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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Donatello" data-source="post: 4364816" data-attributes="member: 987">I think it's just two takes on the same role.  The role is "Defender", but the nature of their marks make the Fighter the "Offense Defender", i.e. getting a lot more opportunity attacks, making sure he's bouncing around the battlefield more and getting in monsters' faces to make sure they don't get past him, and the Paladin is a "Defense Defender", i.e. doing more to force the enemies to attack him rather that avoid him.An enemy marked by a fighter just has to endure an OA to get away from him (and many of my monsters have risked just that, especially if the fighter was on a string of bad luck or hasn't proven his ferocity in that fight yet) and rush onward to the rogue/ranger/wizard/warlock.  An enemy marked by a paladin has more freedom of movement, but if he attacks anyone else, he automatically takes damage (radiant damage, by the by, making the divine challenge VERY effective against undead).  So Kobold A marked by a fighter may slip by him anyway, while Kobold B will have to just eat the damage.Also note that all a paladin has to do to maintain a mark is end adjacent to his chosen foe.  That means he can mark one and beat on another with impunity.  Fighters have to attack their chosen foe (even if they miss), which could require a more mobile defense.So, all that being said, I think the nature of the classes indicates the heavier armor is to make them better suited to take the abuse presented by their most basic role in combat, while a fighter has more damage potential in his defense and require more mobility.From a purely crunchy rules standpoint, it's a balance of Damage Taken vs. Damage Given, on average, per round.  The average DG of the paladin is lower than the fighter's so his DT is also lower to balance it out.From a flavor standpoint, the more mobile tactics of your garden variety fighter would not necessarily train him in the heaviest armor so he can maintain a little more freedom of movement.</blockquote>

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