I have an Alchemist in my pathfinder game and he has taken the feat called Precise Bombs.
Benefit: Whenever the alchemist throws a bomb, he can select a number of squares equal to his Intelligence modifier that are not affected by the splash damage from his bombs. If the bomb misses, this discovery has no effect.
So I understand that my alchemist can choose squares to save allies from splash damage, but what happens when he misses? I make him roll the 1d8 to see which square his bomb hit but then figured that because he wasn't in control of the "hit" then that means he doesn't have control of the splash damage either.
Was I way off on this? Any insight or opinions would really help out here.
The discovery already answers your question about what happens on a miss: Precise Bomb does nothing and the miss rules for thrown splash weapons apply normally.
The miss rules say:
"If you miss the target (whether aiming at a creature or a grid intersection), roll 1d8. This determines the misdirection of the throw, with 1 falling short (off-target in a straight line toward the thrower), and 2 through 8 rotating around the target creature or grid intersection in a clockwise direction. Then, count a number of squares in the indicated direction equal to the range increment of the throw. After you determine where the weapon landed, it deals splash damage to all creatures in that square and in all adjacent squares."
So yeah, you are doing it right; if he misses you randomly roll to determine where the splash weapon goes and that square and all squares around it suffer the effects of the splash. Precise Bombs has no effect.
