Pathfinder 1E Fireball and Improved Cover

[Mystic Lemur]

Since you're aiming at something pea-sized flying at you at about 100ft/second, it would have to be Diminutive at the easiest. I'd probably house rule a special size category smaller than that. But why would you ready specifically to shoot the fireball seed and not just ready to shoot the caster?

 

[Scott DeWar]

raw looks to read: ranged touch att, and as has been mentioned ac 10 for size because it is smaller then a 5 x 5 square; partial cover is +2but for when more then 1/2 of the target is still see, I would say normal amount of cover is a +4 amount of cover.

But we are talking about improved cover which doubles cover bonus to +8 so . . . .

ac is going to be 18

now if our wizard here is say level 7 that gives a bab of +3 and if dex is 18, then a +4 then . . . . .

that gives a need for 11 to hit. not too shabby. Now the reflex dc will be 10 + 3 [spell level] + 4 [18 int] = 17

those in the tower now need to make a reflex save at +4 for improved cover for half damag if they fail and no damage if they make it

about the gernade effect: does not apply. it is a spell. not a thrown Molotov Cocktail of oil, not a flask of acid and not Greek fire.
MAGIC IS SUPPOSED TO TRANSCEND SOME OF THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.

if you want t screw with your casters, then when the readied archer that hits and breaks the concentration of the caster and screws up the spell, well, what just happened there? hmmmm . . . .

sincerely yours,

an evil b4574rd DM

 

[Empirate]

Me too. The fireball blast doesn't turn corners.

Actually, it does. Fireball has the area-of-effect type "spread", so it indeed does turn corners. You measure spread distance from the spell's point of origin, though, so corners effectively make the area of effect a bit smaller, but all in all, spread spells are quite useful for this property.

Also, to return to the rules question: as written, the caster can make a ranged touch attack to hit the arrowslit (AC 13, for Dex 0 and Diminutive size), at any range without penalty. If he hits, the Fireball explodes inside the guardhouse, negating the cover. If he misses, the Fireball hits the wall next to the arrowslit and may, per the spread rules, reach the guards inside the guardhouse regardless, with the guards getting the effects of improved cover.

Them's the rules, and I don't think you're much unbalancing your game by following them exactly.