Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Shantune 03-01-08, 12:54 AM	I was reading about concealment from the 3.5 PHB: 152. Total Concealment: If you have line of effect to a target but not line of sight (for instance, if he is in total darkness or invisible, or if you’re blinded), he is considered to have total concealment from you. You can’t attack an opponent that has total concealment, though you can attack into a square that you think he occupies. A successful attack into a square occupied by an enemy with total concealment has a 50% miss chance (instead of the normal 20% miss chance for an opponent with concealment). Focusing on the red text. Does that mean to avoid ranged attacks, you could cast a spell such as cloud of fog which gives total concealment (standard action), and then assuming you also have a nearby opponent, take a 5 foot move (move action). And then, ranged attackers could not attack you, because they don't know what square you occupy? Would they shoot at the square where you where? Or would it be a random 8 sided die roll for them to choose which square they would attack, then they try the attack. If it wasn't your square... who cares what they roll. If it was your square and they hit there is a 50% chance they actually missed? At first I thought it was just "50%", but that doesn't seem correct for probability. Since there are 8 surrounding squares, they would first have to choose the correct square to fire into, and then even if they choose the correct 5 foot square, there's the chance they didn't hit the part that you where in. This would only get worse for the attacker if instead of a 5 foot move, the defender moved farther but remained within the cloud.
Kouk 03-01-08, 02:26 AM	Pretty much, but you shouldn't focus on this 5ft area thing. The player or the DM decides which square is being fired upon, there is no random "which square will he shoot at" unless that is the method of decision on the part of the controlling player. Probably a good idea for the DM to use the d8 though, simply so there isn't the problem of possible metagaming. You don't have to use Obscuring Mist or anything, Invisibility works too. If you are Invisible you have Total Concealment, so 50% chance they miss you even if they choose the correct square (unless of course they can see invisible or whatever). Logically, if you suspect that your target has not moved, you would fire at that same square, and if you suspect he did move, you would fire at a different square. Certain things might give away whether you have moved, most noticeably a good Listen check. A superb Spot check can also note an Invisible opponent, see the skill description including epic skill checks. Not a great idea to fire blindly though if you can help it -- a waste of effort, and if using ranged weapons you may be provoking AoOs from your unseen foe. Go for area spells. EDIT: And the target of the attack should roll the percentile to see whether there was a hit scored against them I feel, rather than the player making the attack. This way the DM is free to roll percentile dice behind his screen even when a player has selected the wrong square, so as to not give away the fact whether an unseen enemy is in a particular square or not (roll for each square fired into even if you don't really have to). EDIT: Also, if an opponent is Blinded, everything has Total Concealment for him, unless he has ways around that condition.