Directed blast vs deflect arrows

[DarkoMilicic]

Deflect arrows works on ranged attacks, including bombs. How does it work against the Grenadier Directed Blast, which is a bomb, but starts at the alchemist? I'm seeing it like a breath weapon attack. I do have to pick a target though, and not just damage all targets equally. Is this an easy way around fighters and monks with deflect arrow?

Also, what happens if I miss? Target takes splash damage like everyone else in the area? Hoping to get an "official" answer before our next session.

[Name Violation]

At 6th level, a grenadier can detonate a bomb so that it splashes in a 20-foot cone rather than affecting a radius. The cone starts at the alchemist and extends away from her in the direction she chooses. The alchemist designates one creature in the squares affected by the cone to be the target of the bomb and makes her attack roll against that creature; all other squares in the cone take splash damage. If the alchemist has the explosive bomb discovery and throws an explosive directed blast, the cone of splash damage is 30 feet long instead of 20 feet.

If they're in the attacked square, they can deflect as normal.

Splash damage rules unchanged.

[DarkoMilicic]

What are they deflecting though? There is no item to deflect.

[Name Violation]

DarkoMilicic wrote:

What are they deflecting though? There is no item to deflect.

Try and use logic to pick things apart all you want, but game mechanics say there's an attack roll and the monk can deflect it.

There is an item (the bomb) otherwise what is the alchemist detonating?

"The alchemist designates one creature in the squares affected by the cone to be the target of the bomb and makes her attack roll against that creature"

[Pizza Lord]

Reading both the abilities, it comes down to how the GM views the use of Directed Blast.

It can be read like the alchemist detonates the bomb in their location, sending the blast effects out into a cone. They also choose a target in that area to direct the effect at as the primary target, which they make an attack roll against. I tend to view the description in this way, since the ability never mentions throwing a bomb and actually specifically calls out 'throwing a [explosive] directed blast', which is not a bomb or otherwise ranged weapon. This means you might have to review whether to apply any attack modifiers for actually throwing bombs specifically, however, like Weapon Focus.

The other way it can be read is that the alchemist is just throwing the bomb like normal, but the blast area is just being altered, like a Shape Spell effect that is just making the area of effect into a cone instead of a circle or sphere or radius.

Also, I am trying to compare Directed Blast with the Directed Bomb discovery. Directed Bomb actually reads that you throw the bomb and the cone extends from the point of impact. Other than the range (15 feet instead of 20 feet) and the fact that the Explosive discovery doesn't work with it, I can't see why they wouldn't have just made the Grenadier ability to read that it functioned like Directed Bomb (with a different range and that it can work with Explosive) rather than writing it in a way that indicates its a blast from the alchemist.

It can certainly be read that way, but I can't come up with a logical reason (ie, how I would explain it easily to someone asking a reasonable question) why they would name an ability 'Directed Blast' and then intend that its effects are really to just make a bomb blow up into a cone shape with one side of the explosion basically being an arrow pointing back at the alchemist. I can see how some people might conclude that that's the intention though.

I think it's much easier to rule that the alchemist is detonating the bomb in a directed fashion where the bomb itself isn't striking the target, but instead the direct force and effects. In that case, there is no actual weapon to be deflected, (at least as far as Deflect Arrows works, since that requires a ranged weapon). Ultimately, that's just my thoughts and reasoning on how I would rule it, personally.

[Diego Rossi]

Considering that it does full damage to a single target, while the other damage is splash, I agree with Name Violation.

If you need a "reason why" it works that way, a possible interpretation is that the bomb works like a shaped charge: it explodes in the alchemist position and the force of the blast moves along the cone, but the central portion is an actual jet of matter that can be deflected (the armor-piercing effect of shaped charges is due to the kinetic force of the jet, not because of its heat, the heat is what do the area damage after piercing the armor).
Naturally, it is simply a possible rationalization of how it works. The gaming explanation is "it is what follows best the text of the rules".