So I saw the thread about the bloody skeleton Owb being used as a jetpack and I have begun constructing a character around that idea, but I wanted to get an opinion on what has come up as an interesting question:
Lord Salinger Shadstone's bloody skeleton owb resides in his backpack, lovingly named "Backpack," his faithful magical flying backpack slash jetpack (GM approved me combining a backpack with an exotic military saddle).
The space should be no problem as I think most of us would agree a human torso's skeletal structure would fit into a backpack especially in Lord Shadstone's case, as he's cut holes in the side to allow the owb's arms to freely operate outside of the backpack.
Backpack's head peeks out from the top of the backpack underneath the flap.
What I'm wanting your opinion on is:
Would Backpack's enemies be granted cover or concealment from him, as he's having to peek out from the top of the backpack? And having to peer around Lord Shadstone's shoulders to see the enemy?
Lord Shadstone would not want the fact that Backpack is an undead creature in a bag to get out, and would very much perpetuate that it is just a magically animated backpack, so the idea of Backpack's head coming right out of the bag in full view is right out the window.
For those curious, the owb has a nice crimson dress shirt on and tattered red cloth gloves to disguise the, uh, skeletonyness of it.
TL;DR: Owb inside backpack. Would you grant enemies of the Owb cover or concealment? I'd like your opinion as RAW/RAI is pretty much nonapplicable in this situation. Unlesss you can find some RAW/RAI support for yes or no
Here's a visual to help
EDIT: I forgot to give him his nice dress shirt and gloves, but you get the idea.
Here's the statblock if anyone wants it too.
Basically, you're gaming the system.
As a GM I just wouldn't let this work and there are no rules for it.
Either it's mechanically a mount or I just wouldn't let it work. It can look like whatever you want it to look like in game, but the mechanics would work out exactly as though you were riding a mount.
Oh I'm not out to game the system, mechanically it's being treated as a mount with the rules that come with it (GM said I wouldn't have to worry about some of the ride checks though as the Owb is not going to care about battle, IE "rearing up" or such).
That said, that wasn't my question, nor was the legality of the concept itself asked about. My question is highlighted in bold.
I'd just like to know if a creature being attacked by the backpack would have cover or concealment against it as the viewport is somewhat limited.
Rather, how do undead detect other creatures? Is it sight? A sixth sense? I'm not sure how they see and wether or not an undead with anying partially obscuring their eye sockets would grant cover/concealment to targets it would like to attack.
What you do is in home brew land and so Will your ruling have to be. It May be fun, it sounds like it is, but your group Will need to make your own rules for it.
Jeez you guys get sidetracked so easily by anything. Thought you might get a kick out of the whole backpack thing. I'll stick to asking the vanilla question.
The question:
Would targets of a skeleton hiding in a storage thing get cover/concealment? Do they see with vision like living creatures do (despite the lack of eyeballs?)
The text would seem to suggest yes but it just strikes me as strange that things without eyeballs see with regular sight.
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Reply:
No
You are happy?
Long reply:
Cover require a hard cover, a cloth or leather backpack isn't enough.
Concealment:
To determine whether your target has concealment 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 provides concealment, the target has concealment.
Not fulfilled.
When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has concealment if his space is entirely within an effect that grants concealment. When making a melee attack against a target that isn't adjacent to you, use the rules for determining concealment from ranged attacks.
Not fulfilled.
Reply:
NoYou are happy?
Long reply:
Cover require a hard cover, a cloth or leather backpack isn't enough.Concealment:
To determine whether your target has concealment 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 provides concealment, the target has concealment.Not fulfilled.
When making a melee attack against an adjacent target, your target has concealment if his space is entirely within an effect that grants concealment. When making a melee attack against a target that isn't adjacent to you, use the rules for determining concealment from ranged attacks.Not fulfilled.
Thanks! I wasn't aware if there were any rules regarding things such as eyepatches or big hats obscuring vision and I had no clue where to actually go about to look for that type of thing as they are the most similar approximation I can make.
Now that that's been answered, no I hadn't actually considered the fact that the backpack would probably be covered in the goo. I would consider the burning skeleton variant but.... you can see where that goes.
Is there a way to clean them up? or at least keep them from making strawberry jam inside my bag?
The backpack May have maneuvre problems since it only have fly skill +8 but if you substitute your ride skill it Will be fine.