How would this change to Hexblade's Curse be?

[Kaje]

So I'm wondering if this change to the curse would be overpowered, underpowered, or what?

Swift action
Usable at-will
Doesn't stack with itself

Opinions?

[Mockingbird]

Well, it already doesn't stack with itself.
This would be great, but what level would you get the unlimited curses at?

[Dictum Mortuum]

It seems to be a lot more balanced this way :p

[Saint GoH]

The Hexblade was partially errata'd by a guy who helped build the class. Included within is a slight fix to the curse. Includes making the curse swift action, additional times per day, and only expended use if the creature fails their save.

The hexblade suffers a little because he came on the scene relatively early in 3.5's life.
As R&D pushes the boundaries of the game, we learn that some things we thought were risky
or potentially broken aren't. Other times, we learn things that look fine don't actually
work in play.

Armored mages fall into the first category. Them seem really powerful, but in the long run they aren't. Spells and magic items allow an unarmored mage to build great defenses. The spell mage armor is as good as medium armor, and its duration allows most mages to keep it active at all times. If you compare the hexblade to the duskblade from PH 2, you can see how the thinking has changed.

If you want to boost the hexblade, I'd try the following changes:

* Good Fortitude save
* Curse ability usable 1 + the hexblade's Cha modifier per day
* Curse ability usable as a swift action
* Curse ability does not count as used if the target makes his saving throw
* Ability to cast in light or medium armor and while carrying a light shield or buckler
* At 6th level, the hexblade can cast one hexblade spell per day as a swift action, as long as its original casting time is a standard action or faster. He gains an additional use of this power at levels 8, 11, 14, and 18.

The key to the hexblade is his curse ability, but it's a little un-fun to have it so limited in use. The hexblade also has trouble casting spells and using his melee attacks, so shifting spells to swift actions fits in with the idea of an armored mage.

[MeeposFire]

That fix is barely better than the original and the original isn't that good (but the fluff is neat).

I approve of the idea of constant cursing. Rather than at will you could change daily usage to encounter usage. The swift action prevents it from being free on your action economy and the encounter usage means there are limits but you don't have to worry about later combats as you will always have X number of curses every battle.

Consider a battle blessing type feat as well (or make it a class feature) to make spells swift actions as that will help with the spells. Battle blessing is a paladin feat that makes paladin spells swift action casting.

[Frosty]

I think you should look at the Witch (from Pathfinder Advanced Player's Guide) and how her Hex mechanics work. The Witch is really fun, and I don't think it'd be broken at all to just port most of it over to the Hexblade. After the Witch is a tier 1 caster with 9-th level spellcasting, AND the Hexes.

[kardar233]

In fact, speaking of Pathfinder, a Magus with the Hexcrafter ACF is nearly identical to a Hexblade.