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So I just had a question to understand the concept of casting a spell with a melee touch.
So Jolting Surge says
"You touch a target with a device you’re holding that uses electricity, requiring a melee attack against the target’s EAC. Alternatively, you can instead touch an electrical device a target is wearing (or a target that is an electrical device, such as a robot) with your hand, gaining a +2 bonus to your attack roll. Either way, if your attack hits, the electrical device surges out of control, dealing 4d6 electricity damage to your target. Casting this spell doesn’t provoke attacks of opportunity."
So the bold part states I can make a melee attack. If I am wielding a weapon with the "Operative" ability do I get to roll the melee attack using my DEX?
Now the next bit states I basically touch with my hand so I am guessing that it HAS to be done with STR?
Sidenote: I like that this spell doesn't provoke when casting.
I second this question in regards to using operative weapons that are electrical in some way, like the incapacitator baton, or one with an electric fusion.
I ask because, combat maneuvers also require you to make a melee attack roll, and I assume if you're disarming or tripping with an operative weapon, you'd use your dex here as well.
It requires a melee attack, the same as any touch spell. It doesn't say that it can be a weapon attack. You don't get to strike the target with your baton and do baton damage on top of delivering your spell.
This however is the first time it's been brought to my attention that unarmed strike / touch isn't actually an operative weapon. I just assumed that it was, since unarmed has always been Weapon Finesseable in every other edition / spinoff of D&D from 3E on, and Pathfinder made pretty much every other light weapon into an operative weapon and just left the Weapon Finesse feat out of the game. But yeah, by RAW you can only use Str to attack unarmed. That seems like a weird oversight to me.
It's not because you need to hit with a specific weapon to do trick attack damage. Unarmed strike are "Archaic, nonlethal" weapons.