Interpreting Cunning Stalker Feat from HotFK

[Oldtimer]

By that same token why put in 'other than you' in the first place?

"You gain combat advantage against enemies that have no creatures adjacent to them." <--- This is what it would have been worded as if it would allow ranged. "Other than you" was included to state that you're the only one next to it.

That wording would allow only ranged. "Other than you" was included to allow melee. Maybe they intended to disallow ranged, but that wording doesn't do that.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

By that same token why put in 'other than you' in the first place?

"You gain combat advantage against enemies that have no creatures adjacent to them." <--- This is what it would have been worded as if it would allow ranged. "Other than you" was included to state that you're the only one next to it.

See Oldtimer's response. Your phrasing allows only ranged but NOT melee.

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Your analogy is flawed, cause it denotes a permission, not a condition.

The 'have' in the feat wording says is a condition, so that means it must be fulfilled, it's not an either or MAY situation.

Let's put it another way: "The apple is yours as no else is next can reach it other than you."

I see what you are trying to say, but disagree. There is nothing about describing conditions that mandates the phrase "other than you" to mean "definitely you".

Let's go back to the feat itself. Assume that you are the DM adjudicating use of the feat, where there is no creature adjacent to the enemy. You ask the player "Are any creatures adjacent to the enemy other than you?" The player says no. Your approach implies that the player has to answer "No, but neither am I", to which I picture the DM (now mysteriously dressed in barrister's robes) saying "Please just answer the question - are any creatures adjacent to the enemy other than you?" And you must answer no.

Please understand me -- the odd phrasing is the reason I suspect they did intend it to be melee only, but it isn't sufficient.

 

[bryanlo]

That wording would allow only ranged. "Other than you" was included to allow melee. Maybe they intended to disallow ranged, but that wording doesn't do that.

You're right, my mistake.

 

[bryanlo]

I see what you are trying to say, but disagree. There is nothing about describing conditions that mandates the phrase "other than you" to mean "definitely you".

Let's go back to the feat itself. Assume that you are the DM adjudicating use of the feat, where there is no creature adjacent to the enemy. You ask the player "Are any creatures adjacent to the enemy other than you?" The player says no. Your approach implies that the player has to answer "No, but neither am I", to which I picture the DM (now mysteriously dressed in barrister's robes) saying "Please just answer the question - are any creatures adjacent to the enemy other than you?" And you must answer no.

Please understand me -- the odd phrasing is the reason I suspect they did intend it to be melee only, but it isn't sufficient.

To me, the very fact that the player replies, 'but neither am I' belies that it's implicit in the original question that the player must be indeed next to the enemy.

However I agree that the phrasing could be a lot better.

I tried to look it up the feat on the Compendium and the CB, but couldn't find it. So I was wondering what the context is, is it a heroic or paragon feat, is it class or class/race specific?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

An Essentials feat, so it may not be in Compendium yet. Essentials feats don't generally have tiers (they could by a level requirement, but they have decided to get rid of splitting them up this way).

 

[TDarien]

The HotFK material is not in the compendium yet. HotFL is though, so you can find all the feats from that book in the compendium now. I was surprised that Cunning Stalker wasn't in the compendium though, as I didn't realize that the feat lists in the two books were different.

 

[bryanlo]

An Essentials feat, so it may not be in Compendium yet. Essentials feats don't generally have tiers (they could by a level requirement, but they have decided to get rid of splitting them up this way).

Cool thanks for the heads up, I'd be interested to know if there's a level requirement for this. It's pretty powerful.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

Cool thanks for the heads up, I'd be interested to know if there's a level requirement for this. It's pretty powerful.

Just checked HotFK no prereqs of any sort.