I have a gnome(small) alchemist and will be taking the boneshard bomb discovery next. Im hoping to use a row of the skeleton minions i'll be gaining as a sort of living meat (bone) shield, while I throw bombs from behind them, especially in narrow hallways.
I'd like to take advantage of the cover mechanic to gain +4 AC against enemy ranged attacks, without giving the same +4 AC to my bomb attack targets. My character is small, and the skeleton minions will likely generally be medium, so I don't think I can use the low obstacles approach. I believe my skeletons will provide "soft cover" both ways.
So, i'm thinking that since I can command my skeletons, they could have readied actions each turn to duck or split for a moment while I throw my bomb. Something to that effect. Curious if that's fair play. The skeletons effectively loose their turns, in exchange for me gaining something similar to low obstacle cover. It's just a fun thing to do some session and gain a bottle cap really.
while you can, say order them to move and come back while you ready an action to throw when they don't interfere with your line of shot etc. any intelligent enemy who see this can also do the same and ready to shoot back at you once the skeleton moves out of the way.
about ducking since it has to be at most half your height the skeleton would need to fall prone most likely since ducking wouldn't even bring him to the right height (if it's medium and you are small)
A readied action is s standard action that allows you to do a single action latter in your turn. What you are doing is actually two actions. You want the skeleton to move, delay while you complete your action then move again. You can take a 5 foot step as part of a readied action, but only if you do not otherwise move during the round. Since you moved and stopped moving again requires another move action.
As zza ni pointed out ducking will not work. The skeleton would have to drop prone. Dropping prone is a free action but standing up is a move action. This poses the same problem as above that you can only ready a single action but are taking two actions.
However you could combine the two ideas:
1) Have your skeletons delay until right before your turn.
2) Skeletons drop prone (free) on their turn and ready an action to stand back up as soon as your turn is over.
or in case you only throw one bomb, since talking is free action even out of turn, you ready an action to throw once the skelly is outa the way and he take even two move action to drop down and stand up.
or he can even attack (melee or ranged), drop as free and stand (and provoke) as move.
it's easier if there is room to move behind you. he can even move through your space, going from in front of you to behind to in front. as an ally he can pass through your space, all in one move action of 20 feet move. (hack, if there is no enemy with 'step up' he can do this as a withdraw action and not even provoke)
it still amount to the same, an intelligent enemy who witness this (or learn of it) could just ready to shoot when you do and the path is clear. and since he ready in response to you - he get to shoot first...
Ah perfect. This is great. Now i have two ways to do it, thanks Zza nii and Belafon
zza ni wrote: it still amount to the same, an intelligent enemy who witness this (or learn of it) could just ready to shoot when you do and the path is clear. and since he ready in response to you - he get to shoot first... The big difference here though is that you can't ready a full-attack action, so each enemy with ranged attacks can only take a single shot with their readied actions. That's rather different than multiple archers taking full attacks, especially if they're specialized for archery with stuff like Rapid Shot.
you might want to read Precise Shot feat. It is usually the second feat archers and ranged attackers take after Point-Blank Shot.
You can try Aid Another(special attacks) for melee(close) combat.
Creatures(gnomes, undead, animated objects) are treated differently than objects(doors, walls, low walls & hills).
Tactically, staying in the edge of an Obscuring Mist is the usual low level trick but requires a wand for spamming the spell.
Azothath wrote: you might want to read Precise Shot feat. It is usually the second feat archers and ranged attackers take after Point-Blank Shot.
You can try Aid Another(special attacks) for melee(close) combat.
Creatures(gnomes, undead, animated objects) are treated differently than objects(doors, walls, low walls & hills).
Tactically, staying in the edge of an Obscuring Mist is the usual low level trick but requires a wand for spamming the spell.
+4 ac from cover is different than the -4 penalty on ranged attacks.
precise shot lets you ignore the -4 from firing into melee, not the +4 soft cover.
they stack, it normally +4 ac for cover AND -4 attack for firing into melee
Cover requires that all the 'lines of attack' of a ranged/thrown attacker go through occupied squares or squares that provide cover. Creatures normally get 30ft of movement as a move action on their turn. It's situational and has the biggest impact at First level. Eek out what you can given the situation.
Just to be clear when you say a "narrow passage" are we talking about 5-ft wide 5-ft tall, 5-ft wide 20-ft tall, or 10-ft wide 5-ft tall?
In the case of 20-ft tall you can just use lob shot and be fine.
In the case of 10-ft wide you can use your own 5-ft step along with your alies to effectively shuffle around.
In the last case, well you are throwing bombs which are AoE. Sure it wont be as much damage, but it will be a whole lot more consistent than what any ranged other ranged character would have to deal with.
Oh that’s interesting about lob shot. Flavor wise it’s close to what I’m going for, but that's a lot of feat prerequisites i didn’t invest in.
The narrow hallway was just an example. I’d like to be able to surround myself with these skeleton in an open field too. So i like the method where skeletons go before me, maybe fire off their own attacks, drop prone and ready an action to get up after my turn. It lets me do full attack actions pretty effectively with one way cover and the skeletons get to be more than dedicated bone shields. This exceeds what i was looking for.
I think my GM will give me that bottle cap when i finally pull this off
Luiginosuke wrote: So i like the method where skeletons go before me, maybe fire off their own attacks, drop prone and ready an action to get up after my turn. It lets me do full attack actions pretty effectively with one way cover and the skeletons get to be more than dedicated bone shields. This exceeds what i was looking for. Unless I missed something, that wouldn’t be possible.
Readying to do anything (even just a move action like standing up) is a standard action. The skeletons can drop prone (free) and ready to stand up (standard), but they can’t also take an attack because that also takes a standard action.
Azothath wrote: Cover requires that all the 'lines of attack' of a ranged/thrown attacker go through occupied squares or squares that provide cover. It only requires that one line of attack goes through such a square or the border of such a square.
Cover wrote: To determine whether your target has cover 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 blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC). You can choose any corner of your occupied square and then you draw four imaginary lines to each corner of your target's occupied square. If any one of those lines would give cover, then your target has cover.
Pizza Lord wrote: Azothath wrote: Cover requires that all the 'lines of attack' of a ranged/thrown attacker go through occupied squares or squares that provide cover. It only requires that one line of attack goes through such a square or the border of such a square.
Cover wrote: To determine whether your target has cover 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 blocks line of effect or provides cover, or through a square occupied by a creature, the target has cover (+4 to AC). You can choose any corner of your occupied square and then you draw four imaginary lines to each corner of your target's occupied square. If any one of those lines would give cover, then your target has cover. correct. I even linked to RAW and read it... then lost in the weeds later...
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