Alchemist bomb miss

[myUsernameIsn'tTaken]

What happens if you throw an alchemist bomb straight down at an enemy but don't pass their AC

[TheZombiePunch]

If you fail to meet the opponent's touch AC with your attack roll then you'll roll a D8 to determine where the bomb/splash weapon landed and then apply splash damage accordingly.

[myUsernameIsn'tTaken]

TheZombiePunch wrote:

If you fail to meet the opponent's touch AC with your attack roll then you'll roll a D8 to determine where the bomb/splash weapon landed and then apply splash damage accordingly.

but if it falls short then it will still be in mid air right?

[Mondragon]

Thrown bombs have a range of 20 feet and use the Throw Splash Weapon special attack.

If you miss the target (whether aiming at a creature or a grid intersection), roll 1d8. This determines the misdirection of the throw, with 1 falling short (off-target in a straight line toward the thrower), and 2 through 8 rotating around the target creature or grid intersection in a clockwise direction. Then, count a number of squares in the indicated direction equal to the range increment of the throw. After you determine where the weapon landed, it deals splash damage to all creatures in that square and in all adjacent squares.

Splash damage from an alchemist bomb is always equal to the bomb's minimum damage (so if the bomb would deal 2d6+4 points of fire damage on a direct hit, its splash damage would be 6 points of fire damage). Those caught in the splash damage can attempt a Reflex save for half damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the alchemist's level + the alchemist's Intelligence modifier.

[Saethori]

Then it misses. Pick a direction at random (by rolling 1d8, assigning 1 to North and working clockwise from there), and have the bomb land at the spot a number of squares away equal to your range increment.

You being directly above the opponent should not significantly influence this. As it is a touch attack, either they are moving out of the way (and thus it hits somewhere near them), you are too inaccurate (in which case it hits slightly off from where you wanted to aim), or they are saved by a deflection bonus or similar (in which case the bomb hits them but rebounds before detonating).

[thejeff]

myUsernameIsn'tTaken wrote:

TheZombiePunch wrote:

If you fail to meet the opponent's touch AC with your attack roll then you'll roll a D8 to determine where the bomb/splash weapon landed and then apply splash damage accordingly.

but if it falls short then it will still be in mid air right?

Okay, yeah, that's a fair question. The splash weapon miss rules specifically refer to "falls short", which in this case would be above the target and to counting squares clockwise from there.

RAW, I guess you could say that both 1(short) and 5 land in his square, while the others pile up on either side - though how you'd pick sides is another tricky question.

RAI, do the obvious thing: pick a square to be "1" and roll the miss die as normal.