Can someone explain Hunter's Quarry and Warlock's Curse to me?

[zoroaster100]

I have two questions about these similar-looking abilities.

First, mechanically, how do they work? Does the character automatically do the additional damage to the opponent every round, or is it just additional damage IF the character attacks that opponent and causes base damage of some kind? If the character does nothing but use a minor action to maintain, and uses all his other actions per turn to focus on a different opponent, does he still automatically continue to do damage to the designated target of the hunter's quarry or warlock's curse?

Second, in terms of fluff/description, how is the damage from these abilities described? For example, is hunter's quarry additional damage done with the ranger's regular weapon attacks? Or is it some kind of mystical energy attack? What is causing the additional damage to the target?

 

[Yaezakura]

The two abilities make it so the characters in question do MORE damage when they deal damage. A Ranger's quarry or the victim of a Warlock's curse don't just take damage for being marked.

As for the fluff, I think it would basically work like this:

When a Ranger marks an opponent, he takes the time to analyze the opponent--its anatomy, whatever armor it may have, etc. The Ranger then aims for the most vulnerable spots of his quarry's body, thus dealing extra damage.

With a Warlock's curse, the warlock has magically increased his opponent's vulnerabilities to his other attacks. His Eldritch Blast eats away easier at a cursed opponent, feeding off the curse's energy to scour more flesh (or equivalent).

The fluff is just ideas, but I'm 100% positive on the mechanical aspects.

 

[zoroaster100]

Thanks. I like your explanation for the damage. The fluff/explanation is much easier to explain and accept if the powers work as you explain mechanically. I wasn't sure because the powers don't specify in their description that you have to do base damage to get the additional damage, but that is how I was hoping it worked. It didn't make much sense to me that the ranger was just somehow magically doing 1d8 damage to one opponent automatically each round.

 

[Blizzardb]

Something that often gets overlooked is that the Ranger can add his damage only once per round, while the Warlock may do it every time he hits (he may hit several times, for instance if he uses an action point or with AOO).

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Fluff:

Warlock Curse: Any poor soul who wanders too close to a warlock risks incurring his curse: with a mere glance, the warlock allows his dark energies to seep out and corrupt the very essence of his opponents, rendering them more vulnerable to his deadly magic.

Ranger Quarry: Rangers are famous as expert hunters and trackers, tasks which require above all else an intense concentration on their chosen targets. When a ranger gets close enough to fully gauge his target, he can designate it as his quarry, focusing extra attention on it which allows him to exploit any weaknesses in its defenses to hit harder and kill quicker.

 

[zoroaster100]

Both powers require that the character designate the closest enemy as the target. Hunter's quarry says it remains active until the target is defeated, the encounter ends, or you designate a new quarry. Warlock's curse remains until target is defeated or the encounter ends. So it looks like a ranger can change quarry during an encounter, but a warlock cannot change targets for his curse until the enemy is defeated or the encounter ends.

If a ranger selects the closest enemy as his quarry, and then in subsequent turns another enemy moves closer, can the ranger still keep his original quarry even though there is another foe closer to him now?

 

[Yaezakura]

Both powers require that the character designate the closest enemy as the target. Hunter's quarry says it remains active until the target is defeated, the encounter ends, or you designate a new quarry. Warlock's curse remains until target is defeated or the encounter ends. So it looks like a ranger can change quarry during an encounter, but a warlock cannot change targets for his curse until the enemy is defeated or the encounter ends.

If a ranger selects the closest enemy as his quarry, and then in subsequent turns another enemy moves closer, can the ranger still keep his original quarry even though there is another foe closer to him now?

The Ranger can choose to keep the same quarry he has. It only ends if his quarry dies, the encounter ends, or he chooses to pick a new quarry. Note that it specifies only 1 quarry is allowed at a time.

And from the wording, the Warlock doesn't need to change targets. He can curse multiple opponents, and each curse lasts until death/encounter end. I can't see them forgetting to specify only one curse being allowed at a time, when it's clearly noted on the Hunter's Quarry ability. Not even on the updated sheets from the website does it imply any type of limitation on the number of enemies that can be cursed at once.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Both powers require that the character designate the closest enemy as the target. Hunter's quarry says it remains active until the target is defeated, the encounter ends, or you designate a new quarry. Warlock's curse remains until target is defeated or the encounter ends. So it looks like a ranger can change quarry during an encounter, but a warlock cannot change targets for his curse until the enemy is defeated or the encounter ends.

I took that to mean that a Warlock can have multiple foes cursed at the same time.

If a ranger selects the closest enemy as his quarry, and then in subsequent turns another enemy moves closer, can the ranger still keep his original quarry even though there is another foe closer to him now?

Seems that way to me. The mark says that it lasts until the encounter ends, the foe is defeated or a new quarry is chosen, not until another foe moves closer. Once marked, the foe should stay marked no matter where it goes.

 

[Dalvyn]

Shouldn't the fluff be convincingly defined in the books?

I mean ... shouldn't the book tell us "You get to do an additional 1d8 damage each time you damage your target because <insert convincing explanation in terms of the character's actions here>"?

A purely rule-based description that amounts to "You do +1d8 damage each time you damage your opponent, feel free to find a good explanation for that if you want" is not really what I would expect from a role-playing game. How can I even play the role of my character if I don't know what those powers mean?

I really hope that the complete version of the books will give precise and convincing interpretations for all those things.

 

[Doug McCrae]

I thought the rule descriptions for both were much too convoluted for what are essentially 'deal +X damage' powers. Guess it was to stop some overpowered shenanigans involving multiple attacks or area effects.

In fluff terms the ranger deals extra damage cause he's a badass ninja hitman who's incredibly good at killing people. I see the warlock's curse as psychic hate. His concentrated hatred is so strong it can cause physical harm.