Swarms and Spells with no Targets but that "target"

[Curghann]

My group is going through Kingmaker and they just got to a point where they ended up fighting a couple bat swarms.

The Bard cast Ear Piercing Scream which clearly states:

Target: One Creature

This would seem to be very clearly covered by this section of the Swarm Traits entry:

PFSRD wrote:

A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures (including single-target spells such as disintegrate), with the exception of mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms) if the swarm has an Intelligence score and a hive mind. A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells.

We didnt have any issues here, seemed pretty clear and cut. Then the Sorceror cast Scorching Ray. Scorching Ray does not have a "Target: " line at all, but obviously requires targeting as part of the spell.

We let it go, and I think that's the right call here but I just wanted to check and see if we did it right for future such encounters.

[Jeraa]

The swarm immunity applies to more than just Target spells. Note that it specifically calls out disintegrate, which does not have a Target line, but has Effect: Ray instead.

Swarms would be immune to scorching ray, because it targets a specific number of creatures (1 per ray).

[Curghann]

Jeraa, thanks for pointing out the Disintegrate reference. I noticed it and for some reason was just assuming that Disintegrate was a "Target: One Creature" spell.

[Starbuck_II]

Jeraa wrote:

The swarm immunity applies to more than just Target spells. Note that it specifically calls out disintegrate, which does not have a Target line, but has Effect: Ray instead.

Swarms would be immune to scorching ray, because it targets a specific number of creatures (1 per ray).

Pretty sure, Disintegrate is a misprint no one picked up. It has no targets.

[Curghann]

If it's a typo, then it's one that was carried over from 3.5 to PF.

Now, I'm not saying that occurrences like that dont exist but the idea of having to specify a "target" for the Ray effect did seem very similar to the "spells that target a number of creatures" so I can see the logic.

[Tarantula]

Starbuck_II wrote:

Jeraa wrote:

The swarm immunity applies to more than just Target spells. Note that it specifically calls out disintegrate, which does not have a Target line, but has Effect: Ray instead.

Swarms would be immune to scorching ray, because it targets a specific number of creatures (1 per ray).

Pretty sure, Disintegrate is a misprint no one picked up. It has no targets.

What do you mean? All the ray spells are Effect: Ray. Disintegrate is the same as Ray of Frost or Scorching Ray. Disintegrate is used as an example of swarms being immune to spells that effect a specific number of creatures because it is a ray and only effects one creature.

[Klorox]

to hurt swarms you need AoE spells, like burning hands or fireball

[Ascalaphus]

Basically, disintegrating a single bat doesn't do anything to the remaining 4999 bats and the swarm goes on.