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EVERYTHING is an interpretation. However, I do believe it is the most straightforward reading of the rules presented
Of course you would. That falls under the "this is my interpretation" line of thinking.
But, again, and again, most other people DON'T read it that way.
You, too, can choose to cease reading it the way that you have been. If I can accept (with an audible groan) that jumping 15ft is actually just a DC 10, then you can accept that swarms can be hit directly by a splash weapon.
And obviously, you haven't been reading my posts all that closely, as I have repeatedly mentioned that I don't run splash weapon this way.
I have read your posts. I replied earlier to that exact point.
Continuing this thread further is just arguing for argument's sake, since we all know how splash weapons actually work.
Once again, if you're reading that swarms only take splash damage, and not damage from a direct hit, that is YOUR INTERPRETATION. It is not the fault of the Developers that you read it that way.
Feel free to run with it as a GM. You'll probably lose your playerbase fairly quickly. Feel free to run with it as a player. That 1st level Spider Swarm is gonna suck for you.
Meanwhile the rest of us that read, and interpret, that swarms take +50% damage from a direct hit won't be skipping a beat.
I think everyone interprets it that way.
But still, the rules can be read another way.
So no matter how you play it, it would be good to see that the RAW clearly match the RAI.
I think everyone interprets it that way.
But still, the rules can be read another way.
So no matter how you play it, it would be good to see that the RAW clearly match the RAI.
.
Because the Pathfinder Design Team has absolutely nothing to do except issue pedantic FAQ responses to clarify that the way everyone interprets a clause is correct, and that a possible alternative reading that no one actually accepts is, in fact, unacceptable.
Shall we also issue a FAQ request to confirm that water is wet and the religion practiced by the Pope? Just in case there's someone out there --- someone that doesn't actually include anyone who plays Pathfinder, but, you know, someone -- who misunderstands?
And meanwhile, the rules for Starfinder and next month's Adventure Path will happily write and edit themselves.
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There's a FAQ clarifying that you can indeed jump over a 10' pit with a 10 on your acrobatics roll.
Let's not pretend that even the most obvious rules texts can't be misinterpreted if someone deliberately chooses to do so.
As someone who personally still has trouble reconciling that FAQ, I will state that it provides a good example of differing interpretations of written text.
In that particular discussion, the FAQ could have landed on either side. The text of the Acrobatics skill still hasn't been updated to reflect the change, so there are undoubtedly still people running it as "DC = distance traveled".
In this case, the difference is that everyone agrees on how splash weapons work. There are just a couple people that are arguing for argument's sake.
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good rule of thumb for rules interpretation. If one rule interpretation hinders the PCs slightly (i.e. swarms only take splash damage from spalsh weapons) and another one benefits them slightly (i.e. swarms take the direct hit damage from splash weapons), run with the one that benefits the players.
Except for the "are they within 5' of themselves" nonsense. I mean, come on folks, really? Do you also give large creatures fireball damage for each square they occupy that is hit by a fireball?
That's how I run it. A four square swarm, hit by a alchemist fire, will take (eg) 6pts the square it hits, and one point extra for the other three, total of 9.
That's how I run it. A four square swarm, hit by a alchemist fire, will take (eg) 6pts the square it hits, and one point extra for the other three, total of 9.
Swarm Subtype: A swarm is a collection of Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creatures that acts as a single creature.
A hit deals direct hit damage to the target, and splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet of the target.
Swarms are treated a single creature. Direct hits from splash weapons deal direct hit damage to the target, and splash to other creatures within 5 feet. That's how I read it anyway.
Wow, alchemists must dominate in your game.
Large creature? Poof: Nd6 + 3*N + 4*INT damage.
Only on swarms, since it's not really one creature.
But thats just how I play it. YMMV..
That's how I run it. A four square swarm, hit by a alchemist fire, will take (eg) 6pts the square it hits, and one point extra for the other three, total of 9.Swarm Subtype: A swarm is a collection of Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creatures that acts as a single creature.A hit deals direct hit damage to the target, and splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet of the target.Swarms are treated a single creature. Direct hits from splash weapons deal direct hit damage to the target, and splash to other creatures within 5 feet. That's how I read it anyway.
Yes, and?
I didnt say that's how the RAW is, I said that's how I play it.
Which I think is the RAI, but maybe not. Swarms are weird.
And if alchemist fire is better agains those guys in my game, so much the better.
A spider swarm is only CR1, remember. A party of 4 firsties shoudl be able to take it.
Except it doesn't say "other creatures".That's how I run it. A four square swarm, hit by a alchemist fire, will take (eg) 6pts the square it hits, and one point extra for the other three, total of 9.Swarm Subtype: A swarm is a collection of Fine, Diminutive, or Tiny creatures that acts as a single creature.A hit deals direct hit damage to the target, and splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet of the target.Swarms are treated a single creature. Direct hits from splash weapons deal direct hit damage to the target, and splash to other creatures within 5 feet. That's how I read it anyway.
Are you within 5 feet from yourself? No. You are the starting point for measuring.
Example: How far away from you is your heart?
Except it doesn't say "other creatures".
Are you within 5 feet from yourself? No. You are the starting point for measuring.
Example: How far away from you is your heart?
Yes, you are within 5 feet of yourself. Are you seriously suggesting otherwise?
The distance from yourself to yourself is 0, which is less than 5 feet.
You are the measuring point. You can't be a distance away from yourself. You also didn't answer the example question.
I really hope you're not trolling...
I'm not, I'm trying to show you a different perspective.
Ok, let's try again.
Imagine drawing a line around yourself at a distance of 5 feet. This circle (or near-circle, depending on how you draw it) marks the boundary of everything which is within 5 feet and everything that is not. Now ask yourself, which side of this line are you on? I really hope you agree that you're on the inside of the circle. Hence, you are within 5 feet of yourself.
That is the outer marker for distance from yourself. You start at the edge of yourself. Here's a counter example.
If you have a rat 1 inch away from your left foot, how far away is it? 1 inch.
If you have a rat 1 inch away from your right foot, how far away is it?
1 inch.
How far away are the rats from each other? Depends on how far apart your feet are at this moment. Each rat is measured from the closest point of you possible.
I didn't answer your "example question" directly, because you were actually asking something not directly relevant: what the distance between a thing and a sub-component of that thing is.
That is exactly what the other rats in the swarm are, sub-components of the swarm. How far away is a rat from the swarm is a analogous to how far away is your heart from you.
However, to answer this additional question, let me rephrase it into a more obvious version:
"How far is Missouri from the United States?" (Missouri is a state of the US)While there's several ways to approach this question, probably the easiest is to determine how far someone in Missouri must travel for them to be within the United States. When rephrased like this, the answer should be obvious: they don't have to travel at all and therefore the distance in question is zero.
Likewise, how far must your heart move to be co-located with the region that defines your body?
The answer is, again, zero. (barring some calamitous heart surgery!
The answer is, "you don't have to travel at all" which is not the same as 0. Its sort of like undead creatures not having a con score. Their con isn't 0, its -. The distance between your heart and body, or missouri and the us, or a rat and its swarm is -. It doesn't exist, because those are parts of the thing you are trying to measure from.
So alchemists are the end all be all class in your games, huh?
They rule vs swarms, sure.