[OOC] Charlie Squad Communications

[Adamah]

Well he gets to act, just not until the ambushers do. As soon as tayrren acts they'll go

[ManicMonky]

Sounds good to me. There isn't much else he would have done with a standard action anyway.

[Vaerdis]

Shoot off a bolt from a crossbow or start a bardic performance.

[Ysolde]

I went with Magic Missile, she can move closer after that and use some "Hand of The apprentice" seven times.

[Vaerdis]

Before I post how did an attack of 12 hit an AC of 14? Or even if flat footed Alain's AC is still 12 so the arrow wouldn't hit...that is of course if DC rules are being applied to AC right now

[Adamah]

You were flat footed because you had not acted yet in the combat, to hit you they need to equal your AC, which was 12 because of your flat footedness.

I'm totally cool with going over rulings though, so thanks for asking and if anyone else see's me doing anything wrong please bring it up with me. Also if I'm somehow missing something from my analysis up there feel free to give me a link to the rule that I'm missing.

[Vaerdis]

Thanks for the clarification, and those compound bows hurt.

[kaylara]

Nice rolling... do that again and well be making new characters lol..

Hopefully they pull thru, Iyani was saving her money for mithril.. that might help her ac a bit better than leather

If they win, they can retire with all the gold we have on us lol

They had to knock out the music first....

[Adamah]

Haha I know, right? I have faith you guys can pull through.

[kaylara]

About to put up fog then use last 3 channelings, then we run hehe

[Adamah]

Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor

[Vaerdis]

I think you overpowered the encounter a bit with our one and only combat character having to do all the legwork xD

[Adamah]

Yea it's CR 3, I designed it to be a hard punch in the face. One way or another I'm confidant you guys can overcome, be creative. Remember, their goal is to attack you and take your stuff, your goal is to get to the next town alive.

[Vaerdis]

Sucks that my only move to get into spell range nearly caused Alain to die instantly....doesn't the middle archer have a penalty for shooting past his friend? It doesn't matter much in this case but I thought there was a rule about that...or maybe that was just when someone is in melee.

[Adamah]

How dare you make me look up a complicated rules explanation after presenting an appellate oral argument this morning!

Haha, jk, you actually asked a really good question, and I'm glad you did because it's helped my understanding of this rule immensely.

The short answer is that you're right about creatures providing cover, but wrong about this particular situation. But it was a very close thing.

It all comes down to the precise wording of the rule.

Cover Cover To determine whether your target has cover from your ranged attack, choose a corner of your square. If any line from this corner to any corner of the target's square passes through a square or border that blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC).

Looking at the rule, I've bolded the important distinction. Note the yellow lines drawn below. The rule states if any line from the chosen corner passes through a "square or border" that blocks line of effect or provide cover, the target has cover. It further goes on to say if the line passes through any "square" (note, not square or border) occupied by a creature, the target has cover.

In your case the line passes through an intervening creature's border, but not it's square. Thus you are not provided with cover.