improved cover or redied actions only

[awa]

so i was working on a setting and something occurred to me ranged combat from behind cover is going to be more prevalent. a creature can stand as a move action shoot as a standard and drop prone as a free action. that means by raw you can only hit them by interrupting their turn.
On one hand it doesn't feel very realistic it might be better off just calling it improved cover giving 8 defense instead of the normal 4.
what does the play ground think.

[Curmudgeon]

If the archers want to be able to keep track of enemy positions (i.e., they want to get those free reactive Spot checks) they'll need to maintain line of sight across the battlefield; otherwise they'll miss everything except what they see while popping up for shooting. So improved cover seems like the right approach.

[u-b]

This might have very different math. Suppose, attacker hits on 15+ with cover, then he would hit on 19+ with improved cover. So, full cover if they are full-back between shots, improved cover it they keep an eye out, still plain cover when they shoot and get readied actions against them.

[shadow_archmagi]

that means by raw you can only hit them by interrupting their turn.


Or walking around to where they are and power attacking them while they're prone which is a nasty -4 to AC

[awa]

like i said the nature of the setting makes it more common. specifically lots of fortification and ship to ship combat with very little magic to easily get around it.

edit
Curmudgeon i'm not sure i understand what your saying. are you saying people who keep popping up should lose their free spot? that they should take some kind of penalty to hit?

[Curmudgeon]

Curmudgeon i'm not sure i understand what your saying. are you saying people who keep popping up should lose their free spot? that they should take some kind of penalty to hit?
I'm saying if they've got their heads completely down (total cover) and can't be targeted, they also can't Spot anything (normally a reactive check without using an action, so it also occurs on the enemies' turns). The archers will only be able to look around during their own turns when they pop up from behind their cover, and would be completely unable to Spot enemies moving ─ until the enemies got past the cover, up very close.

[awa]

so you believe that the inability to detect foes trying to hide offsets the advantage of not being able to be attacked except with ready actions?

[ericgrau]

Crossbowmen can shoot while prone. Archers can kneel for +2 AC vs. ranged but -2 AC in melee. The SRD is annoyingly silent on the action type but Star Wars SAGA reveals a free action to kneel and a move action to stand, which does not provoke (unlike standing from prone). I'd go with that. Kneeling is better because most archers like to full attack. Though getting up, firing an arrow and dropping back to cover isn't unrealistic either. Readying actions to catch people using such tactics is pretty standard too. Also note that this only works with horizontal cover (PC moves up and down). For vertical cover (PC moves side to side) you'd need shot on the run.

And it's fairly easy to make a setting where range dominates. It only takes a distance slightly over a couple of move actions or rough terrain. Anyone dumb enough to try melee is the easiest target by 6-8 points on the d20 and dies before he can even land his first hit. Even if you can eventually get close if you can't swing in the same turn you're giving away a free round of attacks and then the foe draws melee too (the standard tactic of most monsters in the MM btw). So in dungeons melee is typically better but in the wilderness range easily dominates, unless the DM starts encounters by packing foes artificially close together.