Swordmage Question

[SolidSnake_01]

So this came up in our last game and I wanted to ask you guys what you thought...

I am playing a first level Swordmage and we had a pretty big combat encounter and I quickly became surrounded by enemies. Using one of my encounter powers, I was able to mark everyone in a Burst 1. Now according to the rules:

Aegis of Shielding
You mark the target. The target remains marked
until you use this power against another target. If you
mark other creatures using other powers, the target is
still marked. A creature can be subject to only one mark
at a time. A new mark supersedes a mark that was already
in place.
If your marked target makes an attack that doesn’t
include you as a target, it takes a –2 penalty to attack
rolls. If that attack hits and the marked target is within 10
squares of you, you can use an immediate interrupt to reduce
the damage dealt by that attack to any one creature
by an amount equal to 5 + your Constitution modifier.

So my question is this: if each of these enemies attacks someone other than me, do I get more than one Immediate Interrupt to Shield my allies? I know that there is a rule that basically states you only get 1 immediate interrupt per round...maybe I am wrong about this...

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Nope, you get one Immediate Interrupt per round. So effectively you can only trigger your sheilding aegis once per melee round. Still pretty nice.

 

[SolidSnake_01]

Nope, you get one Immediate Interrupt per round. So effectively you can only trigger your sheilding aegis once per melee round. Still pretty nice.

Damn.

 

[Obryn]

Damn.

Yeah, I know. Still, you have one of the best Defender powers in the game as a Shielding Swordmage.

You won't get to trigger it more often per round until you hit Epic. So you have a long wait ahead of you.

-O

 

[DracoSuave]

Also, it depends on the power doing the marking.

If the power simply states that you mark the targets, then your aegis cannot trigger because the aegis trigger is a part of the specific aegis power, not of marking in general for you.

On the other hand, if your power in question says you apply the aegis, then any one of those enemies could trigger your once use per round.

 

[Droogie128]

You only get to trigger your Aegis once per round, but the enemies still take a -2 from being marked for not attacking you.

 

[Riastlin]

Yeah only once per round, but as others have said, still damn effective. The swordmage in the campaign I run drives me crazy (in a good one) with her mark. Made even worse (again in a good way) at Paragon where she is not only preventing a ton of damage but also gaining a bunch of hit points.

Swordmage also teams really well with the pursuing avenger. Swordmage will mark and then run away, forcing the marked target to move away from the avenger, thereby giving the avenger extra damage against it in the following round. Most of the time its just not worth it for the enemy to attack the avenger in that situation unless the attack has a tasty effect.

 

[DracoSuave]

So I did a bit of homework and tried to sort out which power he used to mark all those foes:

Sword of Sigils -- Swordmage Attack 1
Encounter -- Arcane, Force, Weapon
Standard Action -- Close burst 1
Target: Each enemy in burst
Attack: Intelligence vs. AC
Hit: 1[W] + Intelligence modifier damage, and the target is marked until the end of your next turn. Until the mark ends, if the target makes an attack that does not include you as a target, it takes force damage equal to your Intelligence modifier after the attack is resolved.
Aegis of Shielding: If a target marked by this power hits a creature within 10 squares of you with an attack that does not include you as a target, you can use an immediate interrupt to reduce the damage dealt by that attack to any single creature by an amount equal to your Constitution modifier.


Now what is going on here is not at all what you think is going on. Imagine you're surrounded by enemies:

. E E
E.Y .
E . .

Now, you use Sword of Sigils, and they are all marked. If any of those enemies attack without including you, then they'll take a spot of damage. This is not an immediate interrupt, it will just happen on any enemy who does this.
THEN, one of those enemies can have its damaged reduced by you by your Constitution modifier.

"But wait, DracoSuave, who is times five, my Aegis of Shielding says it's 5+my Constitution modifier!" is a good question to ask.

The answer is, 'If you wanted your Aegis of Shielding power to activate, you need to actually use your Aegis of Shielding power. Its effects do not trigger on enemies you mark, only on targets of Aegis of Shielding. The damage reduction you can apply is less than that because the power allows a portion of damage reduction. If the power did not have that additional rider, you'd be allowed no damage reduction at all.

So the correct answer to 'How many times can I use the trigger on my Aegis of Shielding' is actually zero unless you used it on one of the targets at some point. As well, Sword of Sigils marking the target will supercede old marks, so it will erase the mark set by a previous Aegis. That, in turn, will end that power so it cannot apply. The only way to have both is to use the Sword of Sigils power, then use the Aegis of Shielding power afterwards.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

LOL, interesting but confusing power. Never run into that one before. So yeah, it is its own little world.

The root of confusion is that swordmages can both issue normal marks AND use aegis, which includes its own mark. Then there are things like this power which are 'special' marks.

This is one of those little dark corners of 4e where I think they kinda went overboard with confusingly different variations of basically the same concept.

 

[DracoSuave]

It's not that hard.

Regular marks are for off-targets. You just care about the -2, which is the DM's problem once applied.

Your Aegis is for the main target, the one you are intended to keep locked down, and that being a single target should be easy to remember, as you're only hitting one with it.

This power is its own thing, yes... but its not like you have a huge assortment of marking powers. You know you've used it, chances are you won't be using the Aegis in its situation, so it's not hard to remember.

Just don't over think it. As a player, you need to track your Aegis, and this one power when you use it. The other mark is fire and forget. Just use a different token to track the Aegis and you'll be good. No different than a paladin's single target focus.