Hunter's Quarry & Warlock's Curse Auto Damage?

[Moon-Lancer]

I actually kind of like this.

I know there will be people screaming "what was wrong with favored enemy?" but they obviously never picked a favored enemy and then failed to run into members of that group on a regular basis.

This way, the character's ability never becomes "useless" simply because he thought it was cool to have, for example, favored enemy: lizardfolk to reflect his character's background without ever checking with the DM to see if there were going to be lizardfolk in the campaign. Or the PC who picks favored enemy: orcs only to see it become useless when he starts fighting demons at level 10.

Now you might say that a good DM would read that backstory and make use of it. But haven't we all been in the situation where our PC picked a favored enemy we thought was just lame? Or at least the point where the PCs favored enemy was now "not a threat?"

I, for one, applaud our new, more flexible overlords.

Yeah favored enemy was a difficult choice to make. When I dm i tell my players straight up what the best ones I would choose. So for red hand I say Dragons, Hobgoblins, magical beasts etc.

 

[RigaMortus2]

for example, favored enemy: lizardfolk to reflect his character's background without ever checking with the DM to see if there were going to be lizardfolk in the campaign.

I think that right there is the main issue more than anything else...

 

[Scrollreader]

Not necessarily. For instance, Favored Enemy: Dragon, or Favored Enemy: Outsider (Evil) are pretty solid mechanical choices, especially if your DM tells you he will be focusing on them. But how do you work that into your backstory, since even the most pathetic dragon or evil outsider is going to annihilate a 1st level character? I'm in favor of things that don't require massive roleplay contortions to make sense, as and few things as possible that I have to 'step out of' the character to resolve.

 

[JohnSnow]

I think that right there is the main issue more than anything else...

I disagree. I think the main issue is the notion of a class ability that is so situation-specific that it's useless unless the DM specifically includes situations where it's useful.

It would be like the rogue's sneak attack only working on one class of creature.

It sucks enough that it doesn't work on certain creature types. But if you had to pick 5 monster types it was effective against (1 at first level, but you get more later)? That's ridiculously lame.

 

[TerraDave]

The fact that he has to initially choose the closest enemy to him makes for interesting tactical decisions -- does he pick a quarry immediately to whittle down around the edges, or does he try to sneak towards the enemy rear so he can Quarry the dangerous ranged striker hiding behind a wall of scrubs?

Right, if the striker wants to get at the enemy leader/controler, he will have to dart in past whoever is guarding the target. Each have things to make that kind of movement easier, but they can't just sit back. That is the wizards job.