Sacrificial Bunnies (Warlock curse question)

[TheShedim]

I have been unsuccessfully looking through the forums for the past couple weeks to try and find the answer to a question about the warlock curse, and using it in a combo I like to call sacrificial bunnies.

I still think that it had to have been discussed somewhere and if someone can direct me to a link I would be happy.

The question is about using the warlock curse on an innocent bystander, or some arbitrary and easy to kill target (in my example it will be a bunny) then kill the target to activate the pact boon, or later the paragon effects.

An example of a use would be to have a cage that a medium humanoid could fit, put a bunny in it, curse then kill said bunny then twilight teleport bad guy into the cage. A way to imprison an enemy without having to worry about such silly things as hitting. Or do it to a goldfish in a tank and have someone close and lock the lid.

A life stealer could alternately (sticking with bunnies) use this to keep life spark healing on him.

I do not see any neat things the star pact could do with it.

Overall, this does not seem game breaking, but someone please tell me what I overlooked, and why it does not work. Otherwise my warlock may start carrying a sack of bunnies around for easy misty step (bunnies chosen for speed of reproduction of course.)

 

[Bolongo]

All "sack of bunnies" strategies are banned by the "Legitimate Targets" clause. DMG pg 40.

Please don't belabor the point.

 

[Derren]

All "sack of bunnies" strategies are banned by the "Legitimate Targets" clause. DMG pg 40.

Just look for any tiny, low level monster in the MM which you can safely carry with you to bypass this clause.

 

[Wormwood]

Just look for any tiny, low level monster in the MM which you can safely carry with you to bypass this clause.

In this thread: Derren intentionally misunderstands what a 'meaningful threat' is.

next week: I hug my players, who would never even consider this sort of thing.

 

[Wotansman]

How would you carry the bunnies, I mean are you going to take a cart down into a dungeon? Seriously, that's gonna start weighing a ton, and make noise.
. On that note, how do you also keep them from taking damage as you take damage, how are they protected against AOE attacks?

The 4e seems to be aimed at Goodly people, it's not a very good option to sacrifice a brace of rabbits for combat bonuses.

Not fully, but in some bit it's metagame, you're just looking at the rules at base, not at how your character themselves might see it.

Metagame on the DM's part; we have no stat's for rabbits, I think that's the most stupid way to do it, but it works when you don't want to deal with it.

Those are pretty knee-jerk, but off the top of my head.

 

[Kordeth]

All "sack of bunnies" strategies are banned by the "Legitimate Targets" clause. DMG pg 40.

Please don't belabor the point.

Oh sure, that works until WotC gives us a ritual that lets you polymorph into a carrot, then the bunny is a serious threat!

 

[Bolongo]

KA-BOOM!

[Lightning disintegrates Derren, leaving only a single smoking boot]

 

[Derren]

When 1 HP minions can be a meaningful threat, why can't low level monsters be one? Just release the monster (preferably a minion) so that it can theoretically attack you and presto its a meaningful threat.

In the end the crux is that 4E doesn't care about consistency and this only works when the DM wants it to. Just hope that you have a open minded DM who is not scared that his plot (railroad?) is destroyed by teleporting warlocks.

 

[JasonZZ]

Edit: waited to long to post this. Others covered it better.

 

[Kordeth]

When 1 HP minions can be a meaningful thread, why can't low level monsters be one? Just release the monster (preferably a minion) so that it can theoretically attack you and presto its a meaningful threat.

A 1 hp minion of roughly your level is a meaningful threat because it can still hit you and inflict at least modest damage, and has Defenses high enough that it might take you a round or two to finish it off. A monster so far below your level that it only hits you on a 20 and you only miss it on a 1 is not a credible threat.