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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jelmore" data-source="post: 4346367" data-attributes="member: 56412">I was going to write a post arguing how the paladin's divine challenge ability is meant to do damage every round, but after reading the text in question and comparing what others have been saying in thread, I've changed my mind. I think the radiant damage is meant to be once per challenge.Think of it this way: the marked condition already inflicts a penalty on the target of a -2 to attack rolls that don't including the marking creature. The divine challenge adds a dollop of holy retribution to it for the opponent that initially assumes the paladin isn't worth the attention, or for the desperate foe that is trying to escape with his life.The radiant damage from the paladin's challenge is a sure thing; I don't see any other classes that get near-guaranteed damage every round as a class feature. The fighter gets the possibility of an immediate interrupt melee attack every round as part of its combat challenge, but OAs can miss. The same goes for the ranger's Hunter's Quarry and the warlock's Warlock's Curse features; they do extra damage only if the PCs hit.(Also, this interpretation has the side effect of also shutting down all of the "DC then eyebite/become insubstantial/become invisible" workarounds that people are trying to come up.)EDIT: And then of course I have to find the article on WotC's site that blows my theory out of the water:<a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dusg/20080227a" target="_blank">http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dusg/20080227a</a></blockquote>

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