Marked Advantage?

[VannATLC]

Does marking an opponent also mean that the opponent can no longer safely shift away without proving an attack of opportunity? Or is that some kind of additional Fighter power over and above marking.

It would be some kind of additional fighter power.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I've got a question about marking... anyone think of any flavor? What exactly is causing the -2? The only thing I can think of is morale:

The fighter (yelling) "I'm coming for YOU next, you lowlife goblin bastard! Get over here and fight like the snot-faced sissy you are! Oh no you DON'T! You touch my buddy and you're gonna taste my mace!"

So they HAVE to fight you just to shut you up.

Gotta be a reason it's called "Combat Challenge"

Fitz

 

[Stalker0]

I've got a question about marking... anyone think of any flavor? What exactly is causing the -2? The only thing I can think of is morale:

Fitz

I think of it like this. In combat, your wary of everyone on the field. But the fighter is right in your face, he's skill impressive. Every move he makes could cleave you in two.

You have to be extra defensive if you focus on anyone other than the fighter, which causes the -2.

 

[eleran]

I've got a question about marking... anyone think of any flavor? What exactly is causing the -2? The only thing I can think of is morale:

The fighter (yelling) "I'm coming for YOU next, you lowlife goblin bastard! Get over here and fight like the snot-faced sissy you are! Oh no you DON'T! You touch my buddy and you're gonna taste my mace!"

So they HAVE to fight you just to shut you up.

Gotta be a reason it's called "Combat Challenge"

Fitz

In the 2 sessions we have played so far with the pregen characters our fighter player has added some appropriately dwarven soliloquy every time he has marked an opponent, from "I'm the one you want to watch out for!" to "Come get some!!!".

 

[Wormwood]

In the 2 sessions we have played so far with the pregen characters our fighter player has added some appropriately dwarven soliloquy every time he has marked an opponent, from "I'm the one you want to watch out for!" to "Come get some!!!".

When my second group was looking at the rules (we haven't played yet), one of the players noted, "Wait. Marking is almost like giving yourself a -2 AC against one creature, right? If that's the case, my fighter will invoke it by dropping his shield, tossing aside his helmet and screaming 'I dare you to hit me, *****!' "

*sniff* I love these guys.

 

[Lizard]

When my second group was looking at the rules (we haven't played yet), one of the players noted, "Wait. Marking is almost like giving yourself a -2 AC against one creature, right? If that's the case, my fighter will invoke it by dropping his shield, tossing aside his helmet and screaming 'I dare you to hit me, *****!' "

*sniff* I love these guys.

Actually, it's more like giving everyone else a +2 AC against that creature...so you hand out a lot of shields to your friends.

Given that it's a polearm, I tend to see it more as "I'm constantly stabbing and jabbing with it, getting in the guy's way and tripping him up. He can't fight well unless he focuses on me."

(Which works great, dramatically and logically, until someone asks why the Paladin declaring Holy Vengeance makes this trick stop working...but that's a dead horse of a different color.)

 

[Wormwood]

Actually, it's more like giving everyone else a +2 AC against that creature...so you hand out a lot of shields to your friends.

No, we got that.

But at the end of the day, it is 10% easier to hit the fighter than his friends.

edit: and the rest, as they say, is fluff.

 

[Dausuul]

I think of it like this. In combat, your wary of everyone on the field. But the fighter is right in your face, he's skill impressive. Every move he makes could cleave you in two.

You have to be extra defensive if you focus on anyone other than the fighter, which causes the -2.

So, does the mark go away if the fighter ceases to be in your face (i.e., moves out of melee range)?

Considering the kobold dragonshield, I think we can expect this question to come up. Other aspects of marking can be made to work with this explanation--if the paladin marks you, the fighter's mark goes away because now the paladin is in your face instead. But the whole concept falls apart if you allow the mark to remain once you're no longer in melee with the marker.

 

[Lizard]

So, does the mark go away if the fighter ceases to be in your face (i.e., moves out of melee range)?

In the case of the guard, it only lasts until his next round, which given the way D&D uses cyclic initiative to model sequential events (and I can't imagine any *playable* game system doing it otherwise), makes sense to me. He can't re-mark you unless he hits you again next time. If you moved away between the mark and his next action, since it's really all happening 'at once', it still affects you -- as you move, he is bothering you with his polearm so that you can't fight effectively if you're not actively avoiding him, or he trips you as you leave him to attack his buddy and he doesn't hit as well, etc.

Now, long-term, non-magical marks which don't require adjacency...if they exist, they're harder to justify. Maybe a taunt which makes the target so mad that even if he attacks someone else, he's still thinking about hitting you?

 

[Dausuul]

In the case of the guard, it only lasts until his next round, which given the way D&D uses cyclic initiative to model sequential events (and I can't imagine any *playable* game system doing it otherwise), makes sense to me.

Ah, okay. That makes a lot more sense then. As long as all martial marking effects are one-round-only, and require a melee attack to initiate, we can assume it takes that long to "disengage" and focus on someone else, even if you move away from the fighter before attacking.

Edit: I notice the fighter's Combat Challenge ability has no time limit on it, though.