be summed up in a rule like:
Making a melee reach attack through an occupied square to a target that you have no line of sight can be made with a cover penalty of +6 to the opponent's AC. If this attack is made through an enemy square, any enemy adjacent to you may make an attack of opportunity.
The Beta changed cover rules again. I will have to research again to determine how this should now be handled. More to come ...
ReplyDelete