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<blockquote data-quote="Aegeri" data-source="post: 5545478" data-attributes="member: 78116">Actually I will regularly respect marks due to the penalty and the damage together. I only really routinely ignore the knight because it also removes the penalty to the attack - if the penalty stuck around then I wouldn't be anywhere near as inclined to just walk away. Monsters have boatloads of HP, but only a few uses of important powers. Missing with an important power you can't get back hurts FAR more than a few HP.So in this way I am more concerned about the penalty making the attack irrelevant than the damage inflicted by the mark punishment. This is most present when penalties from marks make the defenders AC roughly near or worse than the actual defender. Especially when combined with other penalties or even bonuses on top of that. For example a Wizard looks like a good target, but with a -2 penalty and a shield/staff of defense it's actually not that worth it. So actually I don't defy marks that often, because I try to maximize my ability to hit first - especially with any power I regard as important. In many ways, a penalty will dissuade me far more than an attack and especially so if it can't be easily gotten rid of.This is ironically what kept the Goliath Wizard alive in that game. Mark penalties + enfeebling strike (defender was a paladin) + shield = don't bother. Effectively -8 to the attack, giving him AC roughly equivalent to that of the paladin so I would miss anyway. He also had Staff of Defense. Ever seen a 20 con wizard with that? Yeah, it's amusing at first but surprisingly effective.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Aegeri, post: 5545478, member: 78116"] Actually I will regularly respect marks due to the penalty and the damage together. I only really routinely ignore the knight because it also removes the penalty to the attack - if the penalty stuck around then I wouldn't be anywhere near as inclined to just walk away. Monsters have boatloads of HP, but only a few uses of important powers. Missing with an important power you can't get back hurts FAR more than a few HP. So in this way I am more concerned about the penalty making the attack irrelevant than the damage inflicted by the mark punishment. This is most present when penalties from marks make the defenders AC roughly near or worse than the actual defender. Especially when combined with other penalties or even bonuses on top of that. For example a Wizard looks like a good target, but with a -2 penalty and a shield/staff of defense it's actually not that worth it. So actually I don't defy marks that often, because I try to maximize my ability to hit first - especially with any power I regard as important. In many ways, a penalty will dissuade me far more than an attack and especially so if it can't be easily gotten rid of. This is ironically what kept the Goliath Wizard alive in that game. Mark penalties + enfeebling strike (defender was a paladin) + shield = don't bother. Effectively -8 to the attack, giving him AC roughly equivalent to that of the paladin so I would miss anyway. He also had Staff of Defense. Ever seen a 20 con wizard with that? Yeah, it's amusing at first but surprisingly effective. [/QUOTE]

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