Reaving Rod and...

[FadedC]

Yeah I think we all actually agree that you can't kill massive numbers of minions at once with reaving+corruption. The only area of disagreement is weither these two rods can be used at the same time at all. I know my personal ruling is absolutely going to be no, but the actual rules are a bit more fuzzy. I don't think it's remotely overpowered in this instance, but I think it has the extreme potential to become overpowered.

 

[Tripgnosis]

I really wish we could get something close to an official ruling on this.... I hope that it's ruled that you simply cannot gain the benefit of 2 implements. I can overpowered combos like this coming up alot

 

[Nifft]

If the warlock uses Armor of Agathys that's great, but they are right next to creatures, wherein lies my issue. It would have been likely, but not absolute, that those minons would have gotten in an attack.

Actually, the minions take damage before they get to make an attack -- they take damage as soon as their turn rolls around, before it takes any actions.

The only way for a minion to get in an attack is to run up next to the Warlock deliberately... and that's suicide.

If you feel minions are being denied their rights to an attack, consider the difference over a few rounds, from the perspective of three minions:

Case A (auto-kill like Armor of Agathys, Rain of Steel, or Flaming Sphere)

Round 1: The 3 minions either win initiative, or don't. If they do, they get one attack each. If they don't, the PC moves his effect (which may require moving himself) right up next to them, and they all die this round.

Round 2: Minions are already dead, or they all die now.

Attacks: 0 or 3; expected number of attacks 1.5, subject to expected initiative differences.

Case B (auto-kill via Rod of Reaving)

Round 1: Warlock auto-kills one minion; depending on differences in initiative, 2 or 3 attack him this round.

Round 2: Warlock auto-kills second minion; 1 or 2 attacks this round.

Round 3: Warlock auto-kills last minion; 0 or 1 attacks this round.

Attacks: 3 or 6; expected number of attacks 4.5, depending on initiatives.

- - -

Clearly, auto-killing one at a time is much "fairer" than auto-killing in huge batches. The number of attacks any group of minions gets in case A is linear (one attack per minion), while the number of attacks the group gets in case B is geometric (the minion population charted over time is triangular).

Cheers, -- N

 

[keterys]

Except, case A involves a daily, and case B involves minor action at-wills. Not that I think either case is satisfying gameplay.

 

[Nifft]

Except, case A involves a daily, and case B involves minor action at-wills. Not that I think either case is satisfying gameplay.

Au contrare! Case A involves only things that don't cost money; case B requires an expensive magic item.

(However, I think I agree about satisfying gameplay: no fight should be limited to just three minions.)

Cheers, -- N

 

[WalterKovacs]

One note:

The warlock only auto-kills a minion if it's the closest thing he sees. If the warlock curses a non-minion, that character takes a negligible ammount of damage.

A warlock with the reaving rod has an at-will minor action minion killer ... doing so uses up their curse for the turn, allows them to get their boon off more often, but ultimately just lets them clear out minions a bit faster. Not every encounter has minions, and those that do, won't necessarily make it easy for the warlock to pop minions off. Cursing a minion is generally a waste of a curse, outside of getting the pact boon to go off.