According to the Cover rules and the accompanying diagram, the corner of a wall counts as blocking the line. Is the same true if the line grazes the corner of a creature's space, granting lesser cover?
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Yes, same rules for regular cover and soft cover.
draw a line from the center of your space to the center of the target's space. If that line passes through any terrain or object that would block the effect, the target has standard cover (or greater cover if the obstruction is extreme or the target has Taken Cover).If the line passes through a creature instead, the target has lesser cover.
I belive soft cover is one of the most overlooked rules at most tables.
Hmm. So if I'm a Medium creature firing a lightning bolt line spell at a Medium enemy at a 45 degree angle, and there's a Huge creature standing next to the line, does the enemy get to add the standard cover bonus to the Reflex save even though the Huge creature isn't in the area?
If I'm correct in understanding that the Huge creature is only blocking the caster LoS and not the line of effect of the bolt itself, I would not grant cover from the spell.
Spells essentially have their own actors/origins and other considerations for how and where to draw cover checks.
A creature might take cover behind a crate to get cover vs a wizard in a direct LoS, but if the Wizard airbursts a fireball behind the foe opposite the crate, there's no cover between the fireball's central point and the foe getting roasted. Meaning, no cover benefit vs the fireball.
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Back to the lightning bolt question,
a GM might rule that the first target in a line-bolt type spell does not get cover, but every creature behind them gets lesser cover. Honestly, this seems to be the intent/implication of the cover rules that most tables forget/ignore.
A GM may even rule the bolt as less of a projectile and more of a spontaneous AoE zone, and render the bolt more or less unable to be affected by cover, short of hiding prone in a ditch.
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Lesser Cover only gives +1 to AC, not anything to Reflex saves nor give the ability to Stealth.
so the Lightning bolt senario with several creature in a line wont give the creatures behind the first any bonus to its reflex save.
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Lesser Cover only gives +1 to AC, not anything to Reflex saves nor give the ability to Stealth.
so the Lightning bolt senario with several creature in a line wont give the creatures behind the first any bonus to its reflex save.
Ah, very true.
I do wonder when a big enough size difference of creature would cause issues. As written, it's that awkward "if the obstructing creature is 2 sizes larger than both attacker and target" that lesser becomes standard cover. IMO the rule itself is kinda poorly conceived, and spells show one instance of why.
The center of a fireball is not a creature with a size that can be compared against. The rules outright do not function.
IMO, the rule in general should be just a 2 size difference between obstruction and the target behind them, no attacker size consideration to be had.
Kinda disappointed that Paizo missed the chance to improve that in the remaster.
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In any case, the Huge creature in my example is two sizes larger than both me and the enemy, so any cover granted would be standard cover, not lesser cover.
Anyway, as far as I can tell, if I fire the lightning bolt at a 45 degree angle (such as southeast as shown in the Area diagram in the area effect rules), then for any Medium creature inside the lightning bolt area, the line calculating cover is essentially equivalent to the line that determines what squares are included in the area. Whether you draw from my center to the enemy's center or from the southeast corner of my space to the enemy's center, it's the same line.
So I'm trying to wrap my head around why grazing the corner of a square is sufficient for determining if an obstacle provides cover against the lightning bolt, but not for determining what is getting zapped with the lightning bolt. The Huge creature is providing cover against the lightning bolt without being affected by the lightning bolt.