4e: SA/WC/HQ query

[its_all_ogre]

by this i mean sneak attack, warlocks curse and hunters quarry.

they all state you can choose whether to apply the extra damage after you make the damage roll.
now what exactly does this mean in play?

does it mean you roll the damage dice (sneak attack so d4 for dagger +dex +2d8 SA) see the 2d8 rolled a 2 and decide not to bother, save it for an opportunity attack or bonus attack from some source?

does it mean you roll normal damage, if it doesn't drop your foe you can choose to add the extra damage?

is this a case of not wanting to make the player lose their extra damage on a nearly dead foe, or a minion?
just wondering what peoples thoughts were on this?

[Edge of Dreams]

Well, I think the main intent was to let you decide whether or not to apply the damage after you know you've hit, so the damage never gets wasted on a miss. You could wait until you know what base damage you rolled before deciding to add bonus, but most of the time for non-rangers you're only making one attack a round anyway. I would say you can add the bonus damage after you know the regular damage but before you know if it finished them off or not. You should NOT be allowed to roll bonus damage and then decide not to use it.

[Starsinger]

Well, I think the main intent was to let you decide whether or not to apply the damage after you know you've hit, so the damage never gets wasted on a miss. You could wait until you know what base damage you rolled before deciding to add bonus, but most of the time for non-rangers you're only making one attack a round anyway. I would say you can add the bonus damage after you know the regular damage but before you know if it finished them off or not. You should NOT be allowed to roll bonus damage and then decide not to use it.

Specifically if you're say, a Multiclass who has a limit on how often you can use the extra damage.

[Edge of Dreams]

Specifically if you're say, a Multiclass who has a limit on how often you can use the extra damage.

Okay, yeah, I didn't think about this when I wrote the above, but the same principles apply.

[Erk]

I thought it was mostly to deal with an age-old argument of stuff like "if you accidentally hit an ally, do you have to apply sneak attack damage" and stuff, but good point about not wasting the damage on a miss or on a mc oneshot.

I agree with not allowing to choose if the damage is applied once the sa/hq damage has already been rolled. When you pick up those d8's and let them fly, it means to me as the DM that you decided to use your sneak attack.

[Yakk]

I think I'd let the strikers roll, and then decide if they want to apply the sneak attack damage. It isn't that bad (it is rare that a striker won't want to do it), and it only really applies when the striker is doing a massive AOE attack against multiple targets which can all be hit with the extra dice.

[Duos Greanleef]

All dice rolls (in any situation) should be final.
Once you see a value presented in dice, you should apply those values to whatever they were rolled for.
As per when to choose to apply that damage, it should be decided after the damage roll and before finding out if the target was dropped or not.