101
You can't fire a fireball through a toad's mouth
The rules don't technically define 'swallowed', but in plain English, swallowed things are concealed by the relevant anatomy. Therefore, if a creature is swallowed by a toad, other creatures are completely concealed by that obstacle and therefore have toadal cover.
A target has total cover if it is ...
41
No, but it can provide obscurement.
Cover requires a solid object. Examples from the definition:
Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm.
The game mechanic that represents the sight-blocking effect of something like an illusion is obscurement.
A heavily obscured area--such ...
40
Yes, readying a spell behind full cover would prevent counterspell
Counterspell depends on sight and a clear path to the target
Counterspell has a casting time of:
1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of
you casting a spell
That means that an opposing spellcaster must be able to see the intended counterspell target. ...
39
PHB, Page 196:
A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.
I don't believe there is a rule on what constitutes an obstacle, so we must refer to the common understanding of what an obstacle is. Ultimately it's up to the DM, but personally I wouldn't consider a bedsheet covering the body to be an obstacle. Worn clothes aren't an ...
36
Yes, you can do this
Well, first of all, the fireball spell description states:
The fire spreads around corners.
Rules designer Jeremy Crawford has unofficially clarified on Twitter what this means:
Your cover is foiled if an effect spreads around it and reaches you.
In addition, regarding spell targeting (and the targeting of Fireball in particular)...
35
Creatures technically always provide at least half cover:
A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body. The obstacle might be a low wall, a large piece of furniture, a narrow tree trunk, or a creature, whether that creature is an enemy or a friend (BD&...
34
As a general rule...spells do exactly what they say they do, and no more.
In regards to ranged attacks, anything on the other side (or inside) of a Web Spell will be Lightly Obscured.
Lightly Obscured (PHB 183)
In a lightly obscured area, such as dim light, patchy fog, or moderate foliage, creatures have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that ...
33
A wall of force grants cover by being an obstacle. A confirmed tweet from a game designer states this includes spells.
According to the cover rules in the Player's Handbook, p.196:
Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. [...] A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at ...
30
There is an optional rule in the DMG about hitting other creatures that are providing cover for something, on page 272.
It says that if your attack misses due to the cover provided and the attack roll was high enough to beat the AC of the creature providing the cover, you hit the covering creature instead.
There is indeed nothing in the PHB, as there is ...
26
Your problem isn't solved by total cover.
As K-T already said, total covers conceals you fully and counts as an obstacle for whatever tries to assault you. This rule, at least as far as I can reason, does not actually apply or do much for you here.
Since you want to make the use of Counterspell against you impossible, you don't need any conventional cover. ...
26
Being invisible is not different
You do not roll with advantage if you are invisible, you are simply allowed to roll (per the "Hiding" sidebar on PHB p. 177 or here in the basic rules):
You can’t hide from a creature that can see you, and if you make noise (such as shouting a warning or knocking over a vase), you give away your position. An invisible ...
25
How hard is for you to hit the target is how well you see it which depends on the angle of visibility. See the pic below, the left 'person' sees the other one just as well as if there was no stone and can attack normally, while the one on the right has a limited view and has to contest a higher AC. In this case it is a side view (shooting above the stone) ...
24
Yes, you can shoot
You don't need sharpshooter to do this, either.
Cover is covered on page 196 of the PHB, and states (emphasis mine):
A target with three-quarters cover has a +5 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has three-quarters cover if about three-quarters of it is covered
by an obstacle. The obstacle might be a portcullis, an ...
24
No, but you're safe anyways
Let's start with "Total Cover":
A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.
As others have already pointed out, the blanket is not really an obstacle, so it can't provide you with Total Cover, but this is ultimately irrelevant, because of the way Counterspell works:
Casting Time: 1 reaction, ...
22
Not as much protection as you'd think.
Try this at home - get a shovel, and try to pile "loose earth" into the shape you've described (3ft tall, 2ft deep wall). It will immediately fall down into a pile. The angle of repose of soil is 30-45 degrees. In your configuration (2ft diameter base) the pile needs to have an angle of repose of 75 degrees. So the ...
22
Half cover is not ignored:
Cover rules say:
A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.
Specifically for half-cover (emphasis mine):
A target with half cover has a +2 bonus to AC and Dexterity saving throws. A target has half cover if an obstacle blocks at least half of its body. ...
22
Spiritual Weapon ignores Cover (but not Visibility) between the Caster and Target
The Cover rules state:
A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover
Spiritual Weapon indicates that the weapon itself is attacking the Target, so only Cover between the Weapon and the Target matters.
...
21
Yes, as long as they can see the target (according to Rules as Intended)
Jeremy Crawford confirms that this is indeed the intended interpretation of the spell's effects on the Jan. 19, 2017 episode of Dragon Talk ("Wolfgang Baur on DMing for Girl Scouts"). Starting at 36:20, he says (transcription done by me):
There are spells that create exceptions to ...
21
#2 - Fog cloud would appear on the wizard's side of the wall
To target something, you must have a clear path to it, so it can't be behind total cover.
This gives a broad, general rule that covers anything that targets something. However, rules then go on to create a special case that tells you how to apply the rule in a specific circumstance:
If you ...
20
No, the Rogue can't. There are two separate conditions that must be met:
You need cover or concealment in order to attempt a Hide check
Blur provides this. However, the second condition is as follows:
If people are observing you, even casually, you can’t hide.
And Blur does not help with that. You need a separate ability for Hiding in Plain Sight, ...
20
This isn't nearly as powerful as you think. Let's assume that we have a squishy character like William the Wizard, his much tougher friend Bob the Barbarian, and they are fighting the evil goblin, Arthur the Archer.
Yes, Bob can move between William and Arthur. However, if Bob moves on his turn, Arthur can:
Move on his turn before he shoots so that he has ...
19
Missing AC just means you dealt no damage it doesn't mean you didn't hit
Failing to hit, or 'missing' a target's AC, is just an abstraction to indicate that you did not deal damage to the target. How this occurs varies significantly based on each character, but take the following example for a Barbarian whose AC is 10 + Dex + Con:
Bruto the Barbarian's ...
19
RAW, B is targeted
One of the foundational rules for playing the game (found in the Introduction to the Basic Rules):
many racial traits, class features, spells, magic items, monster abilities, and other game elements break the general rules in some way, creating an exception to how the rest of the game works. Remember this: If a specific rule ...
18
In the DMG on page 272:
When a ranged attack misses a target that has cover, you can use this optional rule to determine whether the cover was struck by the attack.
First, determine whether the attack roll would have hit the protected target without cover. If the attack roll falls within a range low enough to miss the target but high enough to strike ...
18
Like so many things in D&D 5e, this is left as a call to be made by “the agent on the ground” rather than “headquarters” — that is, it's up to the DM who can actually see the situation involved and made the best judgement call and ruling. The fundamental rules for the spell are simple enough to work in most situations, but don't bother to attempt the ...
18
Your instincts are correct.
Cover
Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the opposite side of the cover.
There are three degrees of cover...
A target with half cover...
A target ...
18
Combatants should be using cover, but combatants shouldn't be able to consistently gain total cover
You're correct that the rules for sniping specifically are problematic, but I think the issue here may be one of being too generous with allowing obstacles to grant total cover.
A creature that has total cover typically can't be attacked, can't be targeted ...
18
It can reveal it
The part of the spell dealing with physical interaction does not say anything about it requiring an action to do so. What does require an action is to make an ability check to reveal it, as it is stated in a different paragraph. These are two completely separate ways to reveal the illusion. Also, things passing through the illusion break it ...
18
Yes, cover does affect melee attacks
The rules for cover are below:
Cover
Walls, trees, creatures, and other obstacles can provide cover during
combat, making a target more difficult to harm. A target can benefit
from cover only when an attack or other effect originates on the
opposite side of the cover.
There are three degrees of cover: ...
17
Yes.
The only condition that prevents ranged attacks from passing through at all is total cover (PHB 196):
A target with total cover can’t be targeted directly by an attack or a spell... A target has total cover if it is completely concealed by an obstacle.
However, lightly obscured has a different meaning (PHB 183):
In a lightly obscured area, such ...
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