Paladin's Divine Challenge

[david_annable]

During our KotS session last night, a question was raised about the mechanics behind the Paladin's "Divine Challenge" power.

The effect description indicates that the paladin marks the target and that the target remains marked until he uses the power against another target, or if he fails to engage the target. To engage the target he challenged, he must either attack the target or end his turn adjacent to it. If he fails to do so, the marked condition ends and he can't use divine challenge on his next turn.

The debate arose as to whether the paladin had to continue to engage the target once the mark had been placed? Ie, after the round that he casts divine challenge, is he obligated to continuously engage the target on all subsequent rounds that he wishes that target to remain marked?

Standpoint A says that since "marked" is a condition is stated in the power description to last until one of two conditions remove it (the paladin uses the power on someone else or he fails to engage), the paladin has to keep engaging the target to keep it marked.

Standpoint B says that once the target is marked by the power (aka, the target was successfully engaged and therefore marked) that they remain marked and only become unmarked when the Paladin uses the power on a new target.

Opinions?

 

[Oompa]

You mark the target. The target remains marked until you use this power against another target, or if you fail to engage the target.

To engage the target, you must either attack it or end your turn adjacent to it. If none of these events occur by the end of your turn, the marked condition ends and you can’t use divine challenge on your next turn.

So if you dont attack, or end up adjacent to youre mark in youre turn, the mark ends.

 

[ExploderWizard]

There is one other thing that can end the mark, I believe. If another character marks your target the new mark takes effect and the old mark goes away.

 

[Blackbrrd]

While we are at it I have another question:

The multiclass to paladin feat says:
"Once per encounter, you can use the paladin’s divine challenge power."

Does this mean you can mark an enemy and that the mark lasts until the end of the encounter, dealing damage as normal? In that case it is probably the best multi class feat out there.

Let us say you have a fighter trying to keep two monsters marked. He can mark one monster with his fighter ability, and one monster with the paladin ability. He only needs to be adjacent to the monster marked with the paladin ability. At low levels this essentially mean that the fighter can have 2 monsters marked at a time instead of one.

 

[Kordeth]

While we are at it I have another question:

The multiclass to paladin feat says:
"Once per encounter, you can use the paladin’s divine challenge power."

Does this mean you can mark an enemy and that the mark lasts until the end of the encounter, dealing damage as normal? In that case it is probably the best multi class feat out there.

As long as you fulfill the requirements every round, yes, the mark will last until the end of the encounter, or until the target dies. That hardly makes it the best multiclassing feat out there, any more than Arcane Initiate letting you cast ray of frost once per encounter.

Let us say you have a fighter trying to keep two monsters marked. He can mark one monster with his fighter ability, and one monster with the paladin ability. He only needs to be adjacent to the monster marked with the paladin ability. At low levels this essentially mean that the fighter can have 2 monsters marked at a time instead of one.

Fighters can already have two or even more enemies marked at once, thanks to OAs, multiple-target attack powers, etc.

 

[david_annable]

So that's one for Standpoint A. Anyone else?

 

[david_annable]

While we are at it I have another question:

The multiclass to paladin feat says:
"Once per encounter, you can use the paladin’s divine challenge power."

As a side note, do things that are listed as "once per encounter" refresh automatically when the encounter ends or do they require a short rest, like Encounter powers?

 

[Oompa]

If you can use an power, once per encounter, then its an encounter power, en yes they need an 5 minute rest..

And yes, standpoint A is correct.

 

[Lurker37]

The wording was specifically changed to prevent cases of paladins marking enemies then running away, causing the marked enemy to take damage each round until it caught up to the paladin or died.

i.e. Standpoint B. is exactly what the developers are trying to stamp out.

So it's Standpoint A.

 

[VannATLC]

David Annable
Its not a debate, its an outright statement.

Standpoint A is correct.