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I would like an official ruling as to what a 10 foot splash radius looks like on the 1" square grid playing mat, especially regarding Pathfinder Society play and Alchemists with the explosive bombs discovery... Please help!
This is not official, but it cites all the relevant rules, which is all you need to understand how it works.
The normal alchemist bomb uses Throw Splash Weapon: "A hit deals direct hit damage to the target, and splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet of the target."
Explosive bomb*: "The alchemist's bombs now have a splash radius of 10 feet rather than 5 feet."
This means all creatures within 10 feet of the target are affected. To find out if a creature is within 10 feet of the target, use Measuring Distance "Diagonals: When measuring distance, the first diagonal counts as 1 square, the second counts as 2 squares, the third counts as 1, the fourth as 2, and so on."
In short, if the creature could not move there using 10' of movement, then that square will not get splashed.
Here's a graphic to help you visualize it: Splash Radius.
Thanks for the graphic Grick. It will work very well for those visual learners in my groups. :)
I forget where it is in the core rule book, but I believe they give you templates for spell areas, and the same would apply to anything else with an area as they're all calculated the same.
Edit: Here we go: Areas
From the Combat chapter in the CRB, Splash Weapons: "A hit deals direct hit damage to the target, and splash damage to all creatures within 5 feet of the target."
And
"You can instead target a specific grid intersection. Treat this as a ranged attack against AC 5. However, if you target a grid intersection, creatures in all adjacent squares are dealt the splash damage, and the direct hit damage is not dealt to any creature. You can't target a grid intersection occupied by a creature, such as a Large or larger creature; in this case, you're aiming at the creature."
So what is a "Splash Radius"? The term is undefined. If we use the rules in the Magic chapter for "spell radius", then we MUST use the grid intersection option, but splash weapons don't have to target a grid intersection, so that doesn't necessarily apply.
Ultimately, like so many things in this game, this is undefined and must be up to the DM.
What do you think the Explosive Bomb is supposed to do?
My interpretation says it does exactly what the original splash effect does but it now affects one extra square farther from the point of origin. Interpreting it this way works for targeting a creature and for targeting a grid intersection.
CSSSC
SSSSS
SSTSS
SSSSS
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So if T is the target, S is the splash at 5' and 10' from the target, what do we do about the four corners C which are all 15' from the target?
Some DMs will tell you not to include them. The official spell area templates also seem to not include them. Measuring from the center of T to the center of C is, mathematically, a little more than 14 feet which seems quite a bit outside of the 10' splash area. I suggest not including them (the Explosive Bomb increases your area of effect from 8 splash squares to 20 splash squares, more than double, that should be enough). But ultimately it's up to the DM.
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Does the same apply for the spell grease? This has confused me for a while. Does it just cover four squares or is it larger because it's centred on an intersection?
Target one object or 10-ft. square
A 10ft square is not the same as an area with a 10ft radius. There's also nothing in the spell about "centering" it anywhere, intersection or otherwise.
Visual representation?
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So since grease doesn't have an area effect as listed it can't be centred on an intersection so it's 4 squares, 2x2? Just need clarification for an online game I'm running. I have played it 10ft either direction from an intersection up to now since the aoe otherwise seemed very small.
Sorry to hijack the thread, the above splash template has effectively been what I've been using.
The "Area" of a Grease spell is pretty specific. I'm not sure how to interpret it any other way than exactly as written:
"one object or 10-ft. square"
I agree, that's a pretty small area, and since it's not invisible and since most combatants would avoid areas of unsure footing, it's extremely easy to navigate around and, when it isn't, such as in a 10' hallway, it's still not very difficult to jump over (just a Take-10 acrobatics check if they're already moving).
Then again, it's a level 1 spell that, when used well, can almost completely neutralize one or more enemies - at low level, catching a couple orcs in the area requires them to make really difficult REF saves or spend the rest of the fight (probably the rest of their lives) prone. Standing provokes, and they'll probably fall again when they try to move out of it. I don't think I'd want a level 1 spell to (nearly) neutralize more than a couple enemies.