Does Sticky Bomb persistent damage crit?

Question

Alchemist can take Sticky Bombs, an Additive that allows you to cause persistent damage when you hit with a bomb.

You mix in an additive to make your bomb’s contents adhere to the target and continue to deal damage. A creature that takes a direct hit from one of your sticky bombs also takes persistent damage equal to and of the same type as the bomb’s splash damage. If the bomb already deals persistent damage, combine the two amounts.

I believe it comes down to if the persistent damage is considered part of the attack damage per critical hits.

If you critically succeed at a Strike, your attack deals double damage.

Notably, persistent damage can double on a critical hit but it's unclear, to me, if the Sticky Bombs damage is part of the attack damage or not.

If your attack roll is a critical hit, is this persistent damage doubled?

Answer 1

NO.

The key phrase here is “persistent damage equal to and of the same type as the bomb’s splash damage.”

So we’re doing an amount equal to our splash damage. Now, what are the rules for critical hits and Splash damage?

Most bombs also have the splash trait. When you use a thrown weapon with the splash trait, you don't add your Strength modifier to the damage roll. If an attack with a splash weapon fails, succeeds, or critically succeeds, all creatures within 5 feet of the target (including the target) take the listed splash damage. On a critical failure, the bomb misses entirely, dealing no damage. Add splash damage together with the initial damage against the target before applying the target's resistance or weakness. You don't multiply splash damage on a critical hit.

Since the splash damage is not multiplied on a critical hit, the persistent damage, which is equal to that splash damage, is also not multiplied.

To use the example from the linked text on Nethys;

For example, if you throw a lesser acid flask and hit your target, that creature takes 1 acid damage, 1d6 persistent acid damage, and 1 acid splash damage. All other creatures within 5 feet of it take 1 acid splash damage. On a critical hit, the target takes 2 acid damage and 2d6 persistent acid damage, but the splash damage is still 1. If you miss, the target and all creatures within 5 feet take only 1 splash damage. If you critically fail, no one takes any damage.

With Sticky Bombs added to this equation, on either a normal or a critical hit, you would add the 1 point of splash damage, as persistent damage, to the 1 or 2d6 persistent acid damage (on a hit or crit respectively) caused by the base bomb. These numbers are combined into a single persistent damage effect.

Answer 2

Yes

A creature that takes a direct hit from one of your sticky bombs also takes persistent damage equal to and of the same type as the bomb’s splash damage.

Splash damage isn't multiplied on a critical hit, but Sticky Bomb deals persistent damage rather than splash damage.

In particular, the persistent damage equals the bomb's splash damage rather than the amount of splash damage dealt. There's no reason this would also inherit splash damage's limitation against critical hit doubling.