Attacks

Normally attacks are made as part of an attack action, or full attack action, but many other abilities or actions may call for an attack, and as such are not detailed under a specific action type.

Melee Attacks

With a normal melee weapon, you can strike any opponent within your reach, which for most medium sized creatures is 5 feet, which is any square adjacent to the creature’s space. Some melee weapons may have the reach feature adjusting the creature’s reach while wielding that weapon; see the reach weapon feature on the weapon’s page for more information on the reach property.

Some creatures may have spells, abilities, or features that increase their natural reach beyond 5 feet. These creatures may attack up to their granted reach and any weapons wielded by the limb or similar feature that grants them this increased natural reach may also attack within this natural reach.

Unarmed Attacks

Creatures may choose to make attacks without a weapon, but rather with punches, kicks, or headbutts. When doing so this is called an unarmed strike, which has the following properties:

Unarmed Strike: An unarmed strike is treated as a light martial weapon with the monistic keyword. An unarmed strike deals 1d4 bludgeoning damage for a medium creature (1d3 if small, 1d6 if large). An unarmed strike can normally only deal nonlethal damage, though a creature may choose to take a -4 penalty to their attack rolls with an unarmed strike to deal lethal damage. A creature without martial weapon proficiency is not proficient with unarmed strikes and takes the normal penalties for attacking without proficiency. Some feats or equipment may allow a creature to deal lethal damage or grant proficiency with an unarmed strike. If a creature lacks general martial weapon proficiency a creature can always select proficiency in unarmed strikes when given the option to gain proficiency in a martial weapon.

Enhancing Unarmed Strikes: As unarmed strikes are made with a specific limb, items such as enhanced gauntlets would only enhance your punches, but not any headbutts or kicks. Some spells or abilities may enhance a creature rather than a specific limb to apply to any unarmed strike.

Using Gauntlets: A gauntlet is a way for a player to use an unarmed strike without martial weapon proficiency; a gauntlet is a simple weapon that deals unarmed strike damage, is treated as an unarmed strike, but allows a player to deal lethal damage as well as not provoke as long as they’re proficient with the gauntlet. This does not count as actual proficiency in unarmed strikes; thus they would not quality for feats such as improved unarmed strike; but it allows a player to start their journey using unarmed strikes if they lack the proficiencies to do so.

Melee Touch Attacks

A melee touch attack is made like a normal attack, and as such can be made as an attack action or part of a full attack action; in addition a creature can substitute any melee attack for a touch attack. Unlike a normal attack a melee touch attack is made against a creature’s touch AC check rather than normal AC, as it is simply your ability to make contact with the creature rather than the force needed to break through their defenses.

By itself a melee touch attack does nothing, no damage roll is made on success, nor does any other effect occur. Some abilities or spells may call for a melee touch attack, in which situation the melee touch attack is a conduit making a successful touch attack impart the effects of the spell or ability to the target creature.

Feats, abilities, or effects that affect an unarmed strike also apply to a melee touch attack, though unlike unarmed strikes a creature is automatically proficient in melee touch attacks.

Ranged Attacks

With a ranged weapon, you can shoot or throw at any target that is within the weapon’s maximum range and in line of sight. The maximum range for a thrown weapon is five range increments. For projectile weapons, it is 10 range increments. Some ranged weapons may have different maximum ranges, as specified in their descriptions. After the first range increment with a ranged weapon, the attack takes a cumulative –2 penalty for each full range increment (or fraction thereof) of distance to the target.

Shooting or Throwing into a Melee

Making an attack with a ranged weapon against a target engaged in melee grants a penalty to attack rolls due to the chaotic movement in melee combat. If the target of the attack threatens an ally’s square or is in the threatened area of another creature they are considered in melee and grant a -4 penalty to attack roll. A creature that is unconscious or immobilized  is not considered engaged in melee unless they are being attacked. In addition if you are within the threatened area of a creature you take a -4 penalty to attack rolls against that creature.

For each size category your target is then the largest creature it is engaged in melee combat with, this penalty is reduced by 1 (minimum 0). In addition if a creature is at least 10 feet away from the target, but is still threatened, this penalty is reduced by 2 plus an additional 1 for every 5 feet beyond (minimum 0).

Ranged Touch Attacks

Ranged touch attacks are similar to ranged attacks except they target a creature’s touch AC check rather than normal AC. Unlike a melee touch attack, ranged touch attacks usually cannot be made freely unless a spell or ability calls for a ranged touch attack. Some weapons or objects may call for a ranged touch attack when thrown and as such can be used as normal for a thrown weapon; such as slash weapons.

Throwing A Splash Weapon

A splash weapon is similar to a thrown weapon, but designed to break or explode on impact affecting not only the target, but other nearby creatures. Attacks with slash weapons are made as ranged touch attack against their target. Splash weapons are treated as simple weapons for the purposes of determining proficiency.

Many splash weapons will specify their damage on a direct hit, or a splash hit. Direct hit damage occurs when your ranged touch attack successfully hits its intended target, dealing the listed direct hit damage. In addition all creatures within the listed area of the splash weapon take the listed splash damage. Splash weapons cannot deal precision damage, even if they have a successful direct hit. A creature throwing a splash weapon can always choose to hit a grid intersection or square, requiring simply a ranged attack against AC 5. If targeting an intersection occupied by a creature in this way, the attack cannot result in a direct hit on the occupying creature and will only deal splash damage.

If the creature misses the target or grid intersection with the splash weapon attack, roll a d8. Starting from 1 which is the square adjacent to the target and closest to the thrower go clockwise around the target square counting from 2 to 8, using this to determine which square is hit from the d8’s resulting roll. Once it is determined where the weapon lands, it will deal splash damage to all creatures in that square and in adjacent squares. A missed attack that lands in a different creature’s square than the intended target is not treated as a direct hit.

When targeting a creature that is larger than medium you may pick any square the creature occupies using that square as the target location should it miss and need to determine where it lands; a miss that lands within the creature’s square does not turn a miss into a direct hit, though will deal splash damage as normal.

Unless otherwise specified, splash weapons may be thrown as any other thrown weapon, but do not treat their damage as weapon damage for the purposes of effects that multiply or add additional weapon damage. Splash weapons do not deal strength modifier damage when thrown like normal splash, and are destroyed after their effect resolves making them unrecoverable.

Natural Attacks

Claws, bites, tail slaps, or other such items a creature may possess are referred to as Natural Weapons. Natural weapons are used as light melee weapons that the creature is automatically proficient with. The damage of each natural weapon usually depends on its type and is noted for the specific creature’s entry or ability that grants it. You do not receive additional attacks for possessing multiple natural weapons, but may utilize them as main hand and off-hand weapons for the purposes of two-weapon fighting.

Natural weapons occupy a specific limb, and as such if two natural weapons occupy the same limb they cannot be treated as attacks with different limbs. For example a character using two weapon fighting could not use the bite as a main hand and the gore as an off hand, but could alternate between bite and gore attacks as main hand attacks while making off hand attacks with a claw. If a natural weapon specifies “other” this usually means it is its own limb in itself and therefore doesn’t share a limb (such as wing attacks). Natural weapons which occupy the hand slot usually come in pairs and as such can be used in main and off hand attacks as long as it is a different hand utilized for each. Some natural weapons as detailed as “other” and as such usually are within themselves a limb and do not share a limb with other natural weapons.

Natural weapons come in various shapes and sizes. Generally unless specified otherwise a natural weapon has the following statistics:

Natural Attack	Base Damage by Size*									Damage Type	Limb Used
Fine	Dim.	Tiny	Small	Medium	Large	Huge	Garg.	Col.
Bite	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	3d6	B, or P	Head
Claw	0	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	P or S	Hand
Gore	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	3d6	P	Head
Hoof	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	3d6	B	Foot
Tentacle or Wing	–	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	B	Other
Pincers or Tail Slap	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	3d6	B	Other
Slam	–	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	B	Hand (body if creature lacks hands)
Sting	–	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	P	Other
Talons	–	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	S	Foot
Other	–	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	B, P, or S	Other