In my current Pathfinder campaign (basically, Gladiator meets Indiana Jones in Katapesh), one of the players has a Monk 3/Sorcerer 1 character. Two sessions ago, he asked me if he could eat through a series of iron grates by constantly casting Acid Orb (since in Pathfinder, this spell can be cast endlessly, and he had a whole night to do so). I wasn't sure about the factual information regarding this, but in order to keep the action rolling I told him that, for now, we would be ruling nay until I managed to find a more reliable answer (they managed to get through anyway). But after researching around my manuals, I still have doubts.
According to the entry on Acid Effects (page 442 of the core rulebook), corrosive acids deal 1d6 points of damage. Acid Orb, however, deals only 1d3. So this clearly means Acid Orb's acid is less potent than alchemical acid. But is it less-powerful enough as to affect metal in a different way? I know the manuals never specify that alchemical acid eats through metal, but it suggests that certain energy damage types might ignore hardness (and, though in the real world there are several types of acids and they all react to substances in different ways, one would expect the "standard acid" in the game to eat away metal and bad guys thrown in giant vats who die slowly while shaking an angry fist).
So, is there any official ruling on how powerful Acid Orb's acid should be? And what is your personal take on the issue? Also, when you pour a glass of soda, do you put the ice first and the drink later, the other way around, or are you one of those living-on-the-edge people that freeze the glass instead to avoid foam?
Acid typically cuts the hardness level of its targets in half. Iron, at 8, would be cut to 4, rendering it immune to Acid Orb. The little spit ball of acid would just sizzle on the metal, perhaps discoloring it and cleaning away any grime or rust, doing no meaningful damage.
==Aelryinth
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So, is there any official ruling on how powerful Acid Orb's acid should be? And what is your personal take on the issue? Also, when you pour a glass of soda, do you put the ice first and the drink later, the other way around, or are you one of those living-on-the-edge people that freeze the glass instead to avoid foam?
There is also an excessively long thread from around a year ago that discusses this same exact question. You might want to look through the archives.
So, is there any official ruling on how powerful Acid Orb's acid should be? And what is your personal take on the issue? Also, when you pour a glass of soda, do you put the ice first and the drink later, the other way around, or are you one of those living-on-the-edge people that freeze the glass instead to avoid foam?
I put in ice, then soda, thus avoiding splashing the soda or tea out of the glass when dropping the ice into the glass. Frosting the glass would be a better idea (except for Coke, which just tastes better over ice) except that a frosted glass deserves beer, not soda.
The only correct useful answer to this is: "Whatever works best in your game" I mean, if you can tunnel through solid iron using only your face (perfectly possibly with a high enough Strength) and not suffer a scratch, 1d3 acid splashes leveling castles seems just fine.
Edit: The RAW for this isn't spelled out. Acid Splash could do half of 1d3 damage reduced by hardness, or it could do double damage and ignore hardness, or anything in between. The "Subject to GM Discretion" is what messes up any rules discussion. The best we can do is suggest interpretations.
Acid typically cuts the hardness level of its targets in half. Iron, at 8, would be cut to 4, rendering it immune to Acid Orb. The little spit ball of acid would just sizzle on the metal, perhaps discoloring it and cleaning away any grime or rust, doing no meaningful damage.
==Aelryinth
Where is this? Can't find it at all in the book, but I might miss something.
Acid typically cuts the hardness level of its targets in half. Iron, at 8, would be cut to 4, rendering it immune to Acid Orb. The little spit ball of acid would just sizzle on the metal, perhaps discoloring it and cleaning away any grime or rust, doing no meaningful damage.
==Aelryinth
No Acid does not cut the hardness in half. The rules for energy attacks and hardness changed in pathfinder from what they were in 3.5
Also Acid Orb does instanteous acid that doesn't last any time -- it simply does 1d3 acid damage and ends. There isn't anything left to "collect" "store" or what not -- it destablizes too quickly for anything more that a quick instant damage effect.
The only correct answer to this is: "Whatever works best in your game" I mean, if you can tunnel through solid iron using only your face (perfectly possibly with a high enough Strength) and not suffer a scratch, 1d3 acid splashes leveling castles seems just fine.
This answer -- while good advice for a GM isn't very useful in the rules section.
Then the RAW is that a normal Acid Orb doesn't do enough damage to break through the 8 hardness of the acid. Now, there's a few ways to add bonus damage, so you COULD possibly get enough damage to punch through it - but not as a cantrip.
Aye, by the Pathfinder SRD, energy attacks generally do half dmg, with exceptions being made vs special materials. Thus, not only does the acid not cut hardness, it does half dmg against the iron.
Acid orb thus does nothing to metal (avg dmg = 1 pt vs 10 hardness)
==Aelryinth