[RPG] Can you attack through full cover

attackcoverdnd-5e

An eldritch knight wants to attack a guard behind a wall. Before, he casts scrying and thus can see the target and where they are behind the wall.

How should this be resolved?

Is he unable to attack through the wall? Does it depend on the material of the wall? Or does it count as attacking a location? How should advantage/disadvantage be applied to this?

I really want this to work because having a knight in full plated armor greet the enemy through the wall with a giant axe seems awesome, but my DM insists on giving my ruling support.

Best Answer

Seems like surprise is the tool for the job

The rules don't allow it directly, but you're spending resources to do some scouting, which is clever! You should be rewarded for playing cleverly!

I think if a player tried to do that at my table, I'd handle it like this: Make the player attack the wall (see below; if I can't remember it off the top of my head, I'd probably just make something reasonable up on the spot to save time).

  • If the player destroys it in one round, start a fight with the enemy on the other side surprised
  • Otherwise skip through the subsequent attacks needed for destroying the walls, but when the wall is destroyed, the enemies on the other side have readied actions.

This will roughly do what you want to do, but all within the framework of the rules, so try and pitch this to your GM and work with them to find a solution that works for both of you. I hope you find a way to make it work!

Response to a hypothetical objection:

"But Pierre, what if the players start doing that all the time and cheesing every encounter with surprise?"

Dear GM, consider yourself lucky. Your players are using every tool at their disposal and taking time to scout fights beforehand. They're bringing their best game and are spending time and resources coming up with clever and cinematic ideas. Don't punish them for it!

On AC and HP for walls:

DMG p. 246-247 gives tables for object AC/HP depending on material, size and sturdiness. Using those tables, a stone wall (large stone object) could have an AC of 17 and HP anywhere between 5 (fragile wall, old/misshapen stones, crumbling mortar...) and 27 (resilient wall, well-cut stones, expertly adjusted good quality mortar).

This section of the rules also mentions resistances and damage thresholds, which could both apply to this case; I recommend you read it.