The Hunter’s Quarry Debacle
The strikers present in the Fourth Edition Player’s Handbook are pretty straightforward. The ranger has hunter’s quarry, the rogue has sneak attack, the warlock has warlock’s curse, and they’re all pretty straightforward in their presentation: each one can only be used once per round to add damage.
Warlock’s Curse is probably the wordiest of the three, and is probably the most complicated, mechanically speaking. You place a curse on the nearest foe you can see as a Minor action, the curse remains until the end of the encounter, or the enemy is defeated, and while you can have multiple curses active, you can’t curse a foe cursed by another warlock (unless you have the feat — Accursed Coordination).
Sneak Attack is the simplest and most straightforward, as it states that hitting an enemy granting combat advantage with the appropriate type of weapon (why the weapon matters is beyond me) is enough. No matter how many attacks you get, or creatures you hit with a given attack, you only get the damage once per round.
Hunter’s Quarry is the second wordiest, after Warlock’s Curse, of course, and poses a dilemma: though it states that the damage can only be dealt once per round, it says so after it’s mentioned the limitation first in connection to hitting the quarry with an attack. Now, it’s stated later that you can only have one quarry at a time, so dealing extra Hunter’s Quarry damage in one round is practically impossible.
…Unless you’re playing a Battlefield Archer. One of the first abilities the Battlefield Archer (paragon path) receives, is the ability to designate the nearest x enemies as quarry. Due to grammatical tricks that can be played in the interpretation of the Hunter’s Quarry power, it’s possible to conclude that Hunter’s Quarry damage can be dealt once per turn, to each designated enemy.
It’s been a point of contention in our group for quite some time, but I think my most recent reading of the Warlock’s Curse has settled my mind. It’s possible for a Warlock to have multiple cursed foes, but they can only deal Warlock’s Curse damage once per turn. I believe this was also the intent of Hunter’s Quarry, even though the power itself is designed to only ever affect one target in the original text.
…In other words, you only get your Hunter’s Quarry damage once per turn, regardless of the number of creatures you currently have designated as quarry. You have to choose one, and only one, of your targets to apply it to.
Classes like the Slayer and Sorcerer make the striker bonus a bit more complicated though – since they just add a second attribute into damage rolls, with a small bonus gain per tier. So my sorcerer’s attacks are xdx + DEX + CHA + 2 at paragon, even when I hit multiple targets. Granted, that bonus is smaller when you are using the standard array setup rather than rolling 4d6-low d6, but that is still (with racial bonuses and non-magical items) xdx + 8 at lvl 1.
Of course, even with Dex and Cha scores of 23, (lvl 12) dual implement wielding, and a superior implement I have yet to out damage the ranger in the group, or even come close, in any major encounter we’ve had.
Isn’t the Slayer the Essentials Fighter that just adds 1[W] a couple times per encounter?
I understand the difference the Sorcerer presents, because it chooses to consistently deal more damage over an encounter (with the potential to deal lots of multi-target damage), rather than trading the enormous single-damage potential of classes like the Ranger, Rogue, and Warlock.
The Slayer adds Dex as well as Str to damage rolls – Power Strike just acts as their encounter power(s). The drawback there is they have no daily powers, just power strike and stances. Still, with the right equipment (since a lot of magic items benefit basic attacks as a restriction, a restriction that doesn’t effect essentials characters like the slayer or thief) they can do a decent amount of damage.
Ah, that’s good to know. I imagine there are a lot of benefits to playing a slayer of a race that gets a bonus to both Strength and Dexterity, then. :)
Don’t leave out how much damage those stances add. Or that there not just adding Str + Dex to all attacks (oddly, even ranged attacks, though they can’t use there encounter power with them) but that the damage they do goes up as they level (at 13th for example your adding Dex+5 to all attacks). Sure they don’t have daileys, but you can easily get a paragon Slayer doing hmm (6 from unfettered fury, 6 from power attack with a 2 handed, [-4 to attack rolls but between expertise and weapon talent its really only a -1), another 3 from weapon enchant, 4 from Bracers of Mighty Striking, maybe a dwarf with weapon training for +2 and a sweet Mordinkrad.) I figure 2d6+Str+Dex+26. Who needs daileys at that point?
Hunters Quarry only does damage once per round(not turn), and once you deal that damage, you can deal damage from Hunters Quarry again until the start of your next turn. Even if you can quarry multiple foes, you only get the damage once in a round. Same goes for the Warlock Curse. Given that Essential Assassins, Rogues, and “Thieves” (Essential Rogues) do there damage “per turn” its a point of contention among striker fans.
Well, opportunity attacks are awarded on a “per turn” basis, aren’t they? As in, “once per combatant’s turn?” If Essentials strikers deal their bonus damage on a per-turn basis, wouldn’t that suggest dealing damage multiple times per round (assuming the opportunity came up)?
I first heard something about this “debacle” several days ago. Interesting that it is something “evil” to play according to the written word. I have thought about this and I did some extensive research on it. Needless to say, regardless of what follows here, whether a character does/does not get to apply this bonus to all targets, it is still not the monster other feats & builds are. For instance, two of the recent fighters in the mini adventure I am running have a feat allowing them to gain their hit points back, per attack, every round as temporary hit points. This is a HUGE advantage for any character and worth looking at more so than whether a Ranger can apply his Quarry Bonus to each target. For example, if a Ranger did get to apply his/her bonus to quarry damage and did a spray of arrows at a half dozen fighters, he would be ineffective without being able to have that bonus applied and would most certainly be over run and dead very quickly. On the other hand if he did get to apply that bonus the same could be true of the fighters – at range. So to me it really is a wash however;
In reviewing every site I could, including every blog post and FAQ about the subject Rangers can do the following when of Epic Level & are Battlefield Archers:
1. They and all of their comrades Do get a bonus +1 to hit their quarried
foes.
2. They may only minor action – Quarry – one foe per combat turn up to the maximum of their charisma modifier +1. Closest First.
3. They may take the bonus 2d6 or 2d8 (if they have the feat allowing it) quarry dice damage against only one foe per turn.
(I use turn as to relate to the combat turn/round)
If I missed anything it is because I am at work writing this and all my books are home.
Honestly though, I would not see any issue with being able to apply the damage to each foe quarried, provided you hit them, as other characters who are just as striker capable, do have some much greater abilities, many at lower levels, than Ranger/Battlefield Archers. Fighters are heavily favored in this way.
Since it was questioned I did do the research. I don’t have to agree however, it is still something which by rule, may be considered as a house rule. Of course, each DM may apply these things in their own way, they are the final law. This could also mean that one DM in a group would do things his/her way, and the others in the group may adjudicate it in another. But that is the nature of the game.
There you have it, both the long and the short of it.
lol, where did you get “evil?” No one said “evil” except you, just now.
Corrections:
1. The +1 bonus only applies to the Battlefield Archer’s attack rolls, not to their allies’ attack rolls. (Dave is a half-elf, and he has a feat that grants a +1 bonus to damage rolls, which is different from the Battlefield Archer ability.)
2. The ranger may only have one quarry at a time, but a Battlefield Archer is an exception. He can choose a number of quarry equal to 1 plus his WISDOM modifier, starting with the closest. If he re-designates, presumably he must start from the closest and move outward, depending on how positions have changed.
3. Hunter’s Quarry is 1d6 at Heroic level, 2d6 at Paragon level, and 2d6 at Epic level. If you take the feat, as you mentioned, the d6’s are d8’s instead. When this damage is dealt is actually *very* restricted, I quote:
“If you have dealt Hunter’s Quarry damage since the start of your turn, you cannot deal it again until the start of your next turn.”
As fighters are defenders, not strikers, I don’t see how any question of their powers or abilities has relevance in this conversation, which is about … strikers.
I’m sorry, I misread the Battlefield Archer ability:
“In addition, any attack made against a quarry receives a +1 bonus to attack rolls.”
You are correct. Your Hunter’s Quarry apparently provides a bonus to attack rolls for your allies, from the looks of things.
edit: Ehhh… that’s a strangely-worded ability. I’m not actually sure how to interpret that. I’ll need to think on it some more. It’s very, VERY strange, come to think of it.
Yes, wording does need to be better written than it is in its current state.