I’ve had several situations recently where players are shooting an arrow or throwing a ranges spell into a group of people some monsters, some other players. I can’t find anything in the rule books about friendly fire. Seems like they either hit the thing they’re aiming for or they don’t. But if there are a couple PC’s in the way of the monster they’re trying to hit, how do you handle the possibility that they might hit one of their friends instead of the monster?
If you using the Cover bonus to account for the people between the shooter and the target, then if the roll to hit would have hit if it wasn't for the Cover bonus, then you could randomly determine one of the covering creatures to be hit.
I take it case by case, depending on the line-ups of the characters. I map out encounters on the fly quickly using apple's version of excel (it works surprisingly well lol), so I can see the angles and make the calls on the fly.
For example, had a powerful enemy engaging a player and magic-summoned friendly lion. Other player used their movement but ended up out of melee range, so they wanted to shoot the bad guy through the lion. I determined that since it's a large creature, a friendly creature, the angles weren't prohibitive (the lion was somewhat off to the side but still in the way) and since there are rules for passing through ally spaces in both cases, they can make the shot, but if they miss they would *definitely hit the lion*. They made the shot, lucky lion, and the result was actually pretty cool. Giving the enemy a cover bonus can make situations like that extra risky, but telling the player "you can do this but you might suffer terrible consequences" is sometimes better than "you can't do this" in cases where the rules aren't clear.
In a nutshell, if you're shooting through a friendly creature's space and you deem it realistic enough, tell them you'll let them roll to hit, and if they miss the bad guy they hit their ally that was in the way. Let them know it's a risk, let them make the call whether to roll or not.
Older editions had rules for accidentally hitting allies with ranged attacks. This was extremely unpopular (both for the issue of characters getting accidentally hit by teammates and for the fact that it slowed combat down a lot) so it was dropped.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
There is a lot of great thoughts above. I won't quote them.
In my games friendly fire can and does happen. The players know this. So before they cast a spell or fire off a ranged attack I tell them that it might hit an player. Different rules for different attacks. I have a fumble table for natural 1 rolls. That's it.
Cover. If a ranged attack is being made and say a goliath is between the player and the enemy i give the enemy a bonus to it's ac based on cover rules.
Magic. If a spell covers a 10x10 area and a player is in that area I remind the person casting it that they would hit the player as well if the spell says it can. That way the player can cast into a spot past the mob only catching it.
Players don't want to got others in their group. Sometimes there's no way to get around it. Just keep the battlefield in mind with player position and help the players from what they wanted to do with minimal risk to the others. It's simple once you get used to reminding them. Over time they will take it all into consideration without the reminders.
So, as has been stated, RAW is that if your target is obstructed, you should be granting them cover. The DMG includes an optional (but official) rule for hitting cover: if the attack misses, but would have hit if there were no cover, and also meets the cover’s armor class, then the attack strikes the cover instead.
This is a bit of a pain, which is why it’s optional, but if you want friendly fire to be a risk, this is what the game’s designers suggest you do.
Nice. Yeah I always imagined those rules were intended for human shield kind of situations, but it could be for friendly fire too.
Honestly, it's a bad idea. There is no reason to say that, because it hits cover (which is already not completely true because if there is someone between your target and you, trying to avoid your friend my as well end up making you miss entirely rather than hitting your friend instead of the target), it actually automatically penetrates the defenses of the interposing creature.
Good thing neither the rules nor I actually say that then 🙄
I’ve had several situations recently where players are shooting an arrow or throwing a ranges spell into a group of people some monsters, some other players. I can’t find anything in the rule books about friendly fire. Seems like they either hit the thing they’re aiming for or they don’t. But if there are a couple PC’s in the way of the monster they’re trying to hit, how do you handle the possibility that they might hit one of their friends instead of the monster?
If you using the Cover bonus to account for the people between the shooter and the target, then if the roll to hit would have hit if it wasn't for the Cover bonus, then you could randomly determine one of the covering creatures to be hit.
I take it case by case, depending on the line-ups of the characters. I map out encounters on the fly quickly using apple's version of excel (it works surprisingly well lol), so I can see the angles and make the calls on the fly.
For example, had a powerful enemy engaging a player and magic-summoned friendly lion. Other player used their movement but ended up out of melee range, so they wanted to shoot the bad guy through the lion. I determined that since it's a large creature, a friendly creature, the angles weren't prohibitive (the lion was somewhat off to the side but still in the way) and since there are rules for passing through ally spaces in both cases, they can make the shot, but if they miss they would *definitely hit the lion*. They made the shot, lucky lion, and the result was actually pretty cool. Giving the enemy a cover bonus can make situations like that extra risky, but telling the player "you can do this but you might suffer terrible consequences" is sometimes better than "you can't do this" in cases where the rules aren't clear.
In a nutshell, if you're shooting through a friendly creature's space and you deem it realistic enough, tell them you'll let them roll to hit, and if they miss the bad guy they hit their ally that was in the way. Let them know it's a risk, let them make the call whether to roll or not.
Older editions had rules for accidentally hitting allies with ranged attacks. This was extremely unpopular (both for the issue of characters getting accidentally hit by teammates and for the fact that it slowed combat down a lot) so it was dropped.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
RAW, there is no friendly fire.
However, cover rules do apply if there is no straight shot that doesn’t go through other creatures. I think it’s half cover (+2 to target’s AC).
I think a reasonable house rule would be that a natural 1 hits a random creature in the path or directly behind the target.
There is a lot of great thoughts above. I won't quote them.
In my games friendly fire can and does happen. The players know this. So before they cast a spell or fire off a ranged attack I tell them that it might hit an player. Different rules for different attacks. I have a fumble table for natural 1 rolls. That's it.
Cover. If a ranged attack is being made and say a goliath is between the player and the enemy i give the enemy a bonus to it's ac based on cover rules.
Magic. If a spell covers a 10x10 area and a player is in that area I remind the person casting it that they would hit the player as well if the spell says it can. That way the player can cast into a spot past the mob only catching it.
Players don't want to got others in their group. Sometimes there's no way to get around it. Just keep the battlefield in mind with player position and help the players from what they wanted to do with minimal risk to the others. It's simple once you get used to reminding them. Over time they will take it all into consideration without the reminders.
So, as has been stated, RAW is that if your target is obstructed, you should be granting them cover. The DMG includes an optional (but official) rule for hitting cover: if the attack misses, but would have hit if there were no cover, and also meets the cover’s armor class, then the attack strikes the cover instead.
This is a bit of a pain, which is why it’s optional, but if you want friendly fire to be a risk, this is what the game’s designers suggest you do.
Nice. Yeah I always imagined those rules were intended for human shield kind of situations, but it could be for friendly fire too.
Good thing neither the rules nor I actually say that then 🙄