Fighter Archetypes and Splash Weapons


Rules Questions

Lantern Lodge

I'm considering making a master of splash weapons. Horribly expensive, I know, but with 2 levels of underground chemist and quick draw I'd be able to full attack with splash weapons.

The next problem is dealing enough damage to overcome resistances and what not. Deadly Strike doesn't work with touch attacks, so that's out. Having a high intelligence won't be enough either. So, do these work with splash weapons?

Weapon Master wrote:

Devoted to the perfection of a single weapon, the weapon master's meditations upon his favored weapon border on the obsessive, but none can deny his consummate skill. The weapon master must select a single type of weapon (such as longsword or shortbow). All of his abilities apply to that weapon type.

...
Weapon Training (Ex): At 3rd level, a weapon master gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with his chosen weapon. The bonus improves by +1 for every four levels beyond 3rd. This ability replaces armor training 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Two-weapon Master wrote:
Twin Blades (Ex): At 5th level, a two-weapon warrior gains a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls when making a full attack with two weapons or a double weapon. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels after 5th. This ability replaces weapon training 1.

The same question applies to weapon specialization and arcane strike. Does the +damage affect the splash damage too, just like how the intelligence modifier does?

Finally, when selecting weapon focus, does it need to be "weapon focus: alchemists fire" or can it be "weapon focus: splash weapon"?


As splash damage isn't a damage roll but a static number, I'd personally say no, from a purely RAW perspective.


I'm not sure that splash weapons can be used with weapon focus at all. The same logic as sees them normally not able to be drawn via quick draw probably makes them items which happen to do damage, not weapons.


Each splash weapon is its own weapon, so it would have to be weapon focus: alchemists fire. A generous DM may let you just have all splash weapons though.

If you are grabbing two levels of rogue, you may as well go for 4. The BAB will be the same.

You may want to consider Slayer. Studied Target is less specific. The sniper archetype will halve your range penalties, so you can splash from further away.

Edit: sniper doesn't work on thrown weapons.

Silver Crusade

What you want are Bombs.

They can be selected for feats such as Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization. And since a Bomb's splash damage is equal to the Bomb's minimum damage, any damage bonuses that apply to the Bomb (such as Weapon Specialization) would carry over to the splash.

A fair bit of warning, though. THIS FAQ and THIS FAQ together give the forums a headache, and will be the greatest reason for any table variation you might encounter regarding splash damage.

As the first FAQ clearly indicates, the damage bonus from Point Blank Shot applies to Bombs. Normally, that would mean that the damage from the Bomb's splash would likewise increase by 1. The second FAQ makes us pause on that. What the second FAQ most likely means is that you can't "double dip" the damage from Point Blank Shot. But some GMs will interpret that FAQ to mean that the splash damage is not increased at all (and, sometimes, will carry that logic over to other damage increases to the Bomb as well).

Lantern Lodge

From what I understood from reading the quick draw feat, you would be able to quick draw alchemical weapons if it weren't for the blanket clause stating that no alchemical items can be quick drawn. So, they're weapons, but also alchemical items and thus unable to be used with quickdraw (until you take 2 levels of rogue).

Bombs are nice, but they're limited in quantity, so I'm looking at alternatives, and I figured this would be a nice character to handle splash damage encounters.

Thanks for pointing out those FAQ's though (you mis-linked the second one, had to search for it from what you were talking about).

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Fighter Archetypes and Splash Weapons All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Rules Questions