Warlock's Curse multipliers

[Nifft]

From an optimization perspective, it is tough to beat (and maybe impossible for a Warlock to beat!).

Well, let me say this: it depends on the composition of the monsters you fight.

If you are in a fight against a Solo, it's totally useless.

If you're in a fight against two Soldiers and a Skirmisher, it's nearly useless.

The Rod of Corruption really shines when you have a Controller screened by Minions. (Actually almost any encounter with Minions brings its luster to the fore.)

Cheers, -- N

 

[Danceofmasks]

Feylock + Armor of Agathys + Memorise mobs' initiative order = Warlock pinball

Sorry, lost you there - where did mass cursing come into this?

Ok, lemme explain step by step (I shouldn't have to, but never mind).
Cast Armor of Agathys, curse a minion (with rod of reaving), and use rod of corruption to spread curse to all enemies in the combat.
On round 2, move adjacent to the foe whose turn is next ('cos you did the memorise thing), and ready an Eldritch Blast vs. the first foe to survive Armor of Agathys damage.
Auto damage, death, teleport, repeat till someone survives, EB goes off, if death teleport, repeat.

Warlock pinball can potentially wipe the board clean in a couple of turns.
Especially if you're real sneaky and go for the combo after noting that a bunch of minions act right after you.

 

[CapnZapp]

I've actually got a warlock in the game I'm running right now, what he wants to do is get a bunch of the +1 versions and just store up his pact boons and just have a dozen or so strapped to his chest. With the quickdraw feat he's assuming he'll be able to bampf (teleport) whenever he wants, regardless of critters he's cursed dying or not.

Is this viable? I haven't figured it out yet but it sounds like a twisting of the words to me

As the DM, just say no.
If he insists, tell him the bag-of-rats story.
If he still insists, ask him to leave your group.

While possibly technically allowed, ask yourself: do you want to play in this manner. Assuming you don't, change the rules.

 

[CapnZapp]

Cast Armor of Agathys, curse a minion (with rod of reaving), and use rod of corruption to spread curse to all enemies in the combat.
On round 2, move adjacent to the foe whose turn is next ('cos you did the memorise thing), and ready an Eldritch Blast vs. the first foe to survive Armor of Agathys damage.
Auto damage, death, teleport, repeat till someone survives, EB goes off, if death teleport, repeat.

Thank you. I do note, however, how this is only possible with fey pact warlocks.

The star pact doesn't stack in this way (you still get only one d20 roll) and the infernal pact doesn't stack much at all.

My player isn't playing a "feylock" so this particular "exploit" isn't immediately a concern. I would probably look for fey pact houserules if he was.

My point here, though, is that this trick doesn't seem centered on the Rod, or on the "spread the curse" ability.

Are there more exploits regarding this? If so, yes, perhaps the best course of action is to houserule the rod (and any other mechanisms that spread the curse).

But if the number of such combos are relatively rare, perhaps its best to leave the general rules intact, and instead put a restriction or two on the Fey Pact?

 

[HappyJones]

Alright, so looking it over again, yes it's the Rod of Harvest, he had mentioned a Rod of Corruption in another scheme. Basically he wants several Rods of Harvest so that he can simply store up his teleports and with quick draw be able to whip as many out as he wills. The second thing he was planning was to throw a Rod of Harvest to another player and let them use his pact boon instead should the situation call for it. Now in my head, I'm seeing an abuse of poorly written rules.

Rod of Harvest's special is an Encounter power Minor action. I'm all for creative schemes and such but the ability to pass his pact boon seems like he's stretching things a bit. My first thought is to simply state that only a warlock of his same pact would be able to use the pact boons stored up. My second thought is that like Daily Item powers, there should be a limit on Encounter Item powers. Thoughts?

P.S. Didn't mean to jack the thread.

 

[CapnZapp]

P.S. Didn't mean to jack the thread.

Then please start a new one!

 

[Oni]

Well, let me say this: it depends on the composition of the monsters you fight.

If you are in a fight against a Solo, it's totally useless.

If you're in a fight against two Soldiers and a Skirmisher, it's nearly useless.

The Rod of Corruption really shines when you have a Controller screened by Minions. (Actually almost any encounter with Minions brings its luster to the fore.)

Cheers, -- N

Yes it is somewhat situational but still a must have because it's really really good when you need it, and it's super cheap since you only need to offhand a +1 version and nothing more. There really isn't a reason not to have one since they're so cheap, which I think is the potentially broken part comes in.

 

[Lisandro]

Well, I have a lvl 6 hellock with a +1 Vicious Rod and a +1 Rod of Corruption and me likes 'em both! The RoC is great because to use it you just need to hold it... since I'm a ranged guy, no problem with having the VR in my main hand and the RoC on the other one. And since RoC is best used early in combat, I'm looking into QuickDraw-ing with some wand that I like. Haven't tried this one yet, though...

 

[CapnZapp]

Would you go so far as to say "the warlock class is gimped without the Rod of Corruption" (or some other external way of helping to multiply his curse) "the powers that do this aren't enough"?

 

[PHGraves]

No, I would not.

Just because items exist that benefit your character (whatever class), this does not mean that your character is somehow useless if they do not have them.