The Core Rulebook lists a critical specialization effect for bombs (p284), but I do not see any way to access this effect. (There does not appear to be a class feature for this, and the ancestry feats do not apply.) Am I overlooking something?
Fighters would get it eventually as they get crit specialization effects with all weapons which they have master proficiency with at lvl 5 and could choose bombs as their favored weapon gropu right then or wait till level 13 when they get master with all simple and martial weapons.
EDIT: Rangers would get it vs their hunted target at lvl 5 as well.
Alchemical bombs count as ranged martial weapons, so any class that gets critical specialization with all martial weapons can access it.
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Thank you all.
If you really think about it, the crit specialization is actually a bad thing to have, because you might accidentally hit your allies with it. It also does not stack with Expanded Splash, so it's pretty much useless to bomber alchemists anyways.
The rules specify that you can choose not to add the critical specialization effect.
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Here is a situation where I think the Bomb Critical Specialization effect could be a benefit. An alchemist creates a bomb and gives it to a Ranger with the Far Shot feat who is also hunting a prey that is between 40 to 80 feet away. Within 10 feet of that prey are other non-hunted enemies. The Ranger can now throw that bomb up to 80 feet with no penalty (Far Shot doubles the Alchemist Bomb range to 40 feet and the Ranger ignores the penalty for the second range increment of the Alchemist Bomb when targeting the hunted prey). The Ranger should have a better ranged attack bonus than the Alchemist and should be able to apply some splash damage to more enemies than normal on a critical hit. At 3rd level, the moderate versions of alchemist bombs also do more damage than any type of normal ammunition. Not a bad technique to use when ambushing a large party of monsters at 5th level.