Creature Abilities
Source Alien Core pg. 208
The following creature abilities are listed here because they are shared by many creatures or are highly complex. The statistics for individual creatures might alter the traits, the number of actions, or other rules of these abilities. Anything noted in a specific creature's stat block overrides the general rules for the ability below. In these abilities, “monster” is used for the creature that has the ability, to differentiate it from any other creatures the ability might affect.
Area Fire [one-action] or [two-actions]
Source Alien Core pg. 208
The monster attempts to hit each creature in a designated area with an area attack, typically a burst, line, or cone. For a burst, the monster can position the center point anywhere within the indicated range. Any creatures in the area take the indicated amount of damage, with a basic Reflex save against the indicated DC. Damage from Area Fire is area damage. The Area Fire entry can specify additional effects, such as conditions applied on a critical failure. Area Fire sometimes comes from manufactured weapons, in which case the monster must be wielding the weapon, and the Area Fire uses ammo equal to the weapon's expend (or uses up a consumable such as a grenade). Most Area Fire attacks are a 2-action activity, but sometimes (such as when throwing a grenade) they're only a single action.