Have a impending encounter where my party is going to be attacking a underwater city full of some unknown but presumably large number of Aboleths. As a dragon disciple/cross-blooded (dragon bronze, abyssal) sorcerer, I tend to be a bit blasty with a touch of martial similar to a magus. I'm a bit concerned about how his two main lightning skills: breath weapon, and spell perfection shocking grasp are going to play underwater. He has a freedom of movement ring, and knows life bubble or can use form of dragon to handle the water/casting part but I've been looking for rules on how lighting works underwater, and can't find much in the way of actual rules. He's immune to lightning so it probably isn't going to be much an issue for him but the rest of the party...
Looking through the wayback machine, I can see that there were AD&D/D&D rules that had lightning do odd things underwater. But I'd like to know what RAW is on this if any. Are there some APs or other source materials that goes into more depth than the Aquatic Terrain section?
yup, they just put out a book called "Aquatic Adventures", here's the section on spells
While various spells have different effects underwater,
the most fundamental hindrance to spellcasting, at least
at low levels, is the fact that a creature holding its breath
must succeed at a concentration check (DC = 15 + spell
level) to cast a spell at all, whether or not the spell has a
verbal component. If the spell has a verbal component,
expelling the air needed to incant the spell reduces the
creature’s remaining number of rounds of breath by
3 (which stacks with the reduction from performing a
standard or full-round action; see the Drowning section
of Underwater Hazards and Features on page 47), and a
creature can’t finish the spell if it doesn’t have enough breath left. Spells that have verbal components and
casting times of swift or immediate actions instead
decrease the caster’s remaining number of rounds of
breath by 1. Mundane spell components generally work
fine underwater as long as they’re stored in watertight
containers, and aquatic-appropriate substitutions exist
for any mundane component that would be inherently
impossible to use underwater. The Core Rulebook
describes the effect of fire spells underwater; some other
spells that function differently.
Acid Spells: Conjuration (creation) spells that conjure
nonmagical acid, like acid arrow, don’t work properly
underwater, as the water dilutes the acid harmlessly.
Evocation spells that deal magical acid damage, like
a fireball affected by the Elemental Spell metamagic
feat from Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide, work
normally underwater.
Cloud and Weather Spells: Cloud spells such as fog cloud
and obscuring mist specifically say that they don’t work
underwater, though the Murky Spell metamagic feat (page
58) can create equivalent mist spells underwater. Other
spells that create weather that would be appropriate only
on land, like ice storm and sleet storm, do not function
underwater at all. Twilight haze from the Advanced Class
Guide, however, is an illusion and thus works underwater.
Cold Spells: Spells that deal cold damage but don’t
normally conjure ice, like cone of cold, instead deal half
cold damage and half piercing damage, as the cold creates
jagged ice shards underwater. This has no effect on spells
that already create ice, rather than just cold damage.
Electricity Spells: While normal electricity, such as
that from a natural thunderstorm, tends to disperse in
all directions underwater, magical electricity spells hold
their integrity enough to have normal effects underwater,
with one exception: visible and audible lightning bolts
and sparks are the result of combusted air, and they don’t
happen underwater. Because of this, creatures that fail to
identify an electricity spell that requires a ranged touch
attack are flat-footed against the first such ranged touch
attack during a fight, as they don’t realize they need to
dodge the invisible projectile (unless they otherwise
have reason to expect it, like a spellcaster who can cast
such spells). This doesn’t apply to melee touch spells
like shocking grasp, since the creature can still see the
spellcaster’s hand moving towards it.
Fire Spells: While normal fire (including alchemist’s
fire) and most supernatural fire can’t burn underwater
at all, fire spells have a chance to transform into steam
instead. Whenever you cast a fire spell underwater, you
must succeed at a caster level check (DC = 20 + the spell’s
level) in order to channel the heat into the water and
create steam, dealing the same amount of fire damage as
normal but without secondary effects of fire, like igniting
combustibles. A fire spell must be either entirely steam or entirely fire, which means that if it covers an area that
would normally extend beyond the water’s surface, you
must choose whether to affect the region above the water
or below, and the surface blocks line of effect for the
rest of the spell. A spell or spell-like ability with the fire
descriptor that already creates steam (like a kineticist’s
steam blast) doesn’t require the caster level check to create
steam; only spells that would normally create an actual
fire require the check. The Steam Spell metamagic feat
(see page 59) makes it easier to cast fire spells underwater.
Invisibility: Underwater, an invisible creature still
displaces water, making it possible to spot and target it
as if it had only concealment, as per the description of
invisibility on page 563 of the Core Rulebook. The invisibility
bubble spells on page 60 hide the displaced water and thus
allow effective invisibility underwater.
Sonic Spells: While sound travels four times faster and
farther in water than air, it also takes more energy to do so,
so in the end sonic spells have the same results underwater
as they do on land. At the GM’s discretion, a spellcaster
can choose to instead double the range or area, halve the
damage, and decrease the DC by 2 for sonic attacks.
Thanks. I'll just pass this along to my DM. Given that I just picked up Reach spell, I'm liking the flatfooted for the ranged touch for my shocking grasp...assuming they don't spellcraft it.