How do I describe "being marked" to players?

[Destil]

Again, it's a -2 because WotC says it is. WotC did not attempt to model anything when they made the rules, it's pretty obvious. Going through contortions to try to make it seem like they did is only going to have you end up with a sprain.

And a longsword deals 1d8 damage to HP because Gygax said it does. That's the entire point of game mechanics, they're an abstraction.

The basic concept of marking is 'Don't ignore a fighter,' just like the basic concept of damage is 'longswords hurt'.

 

[the_redbeard]

I tend to think of being "Marked" as being taunted, growled at, slavered at, gnashed at, or whatever else the creature can do to communicate "Me kill you NOW!"

Yeah. I think of it as an intimidation by the fighter. Even if you run away from him, you are still shaken, still fear him in the back of your mind. If you don't deal with him, there is still a part of your brain that is wondering... is he coming to get me? Thus, -2 to attacking anyone else.

 

[GoLu]

Yeah. I think of it as an intimidation by the fighter. Even if you run away from him, you are still shaken, still fear him in the back of your mind. If you don't deal with him, there is still a part of your brain that is wondering... is he coming to get me? Thus, -2 to attacking anyone else.

Sure. Plus it goes away at the end of his next turn anyway. So it'll often be something like this:

fighter's turn: attacks, you are marked.
your turn: you run off, fighter attacks, you are still marked.
fighter's turn: fighter attacks someone else, your mark ends.
your turn: you aren't marked so you attack at no penalty.

Everything else that needs explaining gets explained through PHB page 55 (fluff is up to the player) or 266 (turn order is an abstraction).

 

[Dausuul]

Mark can mean "to single out". As a noun, one of its less common definitions is "a thing you aim at".

Either way, being marked just means that your opponent is keeping you off balance or distracted. Having a fighter mark you is like having a really big guy decide to get in your face. Or for halfling fighters, I guess it's like having someone walk by and drop a wolverine in your lap. Even if it doesn't seriously hurt you, you are going to be a bit distracted from everything but the wolverine.

If you do run off, awesome. Except that it takes a round to calm down, recover your poise, and assure yourself that he's not following you. And after that you can take shots at other people with no penalty, because the fighter mark only lasts until the end of the fighter's next turn.

This. Also bear in mind that the turn-based nature of D&D combat is going to lead to weirdness now and then. In an actual combat, if Red Fighter is falling back and Blue Fighter is pressing him, the two of them will be adjacent at all times. But because D&D is turn-based, the way it plays out is that Red Fighter moves back, opening up a gap; then Blue Fighter moves forward, closing the gap.

Because of this, if Blue Fighter has Red Fighter marked, the penalty applies even if Red Fighter moves away - because it's very possible that he isn't moving away at all, Blue Fighter is staying with him. The battlemap simply won't "catch up" to that reality until Blue Fighter's turn.

If Blue Fighter, on his turn, decides to go do something else, then the marking effect ends - he let Red Fighter get away. But until Blue Fighter's turn, the system has no way of knowing whether Blue Fighter is going to let Red Fighter move away or not. It has to "guess," and the best guess is that Blue Fighter will pursue, since typical PC tactics are to pick one target and whack it till it dies. Moreover, marking would be useless if you could just shift away and end it. So the mark persists.

 

[darkrose50]

It reminds me of taunting. If you ignore who is taunting you then you get a penalty.

 

[Hussar]

A good fight narrated in 3.5 is like a fight scene in a movie. It sounds like the same fight in 4E would look more like a video game, with little icons floating over people's heads and dotted lines depicting temporary tactical relationships.

Sure, if your don't mind an hour long fight scene that actually only covers 18 seconds of real time.

 

[Parlan]

It reminds me of taunting. If you ignore who is taunting you then you get a penalty.

Oddly enough, it reminds me of basketball.

Ever see someone miss a layup, because they "heard the footsteps"? The basket was wide open, it was an easy shot, but they were so concerned about the defense trying to catch up to them that they blew it.

That's why the marked NPC missed the wizard.