Ectoplasmic Bomb Vs. Undead?

[Mr. Microscope]

Hello All,

I'm playing an Alchemist in PFS and seem to run into undead nearly every session. I'm tired of using my gold to replenish my Holy Water supply (of couse, the one splash weapon I can't craft at 1/3 cost) after every session. So, I'm considering taking the Ectoplasmic Bomb discovery next level up (I'll be lvl 4).

USG wrote:

The alchemist can infuse her bombs with a special unction that damages incorporeal creatures and reveals the presence of undead creatures hiding in the area. Incorporeal creatures struck by an ectoplasmic bomb take full damage from the bomb. In addition, squares in the affected area of the bomb begin to faintly glow in the spaces where undead creatures have traveled in the last minute, including undead benefiting from invisibility or other forms of obscurity (such as ethereal jaunt), effectively creating a glowing trail. Any undead creatures in the affected area at the time of the explosion likewise glow faintly. This glowing effect lasts for 1 minute, and is otherwise identical to faerie fire.

The description is confusing. It says it damages incorporeal but only describes how it affects undead (not necessarily damaging them).

Am I confusing incorporeal and undead? I'm assuming they are treated differently. Certainly, a ghost is different than a ghoul.

Thank you!

[Dasrak]

The bomb's only effect, damage-wise, is that it allows your bombs to deal full damage to incorporeal creatures (even if they're not undead). The secondary effect that outlines and creates trails applies to any undead, not just incorporea ones.

So if your goal is to blow up the undead, this discovery will only help you against the incorporeal variety.

[Mr. Microscope]

Dang. Okay. Thank you for the clarification!

[Joesi]

Dasrak wrote:

The bomb's only effect, damage-wise, is that it allows your bombs to deal full damage to incorporeal creatures (even if they're not undead). The secondary effect that outlines and creates trails applies to any undead, not just incorporea ones.

So if your goal is to blow up the undead, this discovery will only help you against the incorporeal variety.

I don't know if Dasrak is implying that the bomb will not deal damage to undead or not, but I get the impression that he is. If-so, I'd say he's certainly wrong.

That's like saying smoke bomb will only make a smoke cloud and not deal any damage. Unless specified otherwise —such as dispelling bomb— the discovery's effect is always in addition to a bomb's regular effect.

Ectoplasmic Bomb does not say that the bomb doesn't deal damage to undead or living creatures, and hence should deal damage normally to them as well.

That said, if you're looking to deal bonus damage to undead with a discovery, this would not be the discovery to take, since it will just deal regular damage unless against an incorporeal undead.

If you wanted to deal bonus damage to undead one could be a Crypt Breaker alchemist, which gets Alkahest Bombs. That said, you already made your character, and changing classes would be difficult. Does PFS allow class retraining?