Henry's off-topic left-field question about missing grovelling friends.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by hcobb

So it is easier to miss your buddy in the pile in HTH than when he is facing you while standing?

Say a giant is standing on your buddy, you get +4 DX to miss the man on the ground if you miss the giant at no DX adjustment?

Well... easier than what, exactly?

There is no RAW situation where you ever roll to miss a standing friend with a hand weapon, is there?

Is it easier to make the to-miss roll on your prone friend than to make the to-hit roll on the giant standing over him. Yes, and so what? If I know my friend is on the ground there, I'm not liable to try a swing anywhere near him down on the ground when there's a whole giant to aim at above him.

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by Skarg

Well... easier than what, exactly?

There is no RAW situation where you ever roll to miss a standing friend with a hand weapon, is there?

To deal with spiders give your buddy a pat on the back.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by hcobb

To deal with spiders give your buddy a pat on the back.

Ok, so nuisance creatures, ok, that's an interesting niche situation... what's the actual rule?

Death Test: Mentions the possibility of accidentally hitting your friend when trying to kill a nuisance creature in their hex, but doesn't give rules.

ITL nuisance creatures: Also mentions the possibility, but doesn't say what the to-miss roll actually is.

ITL section on hitting your friends: Doesn't actually specify what the roll is exactly, or whether there's a modifier for lying down.

Melee section on hitting your friends is identical in Legacy.

Ok, the example that shows it is in the Multiple HTH Combat section in Melee and in ITL. There it is clear you get a +4 on your roll to miss when striking into HTH.

In that example it says the reason is the target is prone. In literal-minded unthinking GM mode, it would follow to not give +4 when rolling to miss a friend who isn't lying down... one might even rationalize it that the friend on the ground isn't taking up as much random space where an attack might hit them.

It seems to me there would be a BIG difference whether the target were a monster actually on the friend's body (e.g. a spider or rat, maybe) as opposed to being on the ground in their hex but not on them.