Cover, Breath Weapons, and Tower Shield Adjucation

[Ravingdork]

Please see my example diagram to better understand the questions I am asking.

Q1) When using a tower shield as total cover, does it actually give total cover or just act as a wall? PC most certainly has total cover from NPC1, but it would appear to me that he only gets normal cover from NPC2's melee attacks and NPC3's ranged attacks. As far as I can tell (at a glance), PC gets no cover from NPC4's ranged attacks (whereas I think it would protect him had we been playing 3.5 rules as a tower shield there works against half the battlefield). If there were a line of PCs with tower shields standing shoulder to shoulder, could anyone on the other side of the "wall" shoot them with arrows and other ranged attacks? In other words, does an ally's tower shield protect people other than than the shield bearer when being used as total cover?

Q2) Does a tower shield (or any other form of cover really) stop a breath weapon? Breath weapons are neither classified as a burst nor a spread (in Pathfinder or in 3.5), so it's hard to say how the two (breath weapons and cover) are supposed to interact. PC is clearly in the area of the 30-ft. cone breath weapon being created by NPC5 (as are the poor saps known as NPC1, NPC2, and NPC3), but whether or not his tower shield protects him is unknown. If the PC was adjacent to NPC5 when the breath weapon went off, would his tower shield still protect him (provided he is benefiting from the total cover option)? Would it make any difference at all if the breath weapon was a line rather than a cone?

[Luei]

In answer to Q1:
Yeah, the tower shield gives total cover from NPC1 and 5, but I'd say not against NPC2, 3, or 4. However, I'd say since he's a reactive opponent (as opposed to an actual wall) he can see the attacks incoming and shift his position, maybe giving up an attack of opportunity to get total cover from a declared attack? For example, NPC2 attacks him while he is facing NPC1, he can, before NPC2's attack roll, expend a use of an attack of opportunity to change direction to NPC2, thus giving him total cover against the attack. Though at that point he would have less than total against NPC1, 3, and 4. Nowhere in the rules does it say this, mind you, that's just what I would do. DM's call. and it would give someone a lot more reason to have high Dex and take Combat Reflexes.

In answer to Q2:
(Again, no official ruling on this) Well, the way I see it, an expanding ball (or wall, what have you) of fire curls around things it goes past, as long as there is lots more fire to push it there. But when there's something at the end of a fireball's reach, it can effectively block it. So I'd say that if PC were right next to the source for the breath attack, or was in about the middle, he'd still get hit by the breath (i'm assuming here that breath works lie fire, no matter the type, cuz lets be honest, how often do you see a spray of lightning in a cone?). However, if he was near the outside, maybe a couple spaces in but definitely the end spaces, he'd be totally protected. Though I might make his shield take the damage from the attack and see if it breaks, and then if it does then he takes the rest of the damage. I think it's really a DM call.

[Shifty]

Now show me the same example on a hex map - I'm curious :P

Hadn't really looked at Tower Shields before...