RAW: Shooting past friendlies -- clarification needed

[Spin Doctor]

RAW states that if you are shooting (an arrow, for example) into combat then you get a -4 to hit and the enemy potentially gets a +4 to their armor class based on limited/soft cover.

Would that archer get an additional -4 to hit if he had to shoot past more than one friendly?

Example:

Archer >>----> ----> FRIENDLY ----> FRIENDLY / TARGET

In this instance, there are 2 friendlies in the way and the target is engaged.

A -4 to hit would be granted and the target would get a +4 because they have partial cover from the friendly.

However since there are two friendlies in the way, would the penalty stack? Would the archer get a -4(x2)? Would the target get an additional potential cover bonus?

Thanks for the guidance.

[Nathan Hartshorn]

For the purposes of the -4 penalty combat is only defined as having a friendly adjacent to the enemy and won't stack for more than one friendly being adjacent. I don't have time to get the quote from Ch. 8 of the Core, but I'm sure someone will.

~NPEH

[Matt Thomason]

The way I'm reading it:

"If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character, you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll."

It's nothing to do with the number of characters the shot goes past, but whether or not the target is fighting a friendly (and it goes on to state this applies only as long as they're within 10 feet)

As it only mentions a -4 penalty, and not one per opponent, I'd say that's clear enough to mean it doesn't stack.

That said, if I were GMing (in a home game) and the target was swarming with friendlies, common sense would dictate a larger penalty.

Cover - this works as a binary "you're either in cover or not". It doesn't say it stacks for how many pieces of cover there are, so I don't see it stacking for bodies either. You could possibly rule that enough bodies in the way makes it "Improved Cover" though, but that sounds like a GM call depending on circumstances.

[BigNorseWolf]

Nope. Cover bonuses don't stack.

Shoot between ALL of their legs!

[Eric Brittain]

Cover is cover.

It does not stack.

It can become improved cover or partial cover but that is it.

[Name Violation]

now if the friendly is in melee, there is a -4 shooting into melee penalty and the cover penalty.

[Spin Doctor]

Name Violation wrote:

now if the friendly is in melee, there is a -4 shooting into melee penalty and the cover penalty.

Right, but the take away here is that it is ONLY EVER -4 / +4, never "oh well since you're shooting past 3 friendlies, that's -12 and +4 for cover.

Thanks gents.

[Mergy]

And remember, a halfling only provides cover to a human archer if the halfling is closer to the target than he is to the archer. :)