Throwing grenade, EAC or KAC?

[OtrovaGomas]

I know that you can just throw them at a square or interception, but if I want to throw it at an enemy, which AC does it aim for? Sorry if this has been asked before

[Jimbles the Mediocre]

Are you trying to cause damage as if the grenade were a rock? 'Cause then it would target KAC, but I don't see why you would want to do that. Targeting the square a creature is in is the intended way to use a grenade.

[Daemoro]

AC is 5. Pg. 245 CRB.

You don't throw it at a person you throw it at a grid intersection.

Don't forget proficiency in grenades. -4 to hit if you are not proficient.

[theheadkase]

Page 169, "If the weapon deals only kinetic damage, or if it deals both
energy and kinetic damage, the attack targets KAC. Kinetic damage generally comes from attacks that deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, as well as damage from crushing, constriction, or the impact from falling."

Frag grenades list P (piercing) as their damage type so it would target the KAC of anyone within the blast radius. Shock grenades list E (electricity) as their damage type, so it would target EAC of anything in its blast radius.

As Jimbles mentioned the way to use a grenade is on page 245: "When using a thrown weapon that has an area effect, such as a grenade, you target a specific grid intersection on a tactical battle map, rather than a specific creature. Treat this as a ranged attack against AC 5."

[Daemoro]

Sorry I hit submit too early. I intended to add:

If you are trying to hit someone with a grenade other than its intended way it's an improvised weapon and would do blunt damage (like a club) so it would target KAC.

[OtrovaGomas]

I was thinking you can attack someone with it and get a critical hit with it. EDIT I mean with the explosion

[Jimbles the Mediocre]

OtrovaGomas wrote:

I was thinking you can attack someone with it and get a critical hit with it. EDIT I mean with the explosion

Grenades can't crit; their damage is unrelated to your attack throw or the target's AC. Everyone in the blast radius gets a reflex save for half damage.

[Darkling36]

Actually the thing about crit has come up, and it appears you can crit with an explosive. Note that the Plasma cannons, which are explosive weapons, have a crit effect. The enemy still gets to reflex for half (or none with evasion) but it would appear that you're meant to be able to. Not very intuitive, but then it's not too unreasonable either IMHO.

[Daemoro]

OK now I see where I was confused. What the OP really wants to know is : Can I crit with a grenade?

My answer would be yes.

Pg 181 Explode: It doesn't say anything about not allowing crits. It does however say that if an exploding weapon has an additional affect it will be negated by a reflex save, in addition to half damage.

Pg 182 Critical Effects: Roll double damage, add double any relevant bonuses to that damage and add the Critical Effect. Again nothing about not being able to crit with grenades or anything else.

Pg 245 Critical Hit: "When you make an attack roll and get a natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20), you hit regardless of your target's AC. If the total result of your attack roll meets or exceeds the EAC or KAC (as appropriate for your attack), you've also scored a critical hit." While it says specifically "EAC or KAC" and the thrown weapon attacking a grid intersection on pg. 245 says "AC 5" which is neither EAC nor KAC it can cause some minor confusion. But in Starfinder there is no simple AC anymore for personal combat, so I would chalk that up to a typo. Honestly it doesn't matter if it's EAC or KAC because it's the number to hit it is 5.

So anything where you make an attack roll can crit.

[Daemoro]

Because I was wondering if you could roll a 20 and NOT crit I threw together some quick numbers.

AC 5+4= 9 (Soft Cover)

Nat 20-8-4-1=7 modified roll.
5th rang increment for thrown weapon -8(-2/range inc beyond the first)
Non Proficient -4
STR 8: -1

So it IS possible to throw a grenade, roll a 20 and NOT crit :)