Alchemist vs. skeleton DR 5

[Kevin B]

I was GM'ing a game last night and there was an encounter with some skeletons. The party, all 1st level, had an alchemist that threw a bomb and hit a skeleton.

The damage total was 6 (3 on the die, +3 INT). Does the skeleton take the full damage or does the DR come into effect? Is the bomb considered magic or bludgeoning damage? What kind of damage is a bomb?

[Diego Rossi]

PRD - Bomb (Su) wrote:

On a direct hit, an alchemist's bomb inflicts 1d6 points of fire damage + additional damage equal to the alchemist's Intelligence modifier.

Fire damage, the skeleton will take full damage.

[Kevin B]

Thanks Diego. That's what I thought, and ruled that way at the table, but I just wanted to make sure.

[Ascalaphus]

Alchemists are actually very good at handling some classes of enemy - clerics in 3.5 scenarios in heavy armor for example - because they target Touch AC and do elemental damage most of the time. Undead likewise tend to burn well. Alchemists do roughly as good as anyone else with a magic weapon against incorporeal undead - while bombs are magical, incorporeal undead tend to have unusually good Touch AC.

Evil Outsiders tend to be resistant or immune to most elements and are the alchemist's nemeses.

[_Ozy_]

Holy bomb and Force bomb.

[Ascalaphus]

_Ozy_ wrote:

Holy bomb and Force bomb.

In practice I rarely use holy bombs - force bomb is almost always better. There's almost nothing a holy bomb would do that a force bomb can't. Given all the other neat possible discoveries, it's not really worth it to take both.