Defender Newbie, Paladin vs. Fighter in marking.

[Corey_Austin]

Hello, this is my first post on ENWorld. I'm starting a new campaign soon, my first 4th edition game I've played. The party I'm joining has a somewhat strange composition (2x Wizards, 1x Cleric, and me). I don't really enjoy damage-dealing characters, so I leaned towards picking a Defender.

I've looked over both the Fighter and Paladin, and the Paladin's ability to heal others definitely seems like something useful in a low hp party, but at the same time the fighter's combat challenge seems like its much more effective at marking multiple targets (as well as coming into play more than the paladin's radiant damage mark).

In your personal opinions, ignoring everything but number of potential Marks in any given combat, which class would you identify as leading in that department?

 

[Tarkan]

I like the Barbarian myself. He has a lot of HP, and does massive amounts of damage. Put together with some feats (great cleave or whirlwind attack) he can be really effective.

 

[zoroaster100]

I think both classes are effective at marking in most situations. Remember that the fighter's mark only lasts until the end of his next turn. Of course, he can easily mark again with another attack (marking whether he hits or misses). The paladin's divine challenge continues so long as you continue to engage the foe. The fighter can mark multiple opponents with attacks that target several creatures, but then so can the paladin with some mid-level and higher level powers that allow marking mutliple opponents simultaneously.

 

[Hejdun]

I like the Barbarian myself. He has a lot of HP, and does massive amounts of damage. Put together with some feats (great cleave or whirlwind attack) he can be really effective.

Way to totally confuse the new guy by talking about a totally different system.

The Fighter's mark is far and away superior to the Paladin's. The paladin's mark suffers from several severe flaws:

-It can only affect 1 creature at a time
-You have to be actively attacking that opponent
-The marked opponent can easily drop the mark by simply walking away from you (meaning you'll have to chase him down and draw OAs if you want the mark to last, or you'll lose the mark by not actively challenging him).
-You have to spend a minor action to mark each opponent. Especially given how hard it is to maintain a paladin's mark, those minor actions seriously add up.

Granted, I've only played around with the fighter and paladin for a few levels each, but from my experience you could take away a paladin's mark entirely and it'd be several levels before anyone at your table even noticed.

 

[Zurai]

Yeah, Fighters have vastly better marks. To be fair, some Paladin powers multi-mark, but those "extra" marks don't carry any baggage besides the -2 to hit other targets. With the Fighter, a multi-mark lets the fighter essentially take control of the enemy.

 

[Corey_Austin]

Hmm, thank you for the tips. Looks like I'll be going for a sword and shield plate prof fighter.