Cover, Line of Sight, and Darkness¶

Sometimes during a fight, you might seek cover, such as by diving behind a small barricade or ducking behind a tree. When you take cover behind something that makes attacking you more difficult (but not impossible), attack rolls against you are made with disadvantage.

You usually can't be targeted if you're entirely behind a substantial structure (like a wall), even if you're technically in range of attack. However, you might still be affected by nearby explosions or similar effects that target an area.

Some effects require the target to be within your line of sight. You have line of sight if you can see the target (though in some situations, the GM might decide the effect can't go through a glass window or similarly transparent object). For alternatives to this rule for blind characters, see the "Adjusting Abilities and Spells" section on page 82.

Darkness can also make certain actions more challenging. The GM should reflect this by raising the Difficulty of action rolls or imposing disadvantage on rolls made by the PCs.