Does concussion get a +4 to hit the ground?

[Kristoffer]

Explosive Fireball and Explosive Lightning specifically mentions that someone may choose to hit the ground instead of their foe for a +4. Concussion does not.

However concussion is stated to explode and does direct to the rules under explosions. In Exploits, Attacking an Area p. 45, it states explosions can deliberately target the area for +4. So since concussion is an explosion, it should also get the bonus.

So does concussion get +4 to hit the ground or not? Is it intentional that the spell doesn't state the bonus or is it just an oversight? I am in doubt, since concussion also grants a rather hefty stun, so it might be a balance thing.

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Kristoffer

Does concussion get a +4 to hit the ground?

As far as I'm concerned the answer is "Yes". I'm guessing the reason the other two spells have a line dedicated to "and they can target the ground" is because they have a spell version that is useless to target the ground with (generally useless anyway), so this helps to reinforce the differences. Concussion has no "single target" version.

[Anaraxes]

In GURPS, targeting a hex at +4, instead of a single, moving, human in that hex, is a standard rule. (B414, for those GURPS owners that want a reference.) It applies to grenades, Molotov cocktails, tossing something to land nearby an ally instead of touching them, not just explosive spells.

The mentions in the explosive Missile spells are thus merely redundant, not the text that establishes the rule just for those spells. The +4 applies to any similar effect, spell or mundane.

DFPRG is of course not exactly GURPS, but I doubt it differs in this regard. Check the more general parts of the rules, especially where it talks about explosions and area attacks.