Tanglefoot Bomb description:
If a creature saves against the tanglefoot bomb, do they not become entangled at all? Or does the save only pertain to being glued to the floor or not?
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I suspect you meant to use quote tags instead of spoiler tags. Made it difficult to reply, but I've got it now. Let's do this.
The first thing to note is that your quoted rules text uses a semicolon in the 2nd sentence. That seems minor but it's really helpful, because the rules of grammar indicate that the stuff after the semicolon is just modifying (or part of) the stuff right before the semicolon, in that sentence. In other words, the text "those who make this save are not entangled at all" is only talking about the creatures in the splash area.
(I mean, I guess it could be that the authors did not intend that and that they've made a grammatical mistake that ruins their intentions. With Paizo, all such mistakes are possible. However, for now I'm going to assume that an editor knew what he/she was doing, and this is written this way because it is what they intended.)
So, you can safely ignore that 2nd sentence -- it's only talking about the splash effect, not the direct target hit. That leaves us with this:
A creature that takes a direct hit from a tanglefoot bomb must save against the bomb’s DC or be entangled and glued to the floor as if it had failed its save against a tanglefoot bag.
Now, here is where it gets interesting. That bolded part seems to imply that we should use the normal rules for a tanglefoot bag. So let's take a look:
When you throw a tanglefoot bag at a creature (as a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 10 feet), the bag comes apart and goo bursts out, entangling the target and then becoming tough and resilient upon exposure to air. An entangled creature takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty to Dexterity and must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be glued to the floor, unable to move. Even on a successful save, it can move only at half speed.
So let's put that into bullet points:
- If it hits, the creature becomes entangled (–2 to attacks, –4 to Dexterity). This apparently has no save. It's just part of getting hit. A target's way to avoid this was to not get hit.
- Next, the target must make a DC 15 Reflex save. Fail and you are glued to the floor. Succeed and your movement speed is "merely" halved.
So it would seem that if the tanglefoot bomb wants us to use the tanglefoot bag rules, then a target is still going to be entangled and have slowed movement (at least). The save is just to see if the target is glued to the floor. So that should be the end of it.
However, the tanglefoot bomb text doesn't actually say exactly that. It exactly says that a creature must save or else have all the bad effects, and if the creature does save it prescribes nothing. In other words, it doesn't actually say to use the tanglefoot bag rules in general; instead it says to use the tanglefoot bag rules when a target fails the save. So when a creature makes the save, there is nothing.
Now, I believe that noticing the semicolon in the text was a good call, and is pretty legit. However, I do not believe that they intended for this latter problem, though. I believe the authors expected the bomb to be run just as the bag is, so a good save works as the bag describes. However, as written, that's not what happens. So your answer, as awful as it is:
- RAI: Run it like the bag, and even if they save they still have some bad (but minor) effects.
- RAW: If you save, nothing happens to the target.
Now, you've just gotta find out if you & your GM are in a RAW game or a RAI game. Good luck!
Thanks, I'll at least be able to show this all to my DM if anything comes up!
Follow up question, what's the action for the strength check to break free? Does it apply only if they're glued to the ground or also to being entangled?
Well, we can again look at the rules for tanglefoot bags:
A creature that is glued to the floor (or unable to fly) can break free by making a DC 17 Strength check or by dealing 15 points of damage to the goo with a slashing weapon.
So clearly it only applies to being glued to the ground. The other effects (such as halved movement speed) will stick with the target regardless. However, the bag also notes that the effect disintegrates after 2d4 rounds. So, this is a very temporary limitation, and the fact that a creature cannot save its way out of it is almost irrelevant; it'll be completely free of the effects within a few rounds.
As for what kind of action it is to break free, I believe it'd be a standard action, just like any other strength-based ability check (such as breaking down a door).