Alchemist bombs have splash damage equal to the minimum damage that the bomb can roll.
The Point-Blank-Shot feat specifically calls out that it does not increase splash damage, and FAQs have said that Weapon Specialisation does work towards splash.
What about a casting of Bless? Or a Bard's Inspire Courage?
More generally, how can I tell what does or does not contribute to increasing the Splash Damage portion of an Alchemist's bomb?
I've come to the conclusion that anything probably does unless it says it doesn't, but the material is rarely combed over and edited to reflect new things. (like spells that affect projectiles and firearm pellets)
Best Answer
Bombs are thrown, ranged, splash weapons, and their splash damage is calculated based on their initial damage so anything that applies to the initial damage also applies to the splash (albeit with all dice minimized). So all bonuses to damage, to weapon damage, to ranged weapon damage, to thrown weapon damage, splash weapon damage, and so on and so forth will work with bombs, and therefore their splash damage, unless something explicitly says that thing does not. Something like the FAQ entry for bombs and Point-Blank Shot.
Basically, you have run afoul of Paizo’s exceptionally poor decision to use the FAQ for errata.
The only reason Point-Blank Shot doesn’t work with the splash damage of bombs is because the FAQ says it doesn’t. Despite the fact that the FAQ is written as if this was always the rule, and implicitly that you should be able to determine the same conclusion from those rules alone, this simply isn’t so. Before the FAQ was written, officially, Point-Blank Shot affected bomb splash damage—because bombs are ranged weapons, Point-Blank Shot applies to ranged weapon damage, and nothing anywhere else (before the FAQ) contradicted that.
Paizo does this a lot. This is a fantastic case-in-point example for why their abuse of the FAQ greatly hinders understanding the game, and why they shouldn’t be doing that. Nonetheless, it fits very neatly with their “We were always at war with Eastasia” approach to rules holes, and allows them to avoid doing that thing they loathe so much—admit they made a mistake. Sorry, but this is just what you get with Paizo.