Ways to improve the benefit of cover

[Toptomcat]

Are there any feats, magic items, class features, etc. in 3.5, Pathfinder and popular third-party material like Dreamscarred Press and Spheres that improve the defensive benefit offered to someone taking cover?

Searching for it is kind of difficult, because effects that help the attacker bypass cover are waaaay more common but still show up on a search for ‘cover.’

[Darg]

Are there any feats, magic items, class features, etc. in 3.5, Pathfinder and popular third-party material like Dreamscarred Press and Spheres that improve the defensive benefit offered to someone taking cover?

Searching for it is kind of difficult, because effects that help the attacker bypass cover are waaaay more common but still show up on a search for ‘cover.’

Cover is generally an environmental effect. The benefit of cover is its existence. Ways to improve cover are pretty basic. You just gotta increase the area it covers you, up to total cover. Going prone behind a low obstacle for example could provide regular, improved, or total cover for example. Providing ways to bypass feats on the otherhand can get a little messy, but there are already effects to grant a miss chance that is not concealment and there are ways to grant you the benefit of total cover while denying your opponent the same.

[Miss Disaster]

As a side note, I've recently been having fun with an overlooked 3.5 spell (4th level) that give you concealment *and* soft cover that moves along with you. It's called Raptor Cloud - Secrets of Sarlona p. 128.

So this kinda falls under the category of your request for "improving the defensive benefit offered to someone taking cover".

[Inevitability]

Decreasing your size should upgrade some partial cover to total cover, shouldn't it?

[Darg]

Decreasing your size should upgrade some partial cover to total cover, shouldn't it?

No, it would follow the progression of partial>cover>improved> total. Total cover means there is no possible way something can make it through to hurt you. In the example of the fireball making it through a slit, that would be improved cover because attacks can make it through the cover into the square behind it. So if the cover doesn't fully encapsulate a facing it does not provide total cover and does not break LoE or LoS on its own. Total cover means you can't expose yourself to particular facings without movement into other exposed squares.

In the case of decreasing your size, it depends on several factors. Cover is the standard. Low obstacles or other forms of partial cover modify the cover rules. If the cover is no longer equivalent to "no more than half your height," then it simply becomes cover. Cover rules encapsulate everything upto and including an exposed facing. Improved cover is generally exampled as each exposed facing would provide total cover but it has openings or gaps where attacks can penetrate.

[Prime32]

As a side note, I've recently been having fun with an overlooked 3.5 spell (4th level) that give you concealment *and* soft cover that moves along with you. It's called Raptor Cloud - Secrets of Sarlona p. 128.

So this kinda falls under the category of your request for "improving the defensive benefit offered to someone taking cover".There's also a level of the Branch Dancer PrC from Dragon #310 (grants cover while within 5ft of some part of a living tree) combined with carrying around a bow or something made of livewood.

[loky1109]

There's also a level of the Branch Dancer PrC from Dragon #310 (grants cover while within 5ft of some part of a living tree) combined with carrying around a bow or something made of livewood.

Combined with Acorn of Far Travel. )

[ShurikVch]

Shadow Mind (https://web.archive.org/web/20120419172239/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20021025b)'s Subpsionic Shield?

[Crake]

No, it would follow the progression of partial>cover>improved> total. Total cover means there is no possible way something can make it through to hurt you. In the example of the fireball making it through a slit, that would be improved cover because attacks can make it through the cover into the square behind it.

The different stages of cover went away with 3.0, now theres only cover and total cover.

Fireball is also a bad example, because it goes around corners, and so isnt really relevant to this conversation

As an aside, total cover doesnt need to fill out a whole square, it just needs to completely conceal a creature, take tower shields as an example, theyre nowhere near 5x5ft, but they can still grant a creature total cover. Likewise, a 4’ high serving bar in a tavern would provide a medium creature cover, while providing a halfling total cover unless they stood on something behind it.

[Darg]

The different stages of cover went away with 3.0, now theres only cover and total cover.

Fireball is also a bad example, because it goes around corners, and so isnt really relevant to this conversation

As an aside, total cover doesnt need to fill out a whole square, it just needs to completely conceal a creature, take tower shields as an example, theyre nowhere near 5x5ft, but they can still grant a creature total cover. Likewise, a 4’ high serving bar in a tavern would provide a medium creature cover, while providing a halfling total cover unless they stood on something behind it.

Cover (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatModifiers.htm#cover)


Low Obstacles and Cover

A low obstacle (such as a wall no higher than half your height) provides cover, but only to creatures within 30 feet (6 squares) of it. The attacker can ignore the cover if he’s closer to the obstacle than his target.


Varying Degrees of Cover

In some cases, cover may provide a greater bonus to AC and Reflex saves. In such situations the normal cover bonuses to AC and Reflex saves can be doubled (to +8 and +4, respectively). A creature with this improved cover effectively gains improved evasion against any attack to which the Reflex save bonus applies. Furthermore, improved cover provides a +10 bonus on Hide checks.

You are incorrect. You still have partial cover and improved cover in 3.5 and I believe it's still in the PF CRB. The tower shield providing total cover is a quality of the shield, not the cover rules.

I used fireball as an example because it has an arrow slit in the description which would be an appropriate example for improved cover.

[Crake]

Cover (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/combatModifiers.htm#cover)





You are incorrect. You still have partial cover and improved cover in 3.5 and I believe it's still in the PF CRB. The tower shield providing total cover is a quality of the shield, not the cover rules.

I used fireball as an example because it has an arrow slit in the description which would be an appropriate example for improved cover.

Your quote on low cover proved my point, it literally speaks of cover being based on your height.

[Darg]

Your quote on low cover proved my point, it literally speaks of cover being based on your height.

No, you have cover. If the obstacle you are using for cover is half your height or less, then you only have cover for creatures within 30 ft and it can be ignored depending on distance. That's it. That's all height gets you, not total cover.


Line of effect is just like line of sight, except line of effect ignores restrictions on visual ability.


To determine line of sight, draw an imaginary line between your space and the target’s space. If any such line is clear (not blocked), then you have line of sight to the creature (and it has line of sight to you). The line is clear if it doesn’t intersect or even touch squares that block line of sight.

Total cover is only granted if all lines to a "space" are blocked.


An otherwise solid barrier with a hole of at least 1 square foot through it does not block a spell’s line of effect. Such an opening means that the 5-foot length of wall containing the hole is no longer considered a barrier for purposes of a spell’s line of effect

Even a small hole grants LoE which means it's not total cover.

The DM is well within his rights to grant improved cover to a tiny creature hiding behind an obstacle many times their size, but not total cover unless they houserule it. Even then I'd say that leaving an exposed face of a square should never grant improved cover. This is the example the PHB used for improved cover:


For instance, a character peering around a corner or through an arrow slit has even better cover than a character standing behind a low wall or an obstacle.

...

The DM may impose other penalties or restrictions to attacks depending on the details of the cover. For example, to strike effectively through a narrow opening, you need to use a long piercing weapon, such as an arrow or a spear. A battleaxe or a pick just isn’t going to get through an arrow slit.

[SangoProduction]

There is 100% a talent in Spheres of Guile that I reviewed. Survivalism sphere, Manipulate Cover lets you basically deploy cover on demand.
Under Navigation sphere, there's Terrain Advantage, which increases bonuses by 2 from situational modifiers, like Cover, and Prone.

I believe there is more. Probably under War sphere, Enhancement sphere, and quite possibly Weather sphere. But I've not slept yet. So... later. Have a good day.