Cover

[Cheesegear]

Does Cover apply to (non-Reach) Melee attacks?

Simple question. Hopefully has a simple answer.

[Xihirli]

Nothing in the cover rules excludes melee attacks.
Might be harder to find cover, though.

[Man_Over_Game]

Nothing in the cover rules excludes melee attacks.
Might be harder to find cover, though.

To add on this, "Cover" is not the same as "Obscuration".

Cover is a solid wall, something you can touch, and can physically block a shot.

Obscuration is something you can't see through.


Wall of Force (Indestructable, see-through) grants you Cover but not Obscuration.
Fog Cloud grants you Obscuration but not Cover.

So...having something that's physically blocking your means of attacking someone while 5 feet away from them is a pretty niche situation, unless you're using some kind of special shield facing rules.

[DMThac0]

Simple answer is yes.

More indepth: It's up to your DM to grant a cover bonus per situation. Certain things may seem obvious, an opponent hiding behind a half wall could get a cover bonus, a person who slides around a corner to avoid line of sight could get a cover bonus. However, due to movement, it's possible to simply play a game of cat and mouse negating any cover you may think you've gained.

Imagine this scenario:
An opponent sees you coming in to attack, they run into a jail cell and lock the door. You now have the bars in your way if you decide to attack. You could, potentially, try to slip your sword between the bars to attack, you could slide up to the bars and slide your whole arm in to attack with more range, or you could attempt to unlock the door. If you attack, do the bars give cover, does the opening between the bars allow you enough space to slip your arm in and swing with more force? It's possible to give a circumstance disadvantage, it's possible to give a cover bonus, it's possible to not impose anything.

[Keravath]

Assessing "cover" is entirely up to the DM depending on what is being used for cover, what the attack is and any other circumstances that could contribute like the relative size of the combatants.

Depending on circumstances, cover could be applied to melee attacks. For example, two opponents facing each other over a wall could end up with half cover each (if the DM ruled that way). A character attacking with a reach weapon over or beside a square containing another creature could also result in the target creature gaining the benefit of cover. Another example could be a halfling behind a wall trying to swing a sword over top of the wall against a giant next to the other side of the wall. The halfling might have trouble swinging the sword over the wall giving the giant cover while the giant has no problem swinging down on the halfling behind the wall resulting in the halfling having no cover while the giant receives the benefits of cover.

Each situation is judged on its own circumstances and the DM decides whether cover adjustments to AC make sense or not.

[No brains]

I'm pretty sure cover applies to melee attacks, but I can't find any good source to back that up.

Earlier editions (read: useless info now) had small trees in squares that gave cover to the people in the square, but I don't think this edition's DMG brought those back.

[Cheesegear]

Nothing in the cover rules excludes melee attacks.

That's kind of our issue. It seems like it should. But it doesn't.


To add on this, "Cover" is not the same as "Obscuration".

Cover is a solid wall, something you can touch, and can physically block a shot.

Okay, maybe I should've explained the situation.

A character is fighting a hostile. They are in adjacent grids, or within 5ft. of each other.

A knee-to-waist high wall is between them. An explicit example in the PHB is a 'low wall' gives half-cover.
But...Like...Come on. You're right there. The two parties can see easily over the wall, it's not that high...

But, a 'low wall' gives half-Cover, and nothing in the rules excludes Melee.
...But...That's dumb. Isn't it?

[SkipSandwich]

Having a low wall between you and an opponent cuts off half of the possible angles he could potentially swing his sword at you, giving you a more predicable series of attacks to defend against. Seems perfectly logical to me. Gives plenty of fuel for cenematic moments too. "The soldier chops down with such force you barely have time to dodge, his axe biting deeply into the wooden fence between you and briefly getting stuck. You see his eyes widen in shock as he pulls his weapon free just a little too late to deflect you return thrust, your sword piercing his shoulder just under the pauldron."

[Man_Over_Game]

Having a low wall between you and an opponent cuts off half of the possible angles he could potentially swing his sword at you, giving you a more predicable series of attacks to defend against. Seems perfectly logical to me.

Exactly this. The guy is virtually untouchable below his belly button. Try swinging around a two handed weapon in that kind of circumstance, and you'll realize that it's a lot harder when you can't maneuver around your own weapon.

[Lunali]

A more practical example of melee cover would be a reach attack with another melee combatant in between.

[Tanarii]

Yes. My PCs and Monsters use furniture, columns, stalagmites, and wall corners for cover against melee attacks whenever possible. Sometimes easier said than done of course, given the way 5e combat and movement flow.

Of course, you can also describe a missed attack that didn't get a cover bonus as getting cover between the attacker and target. Otoh For some people it's fine to have it flow that way, for others they'd want to know why they didn't get the cover bonus in that case ...

[opaopajr]

Yes. :smallsmile:

Quickest way to know that: Do walls need to be 5' thick to be interfering full cover vs. melee attacks? :smalltongue: If 'no, they can be thinner to be full cover (block line of sight)' to the logical above, then yay narrative logic works with whom you are talking. (Basically walls mean walls. :smalltongue:)

Now step 2: why not fences of 1/2 or 3/4 cover height? Are they not still partial cover? :smallsmile:

Same for walls now 1/2 way to 3/4 way across one's line of sight. Still too partial cover.

Voilà, "geometric proof" that cover applies to melee attacks. :smallamused: