Re: Warlock Curses. Are we doing this right?

[Klaus]

It's "I'll be damned!" actually. you aren't becoming a "damn", you are undergoing the action of being "damned".

Sure. PH p.278, section on Critical Hit Damage. Note that "Rather than roll damage,
determine the maximum damage you can roll with your attack." So...when you have combat advantage, what is the maximum damage your rogue can roll?

The next bullet point tells you what to do with magic weapons and implements, and high crit weapons => you have to roll that damage separately. This makes sense: you do NOT normally get High Crit damage...unless you roll a critical.

"Damn" in the same sense as "par'ner", "ma'am" and "g'nite".

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Well, this post will make my players very, very happy. Based on (iirc) a WotC Q&A post a while back, we thought that the only damage maxed out was the weapon dice....maxing the striker bonuses makes crits noticeably better!

I have been playing all along that a Warlock can only curse 1 foe at a time....am I missing something? EDIT: rather, I meant only 1 enemy in a turn can receive the damage. 6 enemies can be cursed....but only 1 takes damage per turn.

 

[Storminator]

I have been playing all along that a Warlock can only curse 1 foe at a time....am I missing something?

You can only place one curse at a time (barring feats, paragon path powers and magic items), but you can have a lot of curses active at once.

PS

 

[Ryujin]

Yup, you're missing something all right. Probably a Warlock's best asset in combat is that he can curse every opponent on the field if the fight goes long enough, or if he has an item or feat that will assist in doing it faster. Using a Rod of Corruption I frequently manage to have 90+% of opponents on the field cursed by round 4.

*EDIT* As Storminator said typically one at a time, but a Rod of Corruption allows the Warlock to spread the curse to every foe within a given radius and the Twofold Curse feat allows the two nearest enemies to be cursed as one minor action.

 

[Siran Dunmorgan]

Whoa, wait! Curse dice are not maximized on a crit! You only maximize the damage in the power's description, be it [W] or a dice notation. :/

According to Wizards of the Coast Customer Service, quoted at Consolidated Customer Service Answers - Wizards Community,

q: If you score a critical hit on an attack and you wish to apply sneak attack damage to it are the sneak attack dice maximized?

a: Yes, they are. Sneak Attack, Hunter's Quarry, and Warlock's Curse are all maximized on a successful critical hit.​

Now, as we all know by now, Customer Service rulings may not be final, but until overruled, they are authoritative.

Edit: of course, several people posted the same information while I was taking time to research and provide the appropriate link... *sigh*. The price of scholarship.

Of course, this does not address the question of what 'once per round' means with respect to Curse damage; if 'once' means 'as part of a single action', then it's possible to apply Curse damage to multiple targets, if they are all affected by a single burst or blast.

When the matter has come up at our table, we have ruled that it applies to one target per action per round, i.e. if a warlock hits several enemies with a single attack, she may apply Curse damage only to one of them.

—Siran Dunmorgan

 

[Jack99]

Of course, this does not address the question of what 'once per round' means with respect to Curse damage; if 'once' means 'as part of a single action', then it's possible to apply Curse damage to multiple targets, if they are all affected by a single burst or blast.

When the matter has come up at our table, we have ruled that it applies to one target per action per round, i.e. if a warlock hits several enemies with a single attack, she may apply Curse damage only to one of them.

—Siran Dunmorgan

You are mistaken. And to be honest, there is little doubt in the community as to what 1 round means. It's explained quite clearly in the PHB.

YOu may (baring certain feats etc) apply those things once per round. Once per round means (paraphrased) that you can use it once, and not again until after the start of your next turn. This is true no matter the number of actions you take in a given round. See phb266 for more info.

 

[Siran Dunmorgan]

You are mistaken. And to be honest, there is little doubt in the community as to what 1 round means. It's explained quite clearly in the PHB.

You may (barring certain feats, et c.) apply those things once per round. Once per round means (paraphrased) that you can use it once, and not again until after the start of your next turn. This is true no matter the number of actions you take in a given round. See Player's Handbook, p. 266 for more info.

My apologies: that's similar to what I thought I'd said, by specifying 'one target per action per round', that is, a given warlock can normally apply their Curse damage to only one target in a given round.

It's slightly more complicated than 'the start of your next turn', of course, because it's possible that the warlock has dealt their curse damage during someone else's turn.

For example, if the warlock is granted a ranged basic attack by a friendly warlord's power, the warlock can choose to apply curse damage to the damage done by their Eldritch Blast attack; if the warlock's turn then comes up in the same round after the warlord, the warlock does not get to apply curse damage to attacks made with the warlock's own actions.

But, yes, I believe we are in agreement that the Curse damage may be dealt to only one target per round.

—Siran Dunmorgan

 

[CapnZapp]

Apply the curse damage only once per round. You won't find this "confirmed" by the rules, because it already tells you this damage is to be applied only once per round.

This goes back to rules philosophy - you need to assume any omission is intentional rather than accidental; meaning the rules' silence on this matter should not be taken as an opening your alternative interpretation might be right. Quite the opposite - you should place the burden of finding "evidence" on the player wanting the alternative ruling: unless he can find rules support for his view, you should assume he's wrong.

Hope that helps, Rel!

 

[Jack99]

My apologies: that's similar to what I thought I'd said, by specifying 'one target per action per round', that is, a given warlock can normally apply their Curse damage to only one target in a given round.

It's slightly more complicated than 'the start of your next turn', of course, because it's possible that the warlock has dealt their curse damage during someone else's turn.

For example, if the warlock is granted a ranged basic attack by a friendly warlord's power, the warlock can choose to apply curse damage to the damage done by their Eldritch Blast attack; if the warlock's turn then comes up in the same round after the warlord, the warlock does not get to apply curse damage to attacks made with the warlock's own actions.

But, yes, I believe we are in agreement that the Curse damage may be dealt to only one target per round.

—Siran Dunmorgan

Sorry mate, I just misunderstood "'one target per action per round'" that you used. If I read that in the PHB, it would have meant that if my warlock triggered his curse with his standard attack, he would still be able to trigger it on another action, say by an attack granted by a warlord or an action point.

Cheers

 

[lukelightning]

its probably those guys who write for mongoose. They are italian and do not seem to grasp the 4e rules very well

I thought it was because the Italian <i>malocchio</i> is especially potent.