Does the swordmage marking power suck?

[Herschel]

I have my Genasi Assault Swordmage (Elemental Tempest) at 12th these days and love him. I'm still with a Longsword to keep my defenses highest and I have resistances out the wazoo. Why I kept the longsword was a: feat allocation and b: the mentioned AC. He has a good deal of teleport powers and loves to see the classic Big Bad Artillery with brutal meatshields/soldiers up front. He just gets in to the backfield and goes after the artillery when the meatshields engange, not even trying to use his mark to teleport. Let the Necromancer step off an shoot him, I'm resisting Necrotic, etc. I keep the rest of the party from eating his nasty spells while resisting a good deal of the damage when he does hit.

 

[Destil]

Is it still obscene after the errata? I haven't been keeping up, since I don't have a Paladin in my group.

-O

It's obscene, but fair, since it no longer triggers on area powers. However there's plenty of monsters out there that make lots of attacks (like, say, pretty much every solo in the game) and the lack of a 1/round limit on the healing makes it pretty fantastic. It's a huge red 'hit me' sign on my paladin's back, which is exactly what he's going for.

 

[the-golem]

the Swordmage is the truest of the defenders, the only defender ability where they actually prevent damage to an ally beyond the -2 penalty to the attack roll or getting lucky and dropping the enemy beforehand. From across the battlefield, they lower the damage of their marked target directly. No other class does this.

Sorry, what? Maybe I'm not totally understanding you. Fighters Combat Challenge allows an attack as an Immediate Interrupt if the marked target attempts to attack someone else. Granted, the fighter must be adjacent to the marked foe, but if the fighters combat-challenge-attack succeeds, the foe ceases it's attack. The fighter's ally is not damaged, and the foe needn't necessarily be dropped.

The Swordmage can reduce damage *if* the foe hits his target, but doesn't deal damage himself. The Fighter negates damage (if his innterupt hits the foe), and deals damage in return.

 

[Mirtek]

but if the fighters combat-challenge-attack succeeds, the foe ceases it's attack.
[...]
The Fighter negates damage

Sorry, but no it doesn't. The foe's attack proceeds normally.

 

[Nifft]

if the fighters combat-challenge-attack succeeds, the foe ceases it's attack.

This is only true if the Fighter actually KILLS his marked foe, or pushes it away, or otherwise renders its attack impossible to complete.

Interrupts are resolved before the triggering event, not instead of the triggering event.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nessim]

I've play an Ensnaring Swordmage for eight levels now and it's great. It's a mix of playing a Leader and Controller, but with more hit points. The build has many powers that Immobilize or Slow the targets, so combined with the Ageis, the bad guys are right where you want them to be.

Favorite example:

We were fighting an Adult Black Dragon, and the Zone of Darkness was hurting us bad. After a few rounds of missing every attack, I marked the Dragon, and ran off. With the rest of my party surrounding it, the Dragon had no choice but to attack my friends, allowing me to Teleport it out of it's Zone.

Needless to say, that Dragon wasn't happy after that!

Ensnaring does take some practice to play right. It's not a class you can jump into at a higher level, like a fighter or warden.

 

[Obryn]

I am pretty sure a zone of darkness would have prevented the ensnaring teleportation. AFAIK, you must be able to see the target and the destination for forced teleportation to work. I could be wrong, though!!

-O

 

[DracoSuave]

I am pretty sure a zone of darkness would have prevented the ensnaring teleportation. AFAIK, you must be able to see the target and the destination for forced teleportation to work. I could be wrong, though!!

-O

Nope. Only the destination. p286.

Unless it got errata'd.

 

[the-golem]

This is only true if the Fighter actually KILLS his marked foe, or pushes it away, or otherwise renders its attack impossible to complete.

Interrupts are resolved before the triggering event, not instead of the triggering event.

Cheers, -- N

Really? Please point out to where this is written, because my knowledge of the english language maybe be getting in the way -- which may be debated, being a 'merkin and all). As far as I can recollect, an interruption stops a person from doing (or saying) something. If an immediate interrupt doesnt actually, well interrupt ... then they should call it something else. Perhaps an Immediate Interject.

 

[Turtlejay]

If I interrupt you while you are talking, are you not free to finish your sentence after I finish speaking?

Same thing. The fighter sees the enemy move towards his ally. Hit or miss, the enemy is not hindered in any way when he makes his attack (barring feats).

Jay