LaughingVulcan's page

Yeah, no. There's nothing vague. It's an emanation.

Why would there need to be specific text stating that someone riding a construct follows the normal rules when that isn't even a typical situation?

There's nothing atypical about riding the construct; it is clearly stated as an option for small characters.

Thanks all. I think between Sibelius and shroudb is the truth of the matter; the rules aren't specific about this effect alone, and were written with the assumption that you would read all the way up to level 6 feats in order to infer how this works at level 1 (which also requires you to stop to consider that the description of a level 6 feat is telling you things about how Explode would work up until that point, a thought you may not have until you're actually using it).
As it happens, writing technical documentation is my job, and vague directions make me irritable because some part of my brain is forced to clock in for work whenever I see something like this.

I'm new to Pathfinder, and playing an Inventor with a Construct Companion that I can ride.
When attempting the Explode feature, my GM said that I would also take damage if I use this while riding my construct. It's described as fire damage for all creatures in a 5 foot radius of the Construct. I was interpreting that as a blast to the sides, and the GM is interpreting it more like a dome effect - 5 feet in all directions. So by being on top of it, I'm technically within 5 feet.
I didn't assume I'd take damage because the rules don't specifically state that. They do specifically state that I may take damage after the effect due to this being an Unstable Action, and it seems weird to me that this is specified but whether or not the rider of the Construct is safe from Explode is not. Any thoughts?