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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Chapter 8: Playing the Game / Movement / Cover

Special Circumstances

Source Player Core pg. 424 2.0
Your GM might allow you to overcome your target’s cover in some situations. If you’re right next to an arrow slit, you can shoot without penalty, but you have greater cover against someone shooting back at you from far away. Your GM might let you reduce or negate cover by leaning around a corner to shoot or the like. This usually takes an action to set up, and the GM might measure cover from an edge or corner of your space instead of your center.

3D Flanking

Source Player Core pg. 425 2.0
Though battle grids are often two-dimensional, the game world isn't! Sometimes you might need to visualize a creature's space as a cube for flanking. For instance, if Valeros is underneath a flying sphinx while Lini is flying above the sphinx, they might be flanking it even if they're piled in an odd stack on your battle grid. And if Valeros were mounted on a horse, he might be able to measure from farther off the ground than normal.

In these cases, it's usually best to have the GM make the call on who's flanking rather than trying to do meticulous measurements in three dimensions.