Combat Challenge: Two Targets Marked at Once...

[Kordeth]

You'd have to be pretty ingeneous to come up with a scenario where that matters...

Your first mark isn't going to get a chance to attack somebody else before the end of your turn.

It's the end of your next turn, so it can come up in rather a lot of situations. Let's say that we have two monsters, M1 and M2, and 5 PCs, A, B, C, D, and E. The initiative order goes:

M1
A (Fighter)
B
M2
C
D
E

On his turn, the fighter attacks M1 and marks it. On M2's turn, it tries to move past the fighter, provoking an OA. The fighter swings and marks M2. Now M2 suffers a -2 to hit anybody other than A with its attack, and C, D, and E have much less to fear from OAs against either monster--and if the monsters are still adjacent to the fighter, said OAs provoke a free melee basic attack from the fighter. On M1's turn at the top of the next round, it still suffers the penalties of being marked. Then A's turn comes around again, and at the end of it the marked condition vanishes on both enemies.

Note that the same scenario applies if A uses a power to attack both M1 and M2 on his turn, with the only difference being that in this scenario, PC B has less to worry about from OAs.

 

[Morrus]

Hmmm... I'll take that as confirmation that it isn't clarified in the PHB.

Don't take it as confirmation of anything - (a) I haven't read every word of the PHB and don't remember every word I have read; and (b) if I did know otherwise, I couldn't say.

So my post only used information found in this very thread. Didn't look at the books.

 

[Alkiera]

That would be one way to 'balance' the fact that Fighter's marks don't do damage. Let him mark as many as he can attack per round. Given a 2h reach weapon, or some Close area attacks, he could really control a fair-sized area. Even with just a sword and shield, the 8 squares surrounding him are not a happy place for the bad guys. +2 to OAs and the ability to hit people who shift out of his threatened area means even those sneaky rogues and kobolds aren't immune.

Definately a different playstyle than the paladin, who's all about going Mano-a-Mano with the baddest thing the enemy's brought. The fighter is more 'None shall pass,' than 'Die by the Light, Evildoer!' It'd be worth it to have one or more of each, I think, barring needing someone to fill other roles.

Dang it, having hard time deciding what I'd play, everything looks like fun. Not that it matters, I'm voted 'most likely to DM' most of the time.

 

[gribble]

Don't take it as confirmation of anything - (a) I haven't read every word of the PHB and don't remember every word I have read; and (b) if I did know otherwise, I couldn't say.

So my post only used information found in this very thread. Didn't look at the books.

Sorry for leaping to conclusions, my bad. I'd assumed that: (a) If you wanted clarification you would have checked the books first; and (b) that it'd be permissable for you to say something along the lines of "wait until the PHB is released - the full rules may clarify this" (or you could have just said nothing). The fact that you came out and said you'd like clarification led me to believe that you'd checked the books and hadn't found any clarification there!

 

[Pbartender]

Sure, Matt, that's fine. Until the end of his turn, he has two marked. I don't see any problem there.

Neither do I, honestly.

It also means, as others have already mentioned, a fighter who manages to get his hands on an area attack can feasibly control a sizeable chunk of battlefield, marking multiple enemies in a single turn... For now, I don't have a problem with that either, but it'd be something that bears keeping an eye on.

Note that the fighter can also have multiple foes marked via opportunity attacks and such...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Neither do I, honestly.

It also means, as others have already mentioned, a fighter who manages to get his hands on an area attack can feasibly control a sizeable chunk of battlefield, marking multiple enemies in a single turn... For now, I don't have a problem with that either, but it'd be something that bears keeping an eye on.

Note that the fighter can also have multiple foes marked via opportunity attacks and such...

It's also an interesting perk of multiclassing for Fighters, and implies how useful multiclassing can turn out.

 

[Dragonblade]

Sure he has them both marked until the end of his turn. The key is that as soon as the fighter's turn ends, that first mark goes away.

This means in most cases that double marking doesn't really do anything since monsters are highly unlikely (barring a special interrupt power) to be able to attack anyone else during the fighter's turn.

 

[Ingolf]

Neither do I, honestly.

It also means, as others have already mentioned, a fighter who manages to get his hands on an area attack can feasibly control a sizeable chunk of battlefield, marking multiple enemies in a single turn... For now, I don't have a problem with that either, but it'd be something that bears keeping an eye on.

I suspect that the fighter having too many opponents marked at once is a self-correcting problem, if you take my meaning . . .

 

[Klaus]

So, we ran into an interesting little tidbit last night...

In the midst of a fight with kobolds, the Fighter uses Combat Challenge:



Right.

So, he marks one kobold. The very next round he marks another kobold, but the first mark lasts "until the end of your next turn". In other words, he's got two targets marked at once... Or am I missing something?

I don't necessarily have a problem with that, I just want to make certain it's correct.

I think this bit:

A new mark supercedes a mark that was already in place.

applies to marked creatures and to marker creatures: As soon as you put a new mark in play, the previous one disappears. As soon as you're marked by a new creature, a previous mark upon you disappears.

It's easier.

 

[Wolfwood2]

It also means, as others have already mentioned, a fighter who manages to get his hands on an area attack can feasibly control a sizeable chunk of battlefield, marking multiple enemies in a single turn... For now, I don't have a problem with that either, but it'd be something that bears keeping an eye on.

I thought fighters had to use a melee attack to mark.