Rules issues with Revenants

[Eric Finley]

It's more that I'm looking at it by comparison to, say, the rogue's version. Perhaps it's simply that the rogue's version sucks. (Sounds good on paper, but in practice it's just +1 damage per Sneak Attack die, max twice, three times with Slaying Action.) In which case the ranger's version is more like +Con x (Party members + N), where N covers multiattacks, action points, and Minor action attacks etc. Which is brutal.

Depending on circumstances, the warlock's Cursed Reaping is more comparable to the ranger's, except that (a) it's not focused damage, which the ranger's version is, and (b) I would be okay with them having set up Reaper+Warlock for some synergy, esp. since Dex is pretty much a dump stat for most Warlocks. The ranger's version simply stands out to me as unquestionably more powerful than any of the other striker-reaping feats, without a good reason for being that way. (If it were limited to "if quarry is bloodied" or "not bloodied," or to "bloodied allies do extra dmg", or perhaps even more thematically "every ally who has failed at least one death save this encounter", something like that... then I'd be okay with it. But the unconditional damage is just too high IMO.)

The death save idea above prompts me to another thought, though... I think Wizards missed a trick when they used Death Save status so little in the design of the Revenant. Heck, I would be totally fine with the following feat in my campaign:

Nearer To The Gate - Heroic feat, Revenant only
For each failed death save you currently possess, add +1 to all your damage rolls. You may choose to roll a death save at any time as a free action. At Paragon tier, this increases to +2 per failed death save, and at Epic tier this goes up to +3.

If you ask me, this kind of thing would have made an amazing thematic key for more Revenant stuff than this.

 

[Mr. Teapot]

2) Genasi revenants. The FRPG feats "Extra Manifestation" and "Versatile Resistance" would in theory work for Genasi revenants, as they require only the race. Extra Manifestation then becomes confusing (you can use this extra one "instead of" something you haven't got) and Versatile Resistance simply grants resistances even though haven't got a manifest resistance to overwrite.

This isn't the revenant's fault: it's the FRPG's fault. The Genasi feats should have the requirements "Genasi, Elemental Manifestation racial ability" or some such. Which would mean the Genasi Revenant only qualified after taking the proper feat that granted Elemental Manifestation. And would be like the racial feats in the PHB which modify racial powers: Elven Precision requires not just being an elf but having the Elven Accuracy power. Enlarged Dragonbreath needs both being a dragonborn and having the dragonbreath power, etc.

 

[Wraith Form]

As I read the feat, once per encounter, when an enemy drops and you hit a quarried target, you deal extra reaping damage, and that target effectively gains Vulnerable [your Con] to all damage*, until the end of your next turn.
*) conveniently ignoring any necrotic resistance for the mo'...

Are you saying you would prefer it if only the Ranger's own (subsequent) attack(s) would deal the extra [Con] damage?

I do see a point - quarry never helps allies in any other case, so why here?

I think it was sarcasm--the word "your" appears four--FOUR--times in one sentence. That's just plain bad writing.