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<blockquote data-quote="Calidarien" data-source="post: 4350759" data-attributes="member: 70898">I know I'm swimming against the current here (against the majority, the playtesters, etc.), but I am of the opinion that the radiant damage part of Divine Challenge only fires once (if that), at least RAW.&nbsp; Here's my reasoning:&quot;You mark the target. ... While a target is marked, ... Also, it takes radiant damage ...&quot;The sentence that starts with &quot;While a target is marked ...&quot; seems to simply be explaining what the first paragraph meant by marked as a status condition.&nbsp; The next sentence is difficult to read as &quot;Also, [in addition to the attack roll penalties] it takes radiant damage ...&quot; because that is not a part of the status condition of being marked.&nbsp; Rather, it makes more sense (to me) to read it as &quot;Also, [in addition to being marked by this power] it takes radiant damage ...&quot;&nbsp; (In fact, if we excise the &quot;While a target is marked ...&quot; sentence completely since it is redundant if PHB p.277 is tattooed in your brain, then my reading becomes even more defendable.)&nbsp; Thus, in my reading, the radiant damage has a chance to trigger only up to the start of your next turn after the Divine Challenge, and not after that.Furthermore, the ending clause says that if you don't satisfy certain conditions, then &quot;the marked condition ends&quot;.&nbsp; Note that it does *not* say &quot;the marked condition and the ongoing chance of radiant damage end&quot;.&nbsp; Read literally, that means that the only effect that was ongoing (and could thus end) was just the target having attack roll penalties from being marked.Admittedly, my reading is a little tortured, but I believe that the &quot;once a round&quot; interpretation is worse off because it has to work around the words &quot;before the start of your next turn&quot;.&nbsp; I would *love* there to be crystal-clear errata on this issue, but until then, I'll probably house-rule it my way.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Calidarien, post: 4350759, member: 70898"] I know I'm swimming against the current here (against the majority, the playtesters, etc.), but I am of the opinion that the radiant damage part of Divine Challenge only fires once (if that), at least RAW. Here's my reasoning: "You mark the target. ... While a target is marked, ... Also, it takes radiant damage ..." The sentence that starts with "While a target is marked ..." seems to simply be explaining what the first paragraph meant by marked as a status condition. The next sentence is difficult to read as "Also, [in addition to the attack roll penalties] it takes radiant damage ..." because that is not a part of the status condition of being marked. Rather, it makes more sense (to me) to read it as "Also, [in addition to being marked by this power] it takes radiant damage ..." (In fact, if we excise the "While a target is marked ..." sentence completely since it is redundant if PHB p.277 is tattooed in your brain, then my reading becomes even more defendable.) Thus, in my reading, the radiant damage has a chance to trigger only up to the start of your next turn after the Divine Challenge, and not after that. Furthermore, the ending clause says that if you don't satisfy certain conditions, then "the marked condition ends". Note that it does *not* say "the marked condition and the ongoing chance of radiant damage end". Read literally, that means that the only effect that was ongoing (and could thus end) was just the target having attack roll penalties from being marked. Admittedly, my reading is a little tortured, but I believe that the "once a round" interpretation is worse off because it has to work around the words "before the start of your next turn". I would *love* there to be crystal-clear errata on this issue, but until then, I'll probably house-rule it my way. [/QUOTE]

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