Paladin and Fighter marks

[Wycen]

Sunday in my primary 4E game, we had 2 new players. They brought in dwarven characters, a fighter and paladin. They also had a frighteningly different view of how Marking works. My other group is also playing 4E, but I'm playing the fighter and none of us ever used a mark in the following manner.

I've reread the text and want to make sure I'm reading and interpretting correctly.

You must 'attack' in order to Mark an opponent. Whether that attack is a basic melee attack, exploit or smite, you actually have to attack in order for the marks to take effect.

What the new guys were doing was moving somewhere into open space, 3 or 4 spaces away, "marking or challenging" the bad guys and then sitting there waiting for the bad guys to come to them.

It seems even more explicit that if the paladin doesn't attack or at least end his movement next to an opponent, he can't mark them.

And the fighter and paladin are the only classes, (at least as far as the PHB 1 goes) that can 'mark'?

 

[Victim]

Fighter and paladin marks work differently. Fighters mark by attacking. Paladins mark by using a power on people.

 

[Kordeth]

In other words, the paladin (assuming he was actually within range of his target) was doing it right, the fighter was doing it wrong. You, however, are incorrect regarding the paladin. The paladin can mark any target within a close burst 5, however, if he does not end his turn next to the target or attack the target before the end of his turn, the mark fades at the end of his turn. It is entirely legal to, say, divine challenge an enemy four squares away and then attack it or move adjacent to it.

Remember also that paladins can only have one divine challenge active at a time. Fighters can have as many marks active as they can attack on their turn--if a power lets the fighter make three attacks, he can mark all three targets.

 

[HighTemplar]

Other classes can also Mark targets, marked is a condition. (E.g. Ranger (pathfinder?)paragon lvl 20 daily marks a target for the whole combat)

Also, when the paladin fails to uphold his divine challenge, he cannot use the power on the subsequent round. Anyways, paladins also have a lot of powers that Mark a target right away as part of the power's effect.

 

[Kordeth]

Other classes can also Mark targets, marked is a condition. (E.g. Ranger (pathfinder?)paragon lvl 20 daily marks a target for the whole combat)

Also, when the paladin fails to uphold his divine challenge, he cannot use the power on the subsequent round. Anyways, paladins also have a lot of powers that Mark a target right away as part of the power's effect.

Yep, but it bears noting, if the OP's group is having trouble figuring out marks, that those other powers just mark the target (that is, impose the marked condition of -2 to attack anyone other than the one who marked you), they aren't divine challenges.