Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 catskilleagle Oct 01, 2010 1:21:38	I'm fiddling with hunter's quarry in response to a player who loves her ranger but finds herself disproportionately annoyed when she misses. (Note: this is not a thread about social engineering: she's aware she's being silly, but it's spoiling some of her fun.) How far would it unbalance/am I crazy for considering/should I make it cost a feat/encounter/daily power if.... A.  Instead of doing bonus damage, HQ allows for two attack rolls, taking the higher one B.  PC can choose either bonus damage or extra attack roll before rolling the attack C.  PC can choose to sacrifice bonus damage and roll again after rolling an unsuccessful attack  If it's relevant, we're currently mid-heroic and she has the feat that upgrades bonus damage to d8s.
#2 pluisjen Oct 01, 2010 1:51:09	I think most of these are pretty powerful as at-will options, especially if she's already a Ranger (one of the highest damage classes in the game) Have you considered reworking her character into a Seeker (ranged) or Avenger (melee)? Those are two classes known for their un-erring accuracy. Picking up a Multiclass in one of those classes might also help her accuracy a little. Also keep in mind she will always keep missing; it'll just happen less, which will probably just make it even more annoying when it happens. What you could also consider, assuming she hates not doing damage more then hitting (this often seems the case) is move Hunter's Quarry to do damage on a miss instead, like this: Inevitable Quarry: When you attack your Inevitable Quarry with a Standard Action and miss all  Attack Rolls, you deal 1d6 points of damage per attack roll to the target. This option replaces your regular Hunter's Quarry but otherwise works the same.   If you make it cost a feat for the fact that it can be triggered twice per round with an Action Point it should be balanced with the normal quarry and she will always deal some damage to her enemies.
#3 MechaPilot Oct 01, 2010 14:53:56	Maybe I'm oversimplifying this, but have you tried refluffing a miss into a hit that the target is able to just shrug off?  Maybe it wasn't hit in a vital spot, or it was just a grazing strike that does the equivalent of a papercut or a light bruise.  If the creature is wearing armor, or has a thick hide, you can always say every miss is a hit that was simply deflected by the armor/hide.  That is the whole point of wearing armor and having a shell/thick hide afterall.
#4 catskilleagle Oct 02, 2010 1:46:31	Thanks, all. That sort of good natured feedback is what I love about this community. Pluis...good thought. I might just steal that wholesale. Erachnima...thanks for your thoughts. Maybe I'm missing something here, but if it isn't broken for a Seeker, why would it be broken for a Ranger? Good for the goose, right?  Mecha... a great idea for some groups, but we have a couple of math guys in the game. By round three, everybody knows everything's AC. She'd notice. If I were to do it over again, I'd probably have built her a Seeker. Or a fighter, on account of reliable abilities...
#5 catskilleagle Oct 03, 2010 2:27:05	Thanks for the expln on seeker/ranger.  I'm not really up on PH3. The thing is, she's not missing all that often. She's just one of those players (we all know that player) that seems to only notice all the 4s and 5s she rolls and forgets the high rolls. Complicates things that she's the "insecure girlfriend" in the group.... I'm looking for a trick that doesn't make her character a monster that can at help her feel "nifty" even when she misses.  I thought a reroll mechanic might do the trick: Player: Rolled a four. Sad panda. But wait! I have this neat power that lets me try again! YYay! You're the best DM ever! Have a cookie! Kind of goofy, I know. I'm open to more balanced suggestions. On the other hand, she's far from optimized so I'm not all that worried about her suddenly dominating.... Thanks again
#6 pluisjen Oct 04, 2010 2:04:37	If you want to use my option and make it completely balanced, it can actually get to a point where it's better to miss then it is to hit; that makes her deal good damage every round without fail. The real mechanical balance is giving her 2^number of attacks - 1 dice of Quarry damage. So if she attacked her Quarry once, that's 1d8. If she attacked twice, it's 3d8, if she attacked 3 times, it's 7d8, if she attacked four times it's 15d8. Assuming a 50% to hit rate anyway. The odds of missing so many attacks are really slim, so the chances of not dealing your quarry damage on multiple attacks is really low. That might make her want to re-roll her last hit even, in the hopes of missing You might also want to give her a Lucky Weapon, it has a reroll option as a Daily. Good luck figuring it out.
#7 Steeldoom Oct 07, 2010 18:56:08	The thing is, she's not missing all that often. She's just one of those players (we all know that player) that seems to only notice all the 4s and 5s she rolls and forgets the high rolls. Complicates things that she's the "insecure girlfriend" in the group.... I'm looking for a trick that doesn't make her character a monster that can at help her feel "nifty" even when she misses.  I thought a reroll mechanic might do the trick: For one or two sessions, plot everyone's hit and miss ratio. When she can visually see the results it shuold help. Some people in the group I dm hate my absurdly lucky rolls but in the end whether I do roll better that average or not they have  to take that into consideration and live with it. Being far from optimised might also be part of the fix, make sure she has maxed dex and + to hit feats. Strikers imo should always have a mx to hit, that is what they are for!