Ranged Attack/Ranged Touch: Shooting into Melee

Siberys · Nov 4, 2011

Combat - Pathfinder_OGC

Ranged Attacks-

If you shoot or throw a ranged weapon at a target engaged in melee with a friendly character, you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll. Two characters are engaged in melee if they are enemies of each other and either threatens the other. (An unconscious or otherwise immobilized character is not considered engaged unless he is actually being attacked.)

If your target (or the part of your target you're aiming at, if it's a big target) is at least 10 feet away from the nearest friendly character, you can avoid the –4 penalty, even if the creature you're aiming at is engaged in melee with a friendly character.

If your target is two size categories larger than the friendly characters it is engaged with, this penalty is reduced to –2. There is no penalty for firing at a creature that is three size categories larger than the friendly characters it is engaged with.

Touch Attack-

Many spells have a range of touch. To use these spells, you cast the spell and then touch the subject. In the same round that you cast the spell, you may also touch (or attempt to touch) as a free action. You may take your move before casting the spell, after touching the target, or between casting the spell and touching the target. You can automatically touch one friend or use the spell on yourself, but to touch an opponent, you must succeed on an attack roll.

Touch Attacks: Touching an opponent with a touch spell is considered to be an armed attack and therefore does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The act of casting a spell, however, does provoke an attack of opportunity. Touch attacks come in two types: melee touch attacks and ranged touch attacks. You can score critical hits with either type of attack as long as the spell deals damage. Your opponent's AC against a touch attack does not include any armor bonus, shield bonus, or natural armor bonus. His size modifier, Dexterity modifier, and deflection bonus (if any) all apply normally.

Ranged Touch Attack-

Ranged Touch Spells in Combat: Some spells allow you to make a ranged touch attack as part of the casting of the spell. These attacks are made as part of the spell and do not require a separate action. Ranged touch attacks provoke an attack of opportunity, even if the spell that causes the attacks was cast defensively. Unless otherwise noted, ranged touch attacks cannot be held until a later turn.

Nowhere in this text do ranged touch attacks get referenced as an actual ranged attack, it's sort of just one of those "assumed to be" sort of things.

Unfortunately, for semantic purposes, this makes it kinda confusing for pathfinder rules. I have no idea if shooting into melee would incur the -4 penalty to ranged touch attacks that it does with ranged attacks. Anyone know for sure? I'm kinda leaning towards the fact that it does, but I dunno.

GawainBS · Nov 6, 2011

I'd say they do incur the -4. Maybe it's not there literally, but you could just as well read that "touch" further defines "attack", and as such is a subcategory of "ranged attacks." A petty semantic discussion, but sometimes common sense has to have right of way.
Further, 3.5 had it specifically stated, and since PF is 3.5 on steroids, it would be logical to draw that conclusion.

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Ranged Attack/Ranged Touch: Shooting into Melee

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Ranged Attack/Ranged Touch: Shooting into Melee

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