As a long time caster player: I love ranged attacks. I like staying back so my squishy wizard (or bard, or druid, or sorcerer, or...) does not lose any precious hit points to whatever monstrosity the DM throws at us. I let the tanks do that for me. However, we recently ran into some questions over range attack rules at our table. How does enemy proximity effect disadvantage? What about if my target is prone? And how do cover mechanics work into this? Here are the answers to these and other questions that we researched so you don't have to!
Ranged Attacks Are at Disadvantage if an Enemy Is within 5 Feet of You
Let's set a common scene: a goblin is just 5 feet away from you, readying its attack. You reach for your trusty longbow, but things are a bit tricky here. In D&D terms, you're at 'disadvantage' when making a ranged attack against a creature within 5 feet. Disadvantage means you roll your d20 twice and take the lower result. Remember, close quarters can be chaotic and distracting. That goblin is not just standing idle; it's in your face, making it hard for you to take precise aim.
The disadvantage holds true if any enemy creature is within 5 feet of you, not just your target. Specifically the rules say "you have disadvantage on the attack roll if you are within 5 feet of a hostile creature who can see you and who isn't incapacitated." In other words if an enemy is able to mess with your shot: they will.
Prone Enemies and Ranged Attacks
Now, let's tweak our scenario. After a strenuous skirmish, the goblin trips over its own feet and is now prone on the ground. It should be easier to hit it, right? Yes and no. If the attacker is within 5 feet of the prone enemy then the attack is at advantage. However, if the attacker is more than 5 feet away then the attack is at disadvantage.
A prone target is more challenging to hit with a ranged attack, giving you 'disadvantage' on your attack roll. Although it sounds strange, consider this: a prone enemy is a smaller, less predictable target, adding difficulty to your aiming.
Cover and Ranged Attacks
In the heat of battle, smart enemies use their surroundings for protection. They might duck behind a tree or a barrel, making your job as a ranged attacker more complicated. Depending on the level of cover, the target gets a bonus to their Armor Class and Dexterity saving throws, thus becoming harder to hit. Half cover provides a +2 bonus to both and is defined as anything that covers half of the opponents body, like a low wall. Three-quarters cover grants a +5 bonus to both and is defined as an obstacle that blocks three-quarters of the opponents body, like an arrow slit. Finally, full cover means you cannot directly target the opponent at all and is defined as being completely concealed by an object, such as being behind a solid wall. Interestingly certain area of effect attacks can still reach an opponent behind total cover, but that is a discussion for another blog.
Back to our scenario: one of the goblin's friends ducks behind a pillar to escape you. Normally the goblin's Armor Class is 15, but the pillar boosts it 20.
The Sharpshooter Feat
Oh, feats! The exception to every rule, the loophole for every situation. The sharpshooter feat negates much of what we have discussed in this blog. The sharpshooter does four things:
1) Increases Dexterity score by 1, to a max of 20.
2) Attacking at long range does not impose disadvantage on your ranged weapon attack rolls. Longbows have a range of 150/600ft. This means that a target further than 150ft away but closer than 600ft is classified as "long range," which imposes disadvantage on attacking that target (enemies beyond 600ft cannot be targeted). With the sharpshooter feat, however, a character can target anything within the 600ft range without disadvantage.
3) Firing a ranged weapon attack within 5ft of an enemy no longer imposes disadvantage on the attack.
4) Your ranged weapon attacks ignore half and three-quarters cover.
This last benefit once again changes our goblin fight. The goblin behind the pillar believes he's safe from ranged attacks, 20 AC is pretty high after all. However, you possess the sharpshooter feat. You draw your longbow and fire on the goblin ignoring that cover. The goblin's AC versus your attack is 15. The arrow pierces the goblin's heart and he falls down dead. Congratulations! You are victorious!
(Psssst! Here are some helpful tokens for tracking just where everyone is on the battlefield.)
