Hello, All!
I've got another stupid question. :)
Please check following picture http://imgur.com/zPqHZns
Male and Female are fighting in melee. We have effect identical to Fog Cloud spell (except radius)
Questions:
1. Male attacks Female. Does Female get a concealment (20%)?
2. Female attacks Male. Does Male get a concealment (20%)?
Here is a thread on the subject, which you can look into if you feel my answer is vague.
Anyways, you rule concealment by picking a corner of the assailant's square and drawing a line to each of the 4 corners of the defenders square.
Since the female will have to draw two of her lines through the fog, the male has concealment against her attacks.
The male, however, can choose the corners at the edge and draw four lines without crossing the fog. So the female does not have concealment against his attacks.
So, to sum up - it's always advantageous to be in fog vs enemies that are not.
Ok, I've read that thread and read Fog Cloud more than 10 times :)
What bothers me is wording of RAW.
Let me just copy/paste.
A bank of fog billows out from the point you designate. The fog obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker can't use sight to locate the target).
Ok, so whithout any additional "logical" or "IRL" additions it basically says that creatures that are inside this spell effect treat all creatures in 5 feet with concealment and all creatures 10+ feet with total concealment. That is basically all. So, even if creature is standing near edge of fog cloud he, as per RAW, must use spell description as regulations what he can see and what not.
So, I'm again confused. :)
Yes, you rulings for tracing lines are ok, but. They directly contradict spell description and in PF specific trumps generic always.
That is not what it says. It does not say that creatures in the AoE consider only the distance from themselves to a potential target. It says the fog obscures all sight beyond five feet. Trace line of sight as Wonderstell suggests. Did it pass through more than zero but less than or equal to 5 feet of fog ? That's 20% concealment. Did it pass through more than five feet of fog ? That's total concealment.