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artimus261
2017-02-11, 11:54 AM
Been reading up on the hexblade, always been one of my favorite classes thematically, and found that his curse was often quite lacking. I thought of a fix that I felt would be interesting and empowering so I figured I'd post it here and see what the community thought.

Good Fortitude(cuz, c'mon, just give it to them, they get mettle for crying out loud)
And THIS!
Virulent Curse: The hexblade’s curse begins to afflict any enemies nearby after it’s victim is slain. Whenever an enemy under the effects of the hexblade’s curse die the curse travels to a random enemy within 30ft of the slain creature. They must succeed on a Will save or be afflicted by it as well. On a successful save the hex continues to travel to nearby targets, seeking a foothold in anyone’s body. Each time the new target must be within 30ft of the previous one. If all possible targets have made their saving throw the curse ends. However if a target comes under the effect of the curse and is then slain the process begins anew each time ignoring the normal immunity targets receive to the curse after saving successfully. If enemies have had to save against the same curse multiple times due to targets being slain they begin to take a cumulative -2 penalty on their Will saves each time they attempt a save against the existing curse as the curse batters them.

At 6th level the curse seeks new targets even if the first target succeeds on their will save to resist the effect.

At 11th level if the use of the curse fails and no targets are afflicted by it on it's initial use the malevolent energy errupts in a burst that afflicts all enemies within a 60ft burst of the last target to make his saving throw with a -2 penalty on attacks, saves, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls for a number of rounds equal to the Hexblade's Charisma modifier.

Finally at 18th if at any point during the hexblade's curse no target is afflicted by it and targets remain the curse erupts in the burst listed above.

Darth Ultron
2017-02-12, 05:34 PM
Mike Mearls suggested the Good Fort save long ago.


Virulent Curse looks like a good way to make Hexblades a bit more creepy and powerful. I sure like the flavor idea of a curse spreading and effecting a group.

I'd leave the curse duration tough, an hour is short enough. And chances are in normal combat the curse will only get to jump maybe three times.

Grim Reader
2017-02-12, 05:55 PM
I gave them Witch Hex progression. Hexblades curse becomes the 1st level Hex, all Hexblades get it. Swift action, but only usable once per day on a target. Do not combine with the Dark Companion alternate class feature.

Familiar teaching Familiar can give spells of the Witch list.

Its made them a bit more like a Pathfinder class.

artimus261
2017-02-13, 10:03 AM
Mike Mearls suggested the Good Fort save long ago.


Virulent Curse looks like a good way to make Hexblades a bit more creepy and powerful. I sure like the flavor idea of a curse spreading and effecting a group.

I'd leave the curse duration tough, an hour is short enough. And chances are in normal combat the curse will only get to jump maybe three times.

I haven't really researched other fixes so that's my mistake i suppose but yes the duration dropping does seem unnecessary since no matter how many times it jumps around it won't leave that specific encounter so each use becomes a thing you only really need to do once per encounter which is nice.

artimus261
2017-02-13, 10:11 AM
I gave them Witch Hex progression. Hexblades curse becomes the 1st level Hex, all Hexblades get it. Swift action, but only usable once per day on a target. Do not combine with the Dark Companion alternate class feature.

Familiar teaching Familiar can give spells of the Witch list.

Its made them a bit more like a Pathfinder class.

I definitely feel like maybe them getting that feat as a bonus feat once at 5th level wouldn't be out of the question to even pair with the fix i proposed to give them some more options with the use but still keep their standard curse as a powerful group affliction, also helps the group want to target that enemy over others to keep the curse going, helps the hexblade take a leader role in combat flow.

artimus261
2017-02-13, 10:20 AM
Added something at the tail end of the fix at the top that makes the curse almost unavoidable for a short period at high level play. Short duration and the weakest effect the curse is capable of i think make's it a fair exchange for a basically wasted use of it. Helps if you're only fighting one target who just makes his save outright.

Darth Ultron
2017-02-13, 01:09 PM
You know what would be a nice touch......maybe for the ''curse'' to become a monster like a ''summoned monster spell''. So like at level one it would become a summon monster 1 monster and then attack others around it. And once it hit and did damage equal to the hexblades level they would fade away and curse the victim.

Grod_The_Giant
2017-02-13, 01:28 PM
You know what would be a nice touch......maybe for the ''curse'' to become a monster like a ''summoned monster spell''. So like at level one it would become a summon monster 1 monster and then attack others around it. And once it hit and did damage equal to the hexblades level they would fade away and curse the victim.
The Dark Companion ACF sort of does this. (Fun build: Killoren Hexblade with Dark Companion and the Charming the Arrow feat to be mildly Cha-SAD. Drive your companion into your enemy's square to auto-debuff them, then pepper them with arrows).

I generally like the idea of Virulent Curse, though; I might actually shift everything up, so that it bounces from the start, and starts getting extra bounces at 6th-- overall you're turning a single-target effect into an encounter-long debuff, which makes the sharp daily use limit a lot more tolerable.

For what it's worth, Mearls' "official unofficial" fix is:

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.

It still doesn't give you a very powerful class, though it's greatly improved at low levels.

artimus261
2017-02-13, 02:34 PM
The Dark Companion ACF sort of does this. (Fun build: Killoren Hexblade with Dark Companion and the Charming the Arrow feat to be mildly Cha-SAD. Drive your companion into your enemy's square to auto-debuff them, then pepper them with arrows).

I generally like the idea of Virulent Curse, though; I might actually shift everything up, so that it bounces from the start, and starts getting extra bounces at 6th-- overall you're turning a single-target effect into an encounter-long debuff, which makes the sharp daily use limit a lot more tolerable.


That's exactly what I was going for with this change. Trying to avoid just giving them more uses which really just felt lazy and dull. Really liked the changes you suggested and edited the fix above and wonder what you think. This way no matter what the outcome there will never be targets late game that don't feel some sting from the hexblade's curse and actually in the end gives them a unique advantage over summoning enemies since anyone who does keep passing their save will eventually be looking at -4, -6 or even -10 on the save against it if it keeps getting fed enemies.

Grod_The_Giant
2017-02-13, 05:06 PM
I like the new base curse; however, the 6th level upgrade does nothing-- perhaps it could let you pick the next target, with the default being a random selection? The 12th level boost (which, now that I think about it, should come in at that semi-dead level at 11th) is seriously nasty, but I think the 18th level version is a downgrade-- by my reading, if the curse bounces it explodes instead of seeking a new target.

artimus261
2017-02-13, 05:47 PM
Well at current at 1st level if the first target succeeds in their save the curse still just fizzles and doesn't bounce unless that first target actually gets cursed and dies. And as for the 12th and 18th difference the initial thing is that if someone does get cursed at all at 12th the curse won't explode at all, even if all of the targets after the first succeed in their save. At 18th even if the curse has bounced three times as long as there are still enemies and they all succeed in their save the thing goes boom instead of just ending. As for the level change I think 11 would make a nice place for it :)