Questions tagged [cover]
For questions primarily about cover, an element in the environment that provides a measure of protection against incoming attacks.
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What counts as full cover for a seeking arrow?
The the Seeking Arrow Arcane Shot option of the Arcane Archer says:
[...] When you use this option, you don’t make an attack roll for the attack. Instead, choose one creature you have seen in the ...
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Can the Raulothim's Psychic Lance spell hit a creature behind full cover if you utter the creature's name?
The spell Raulothim's Psychic Lance (Fizban's Treasury of Dragons, p. 21) can hit a creature without having to see it, so long as the caster utters the name of the target:
You unleash a shimmering ...
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Lightning Bolt and trees in DnD 5e
I'm running Dragon of Icespire Peak, and my PCs are about to fight some NPCs who use the 3rd level spell Lightning Bolt. They will be fighting near a forest and I can see the party looking to use ...
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Does standing behind another PC provide cover? [duplicate]
I came across this in my campaign, where a player used Investiture of Wind because there was a mini horde of skeletons on higher ground about to shoot another volley of arrows. One of the other ...
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Do you have to account for cover AC when attacking with a whip?
Let's say three combatants are in a line. The goblin is in the first square, the fighter in the second square, and the bard with a whip behind the fighter.
If the bard attacks the goblin with the whip ...
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How does cover interact with the Arcane Archer's Curving Shot?
One of the features of the Arcane Archer fighter subclass is Curving Shot:
At 7th level, you learn how to direct an errant arrow toward a new target. When you make an attack roll with a magic arrow ...
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Melee cover vs Cover - Can you always use Stealth?
I am using this image from another post, which is why it has lines drawn on it that are useful for only a small aspect of this question:
According to the stealth rules, you need cover in order to ...
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How do Patterns and Cover Interact?
I am having trouble finding a confirmation one way or another in relation to how cover does or doesn't affect Pattern attacks, and if it does, when and how. I suspect that it's actually spelled out ...
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Does Silent Image provide cover? [duplicate]
Let's say we're trying to give a Giant Ape three-quarters cover from a distant archer. A spellcaster casts Silent Image to place a rock in between them of the right shape and size to cover 3/4 of the ...
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Are tiny creatures carried in a backpack protected from AOEs?
If I carry tiny creatures in my closed backpack, would they be immune to Fireball and other area of effect spells?
For example, is it possible to carry a horde of Tiny Servants (from the spell of the ...
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Can an area of effect spell be cast through total cover?
Wall of Ice was cast across a field. My player wanted to cast Storm Sphere on the other side, even though there was no clear path to the target.
I told her that as there was no clear path, so she ...
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How does Freezing Sphere delayed explosion interact with simple coverings?
There are spells, which can create a bead like object which will explode after
a time. Otiluke's Freezing Sphere is the one I am particularly interested in (incidentally for the same bard my earlier ...
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How does Hunger of Hadar behave in confined space?
Hunger of Hadar has a curious wording:
A 20-foot-radius sphere of blackness and bitter cold appears, centered on a point with range and lasting for the duration.
Compare this to Fireball:
A bright ...
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Could you negate a Beholder's antimagic cone by covering up its eye?
e.g. throw a heavy blanket over it, or force it to close its eye somehow.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/beholder
The beholder's central eye creates an area of antimagic, as in the
antimagic ...
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Can archers bypass partial cover by arcing their shot?
There are two basic ways an archer fires at a target. In close quarters engagements, archers (and anyone using a projectile weapon) would likely use "direct fire", ie. fire at an angle ...
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Playing on a grid, is this situation 1/2 or 3/4 cover?
We have four medium creatures, blue (1), green (2), yellow (3), and red (4), positioned like so:
We want to asses the relative cover between blue and red. The rules for determining cover on a grid ...
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Can multiple creatures completely block a ranged attack thus providing total cover?
I'm asking because we play on a grid and while DMG p.251 states that 3 or 4 lines blocked by an obstacle gives 3/4 cover if the attack can still reach the target, it doesn't state what happens if the ...
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Can I consider darkness and dim light as cover in combat?
In D&D 5E, dim light only affects Wisdom (Perception) checks. If I'm interpreting the Player's Handbook correctly, for combat rolls,
creatures that don't have darkvision, whose target is in dim ...
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Would the Sacred Flame cantrip hurt a person whom the target is holding as a hostage/human shield?
An enemy had grabbed a friendly NPC and was using him as a hostage and standing behind him as cover. The (new) DM seemed to be implying that the archers in our party would risk shooting the friendly.
...
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An archer firing through an arrow slit has improved cover. Do his targets have cover?
I'm running a module that features a fort with arrow slits and murder holes, and I'm trying to figure out what the cover rules are for people on each side of them.
Under the Combat rules, the CRB ...
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How do the cover rules interact with the Flaming Sphere spell?
The rules for cover state:
A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws.
Let's say a wizard casts flaming sphere. They can then move the sphere as a bonus action to ram ...
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Can you target someone with a "that you can see" spell if you can only see a hand or a foot?
If you just get a glimpse of someone turning a corner, maybe just a foot, can you cast a spell that says "that you can see"? A situation that came up for me was as follows.
Command:
You ...
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Does Eldritch Blast travel in a straight line?
My DM and I have researched this at length and we can't seem to find an answer anywhere. Eldritch Blast states:
A beam of crackling energy streaks toward a creature within range. Make a ranged spell ...
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Is it mathematically possible to only have 3/4th cover?
In Is the DMG 3/4 cover diagram incorrect? the question asker points out the diagram shown in the DMG implies 3/4th cover, but it's possible to get a better angle on the defender meaning they only ...
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How to resolve multiple sources of cover when using a grid?
The cover rules in the PHB say:
There are three degrees of cover. If a target is behind multiple sources of cover, only the most protective degree of cover applies; the degrees aren't added together. ...
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Is the DMG 3/4 cover diagram incorrect?
From page 250 and 251 of the DMG:
To determine whether a target has cover against an attack or other effect on a grid, choose a corner of the attacker's space... trace imaginary lines from that ...
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Can Unseen Servant be used for cover if carrying a large shield?
Does an Unseen Servant holding a shield (or other object within its weight allowance) and ordered to walk in front of you offer cover? If so, is it 1/2 cover or 3/4 cover?
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Can you attack a creature behind a Wall of Sand?
Wall of Sand's description reads as follows (emphasis mine):
You conjure up a wall of swirling sand on the ground at a point you can see within range. You can make the wall up to 30 feet long, 10 ...
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Can Channel Divinity: Preserve Life target swallowed creatures?
I saw this question and was reminded of something that happened in one of my games recently: I, as a Life Cleric, used my Channel Divinity: Preserve Life feature on an ally who had been swallowed (It ...
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How does the Earthquake spell interact with total cover?
The rules on "Area of Effect" state (emphasis mine):
[...] A spell's effect expands in straight lines from the point of origin. If no unblocked straight line extends from the point of ...
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Can you attack through full cover?
An eldritch knight wants to attack a guard behind a wall. Before, he casts scrying and thus can see the target and where they are behind the wall.
How should this be resolved?
Is he unable to attack ...
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Do the cover rules account for the type of material (e.g. silk vs. stone) between an attacker and their target?
The rules on cover state (Player's Handbook, p. 196):
Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm.
However it only defines ...
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Ranged-attack initiative and sequencing for monsters and NPCs
How interesting that after over 20 years of playing RPGs, new basic rule questions still crop up...:
The PC group I'm DM-ing got into a fight with two bugbears and eight goblins in a long 10-foot ...
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Does the Immovable Object spell allow me to make an impenetrable shield by making an object immovable and using it as cover?
The description of the immovable object spell says (Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, p. 187):
You touch an object that weighs no more than 10 pounds and cause it to become magically fixed in place. ...
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Is 'cover' simply about being out of sight? What IS cover?
The thread 'What's my most efficient use of spell slots to maximize my AC' sparked this line of thought:
Is a curtain 'cover', even if enemy spell casters, archers (etc.) know a PC is behind it? For ...
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Do creatures on both sides of Blade Barrier benefit from 3/4 cover?
I was looking at the Blade Barrier spell, and I was wondering does the spell have a 'front' and a 'back'? The spell description states:
The wall provides three-quarters cover to creatures behind it
...
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Shooting through spaces occupied by a large creature
I was wondering if I could shoot through a large creature like the image below?
On the right image, one of the players insists that a large creature shouldn't be able to fill up the 10x10ft space, ...
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How can I hit what I can't see? [closed]
In reference, and expansion on, This Question How does one tell where that point in the air is. Meaning If I target a place above a wall, and there just so happens to be a Mountain behind it, How do I ...
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Is light shed from a spell blocked by total (transparent) cover? [duplicate]
Many spells shed light as one of their effects, such as the Sunbeam spell, which says:
For the Duration, a mote of brilliant radiance shines in your hand. It sheds bright light in a 30-foot radius ...
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How does the second benefit of the Mounted Combatant feat interact with total cover?
The second benefit of the Mounted Combatant feat (PHB, p. 168) lets you force an enemy to attack you rather than your mount when they attempt to attack the latter. What happens if you do that while ...
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How does attacking through water work?
Related:How is shooting into water handled? But that's for D&D Next, not 5e, and is for shooting into a presumably fairly deep body of water.
A subquestion of: How does animated water work?
When ...
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Does cover affect melee attacks?
In what circumstances would cover affect melee attacks?
If three characters are lined up as shown in the diagram, and the bottom-right man in armor makes a melee attack against the frog creature in ...
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Do tower shields provide cover from all directions?
A Tower Shield allows you to use the Take Cover action, in order to gain Greater Cover from the shield. This is confusing because the cover rules require that a source of cover must be between you and ...
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Does the total cover provided by being swallowed work both ways? [duplicate]
Say a character ends up being swallowed by a monster, for the sake of an example say the monster is a Kraken.
The rules for being swallowed by a Kraken include this sentence:
While swallowed, the ...
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Can allies take cover behind my tower shield?
I am a champion who is wielding a tower shield. I raise my shield, and then Take Cover. On their turns, can my allies attempt to take cover behind my tower shield also?
The Take Cover action requires:...
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Can I somehow set the tower shield down as cover?
Is it possible to set a tower shield in a place to gain cover but without the the need to hold it with one arm?
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Does a creature have cover when moving through an ally's space?
Suppose that creatures A, B, and C are positioned in a straight line, with A at the start, then an empty space, then B in the next space, and C in the space after that.
A has a reach weapon (and is ...
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Can the Phantasmal Killer spell be cast on a target on the other side of a Wall of Force? [duplicate]
Wizard 1 casts wall of force which surrounds Wizard 2. Now both wizards have full cover against each other. For example, now they cannot cast fireball against each other, because "nothing can ...
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Does a target have total cover from a ranged attacker positioned on an opposite corner of a hallway?
Consider the diagram below:
N ******* * = Wall
W E ....... . = Open Space
S .A***T. A = Attacker
T = Target
Does the target have ...
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What wizard spells can create cover for allies without preventing them from moving or attacking? [closed]
Cover is great when you can get it. The +2 bonus to AC/saves for ½ cover and +5 bonus to AC/saves with ¾ cover can be godsends with bounded accuracy when fighting against spellcasters and archers. ...
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