Invisible Paladin

[Runestar]

Besides, all this talk of invisible paladins is rather moot... it's not like paladins can spend a long time invisible, with the nerfs to invisible being as they are.

It does however point to a greater issue in general. How is divine challenge supposed to work in tandem with a paladin who goes out his way to make himself inaccessible to his foes, as opposed to the more common archetype who stands in the heat of battle and challenges others to attack him?

It does not have to be invis. What if he was levitating 20 ft above the ground and the marked foe had no means of flight or ranged attacks? The same issue then resurfaces. You resolve one, you solve them all. Only problem is arriving at a plausible solution.

There are at the moment, 2 differing camps of how to resolve this, each based on different views on how a paladin ought to be played (or need not be played, for that matter). And the interesting issue is that divine challenge is apparently worded loosely enough to allow for the latter (where you mark and run). Which evidently offends the sensibilities of some of the posters here.

 

[DracoSuave]

Special: Even though this ability is called a challenge, it doesn’t rely on the intelligence or language ability of the target. It’s a magical compulsion that affects the creature’s behavior, regardless of the creature’s nature. You can’t place a divine challenge on a creature that is already affected by your or another character’s divine challenge.



Intent is irrelevant, it has nothing to do with the mind or the ability to communicate or anything. It's purely a holy fiat, a prayer granted and handed down from on high. That which grants divine power does not look at the intent of the compulsed victim, only obedience.

If it were a mind-affecting ability, then it'd be a bit different, intent would matter.

The power doesn't care of the receiver has the ability to attack the paladin.

'But I can't attack the paladin' says the appeal to the gods.
'Then don't attack at all' is the reply.

It's the same if the paladin's AC is too high for the creature to hit, or the paladin has resistance higher than the creature's maximum damage, or even outright immunity. The ability for the creature to affect the paladin is irrelevent to the ability. Physical location of the paladin is also irrelevent, so long as the paladin can attack the creature.

 

[Branduil]

I still think the "Enemy automatically knows which square the Paladin is in" solution is the easiest.