Acid splash woes...

[Matheus Ribeiro]

Hello folks,

I need help with the acid splash spell. Ye, I know its a minor one, but I couldnt find this anywhere.

First, like someone already posted, its missing in pathfinder beta. It can be found on the 0 level entry, but not its description. Thats bad, I was hoping pathfinder would clarify my doubts there.

So heres my question: PH 3.5 says its not a ray, but a thrown weapon. OTOH, it gives it a range, just like ray of frost. If its a weapon, its subject to bard inspire courage (+1 attack and damage), it can be used as a sneak attack and its range is different from a ray. Also, the spell description doesnt say anything about splash damage, which I assume it doesnt do any.

The D&D Main FAQ says it can be used as a weapon for sneak attack (page 24 IIRC).

What do you guys think?

[Wicht]

Any attack, even spells, where a character must roll to hit, allows for criticals, sneaks attacks and the like. In other words, if you have to roll, whether its a ray, a spiritual weapon, or a flying splash of acid, its all treated the same rules wise.

[Jeff Wilder]

In 3.5, a ray is a weapon, for all the purposes that you mentioned. This is in 3.5, but spelled out more clearly in one of the splatbooks. (Complete Arcane, maybe?)

[Jeff Wilder]

Wicht wrote:

Any attack, even spells, where a character must roll to hit, allows for criticals, sneaks attacks and the like. In other words, if you have to roll, whether its a ray, a spiritual weapon, or a flying splash of acid, its all treated the same rules wise.

Note that this is not strictly true in Pathfinder. Pathfinder explicitly disallows splash weapons (alchemist's fire, flasks of acid, and so on) from sneaks attack's bonus damage at least.

[Matheus Ribeiro]

What about the range? Is it a thrown weapon (with range inc of 10 feet) or a ray, with the range as dictated on the spell description?

Although ray and weapons are quite similar, the D&D main FAQ states that eldritch blast is not considered a weapon for purposes of inspire courage. I wonder if it is like that because its a ray?

[Wicht]

Jeff Wilder wrote:

Wicht wrote:

Any attack, even spells, where a character must roll to hit, allows for criticals, sneaks attacks and the like. In other words, if you have to roll, whether its a ray, a spiritual weapon, or a flying splash of acid, its all treated the same rules wise.

Note that this is not strictly true in Pathfinder. Pathfinder explicitly disallows splash weapons (alchemist's fire, flasks of acid, and so on) from sneaks attack's bonus damage at least.

I stand corrected. I think I knew that but none of my Players ever seem to want to use splash weapons.