Should Hexblade Curses show some sort of mark or physical manifestation?

[nyee]

I'm playing a hexblade, and when using my hexblade curse, the DM ruled that there was no way I could have seen the curse take effect, so I couldn't tell if it worked or not. Is he right?

 

[Dandu]

Do spellcasters know when their spells affect targets?

 

[Ahnehnois]

As it is a supernatural ability and is unique to this class, there is unlikely to be any official answer to this question. In general, I believe the convention for spellcasting is that you know whether the spell has an effect or not, and with an attack you can tell if you hit or miss and if DR blocked the damage, so it seems that your desire to know whether the curse worked has ample precedent. I would suggest calmly talking about it with the DM. However, if he rules that you don't know, I don't see anything in the rules that says otherwise, and ultimately it's his call.

 

[nyee]

Wouldn't that depend on the spell? But I thought most spells have an effect if it hits and works.

 

[Dandu]

Wouldn't that depend on the spell? But I thought most spells have an effect if it hits and works.

Charm Person comes to mind.

 

[nyee]

So I found this excerpt on d20srd.org.

A creature that successfully saves against a spell that has no obvious physical effects feels a hostile force or a tingle, but cannot deduce the exact nature of the attack. Likewise, if a creature’s saving throw succeeds against a targeted spell you sense that the spell has failed. You do not sense when creatures succeed on saves against effect and area spells.

This would still apply to a Hexblade's curse right? The curse is a supernatural ability that basically mimics the spell Bestow Curse, just that it doesn't have the options, and it's power scales as you level.

 

[Ahnehnois]

This would still apply to a Hexblade's curse right? The curse is a supernatural ability that basically mimics the spell Bestow Curse, just that it doesn't have the options, and it's power scales as you level.

Not necessarily. Supernatural abilities don't follow the same rules as spells. As I mentioned above the text you've found sets a precedent for how things usually work, but is not an official answer to your original question.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'm playing a hexblade, and when using my hexblade curse, the DM ruled that there was no way I could have seen the curse take effect, so I couldn't tell if it worked or not. Is he right?

Most Bestow Curse effects should be obvious. Any stat penalties should be obvious, especially physical ones, but someone taking an Int penalty might drool or act in a nonsensical manner, a Wis penalty might be distracted, and a Charisma penalty might become ugly, slovenly, or develop poor posture.

The action penalty should be obvious too.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Most Bestow Curse effects should be obvious.

The hexblade's curse just give -2 to a bunch of rolls. Not necessarily obvious to the naked eye.