The Warlock's Curse

[stobil]

What is the general understanding on the warlock's curse and damaging multiple targets with it in one round? I know that the Ranger has the Hunter's Quarry and it can only be used once per round, but the Ranger can only designate one target with their quarry. The paladin has divine challenge that can cause damage once per round, but it also can only be active on one target at a time.

The PHB says the curse damage can only be used once per round, but the curse can be put on multiple targets and remains until the end of the encounter. If you cast an area attack spell and damage two targets that are cursed, do you get the curse damage on one or both targets?

I play a Warlock currently, and I think that as a striker, it makes more sense to have the curse damage hit each cursed target once per round. It's not going to come up too frequently, as the class doesn't offer a lot of area attack capability, but I think the main thing that influences my reasoning here is that the Warlock can have multiple curses in effect, while other classes don't have a similar capability.

Thoughts?

 

[Rel]

I have taken the liberty of asking this question on your behalf last week...

http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-4th-edition-rules/255612-re-warlock-curses-we-doing-right.html

 

[Nail]

I play a Warlock currently, and I think that as a striker, it makes more sense to have the curse damage hit each cursed target once per round.

Hee, hee, hee! Of course you think so.

...but that's not how it works, RAW. One target. One damage. One round.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

As it stands, the only benefit to cursing multiple targets is that your ability to gain temporary hit points is expanded across multiple targets. Sadly, since temporary hit points don't stack...not a particularly great benefit.

 

[Ryujin]

I play a Warlock currently, and I think that as a striker, it makes more sense to have the curse damage hit each cursed target once per round.

As a Striker your job is to hit one target, hit him hard, and make him dead real quick. This would tend to make the idea of dealing Curse damage to multiple opponents counter intuitive.

Attacks like Otherwind Stride cause area damage at fairly low levels. Eldritch Rain is a level 3 encounter power that can be used to hit two opponents. As you get into Paragon, you start running into zone effects. There are plenty of opportunities to do damage to multiple opponents.

One enemy. Once per round. Unless you take the feat that allows it to be dealt a second time in a round, via the use of an Action Point.

 

[Rel]

One enemy. Once per round. Unless you take the feat that allows it to be dealt a second time in a round, via the use of an Action Point.

I think that is the clencher. Since WotC later added a feat that lets you do this then it is fairly clear that it was not the intended interpretation of the base class ability.

 

[stobil]

As a Striker your job is to hit one target, hit him hard, and make him dead real quick. This would tend to make the idea of dealing Curse damage to multiple opponents counter intuitive.

I am not sure I necessarily agree with this, although I am not intimately familiar with the designated roles for the system. Since all of the strikers offer opportunities to hit multiple targets, even at the lower levels, my take is that strikers are supposed to do a lot of damage, period.

I play an infernal pact Warlock, and the Fiery Bolt power at third level can hit adjacent targets, although it is an individual target spell. One of the fifth level infernal powers is a burst 1 at range 10, thus nine targets could be hit if things worked out just right.

I think the text in the PHB is somewhat ambiguous when describing that the damage from a curse is dealt once per round. Since it is possible to have multiple curses in play, it could be interpreted to mean each curse can cause damage once per round. No other class with an additional damage dealing ability similar to the curse can have more than one target affected with that ability.

 

[Ryujin]

I am not sure I necessarily agree with this, although I am not intimately familiar with the designated roles for the system. Since all of the strikers offer opportunities to hit multiple targets, even at the lower levels, my take is that strikers are supposed to do a lot of damage, period.

I play an infernal pact Warlock, and the Fiery Bolt power at third level can hit adjacent targets, although it is an individual target spell. One of the fifth level infernal powers is a burst 1 at range 10, thus nine targets could be hit if things worked out just right.

I think the text in the PHB is somewhat ambiguous when describing that the damage from a curse is dealt once per round. Since it is possible to have multiple curses in play, it could be interpreted to mean each curse can cause damage once per round. No other class with an additional damage dealing ability similar to the curse can have more than one target affected with that ability.

If you check through all of them, you'll find that every class has its minion killers.

 

[Nail]

I think the text in the PHB is somewhat ambiguous when describing that the damage from a curse is dealt once per round. Since it is possible to have multiple curses in play, it could be interpreted to mean each curse can cause damage once per round.

I agree the wording can be misinterpreted. If you read the second paragraph in the "Warlock's Curse" section first, and then mentaly replace all of the single references in the first paragraph with group references. It takes some doing, but it can be done.

No other class with an additional damage dealing ability similar to the curse can have more than one target affected with that ability.

You've not met the rogue, then?

 

[stobil]

I think that is the clencher. Since WotC later added a feat that lets you do this then it is fairly clear that it was not the intended interpretation of the base class ability.

That does seem to be a persuasive argument. However, I'd want to read the feat and see if it is specific in that it allows curse damage to hit the same target again in the round, or a different target in the same round. If it is the same target being damaged twice in one round, then that doesn't prove that every cursed critter couldn't be hit in one round.

I must comment that the price of an action point is fairly steep, at least in the way Rel has been running our game. At higher levels it might be worthwhile for 2d6, but even then it would have to be on a guaranteed hit like the secondary damage from Hellish Rebuke or Dire Radiance.