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I'm playing a Tiefling Paladin and I've picked up Mark of Warding, which as a secondary benefit increases all defence bonuses granted by any of your powers by +1. At as low a level as possible, how can I regularly grant my allies and/or myself a bonus to one or all defenses that will benefit from the Mark of Warding bonus?

I'm building toward Enfeebling Strike (-2, with a further -1 from Madness Domain), and Divine Challenge/Sanction (-2, with a further -1 from Mark of Warding's primary effect). Boosting my defences or my allies' would boost this very nicely.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ There is a way (wear armor/shield) but I presume that's not what you're after. I've attempted to make this question more constructive and answerable - in particular, it's no longer a question that can be completely answered by the word "yes". However, I feel you're probably asking about the goal and not the step: if you're not already committed to Mark of Warding (you can retrain feats, PHB28) you might be better off just asking how to effectively boost allies' defences as a Paladin. \$\endgroup\$
    – doppelgreener
    Commented Mar 17, 2014 at 10:21
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    \$\begingroup\$ Straight up, if you want to grant power based defensive bonuses, you want to play a leader, not a defender. There is basically 1 at-will at L1 for a defender that grants a defensive bonus (Earth Shield Strike from the Warden list), you might be able to take advantage of this on an encounter basis via encounter powers, it's not a core feature of any defender class. \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Commented Mar 17, 2014 at 12:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ @waxeagle, There are plenty enough Defender powers that grant defensive bonus(es) to yourself, the problem is finding powers that grant a bonus to an ally. IMO the increased Mark penalty alone is worth the feat (and is equivalent to +1 defense to allies against Marked enemies in many situations), but I can understand the desire to give both bonuses to the party. \$\endgroup\$
    – Brian S
    Commented Mar 17, 2014 at 13:43

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There are definitely options to use that will be strengthened from Mark of Warding's bonus to a power's defense. For the paladin in particular, it looks like you'll have to mostly rely on daily powers that lay down zones at the earlier levels and then maybe switch up to stances in the higher levels. If you hybrid, I'm positive you can find lots of pairings from utilities to at-wills. Further, seeing how you are a tiefling I believe they have a feat that allows you to take another classes utility power. So even at lower levels I'm sure you can find a feat that at the very least will be able to buff your defences up. I've included some options below, but keep in mind that this is only scratching the surface of the options available to you.

Playing a pure Paladin: Sacred Circle lvl 2 (from phb) Effect: The burst creates a zone that, until the end of the encounter, gives you and allies within it a +1 power bonus to AC.

Hallowed Circle lvl 5 (from phb) Effect: the burst creates a zone of bright light. You and each ally within the zone gain a +1 power bonus to all defences until the end of encounter.

Divine Aegis lvl 16 (from Divine Power) Effect: Until the stance ends, you and any allies with 2 squares of you gain a +2 bonus to all defenses.

Willing to hybrid?: Cleric at-will: Priest's Shield Hit: 1w + str modifier damage, and you and one adjacent ally gain +1 power bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.

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