What are the options for giving a Battlemind the ability to mark at range?

Question

Basically I wanted to be able to mark a target up to 10 squares away so I can then use the Battlemind level 6 utility power Psionic Ambush to teleport next to it.

The only potential option I see is to take the Student of the Sword (Fighter multiclass) feat. Would that allow me to throw a dagger or other thrown weapon to place a mark? Or from other ranged attacks with melee weapons (a Psychokinetic Weapon for example)?

I was thinking I'd like to spend my multiclass option on something other than Fighter (leaning towards Runepriest atm) so any other options would be appreciated. My Battlemind is currently level 9.

Cheers.

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Edit: To provide the extra character info desired...

I am a level 9 Half-Elf Battlemind.

The character is for Living Forgotten Realms so I can technically retrain everything when I level except for Race and Class, which I am happy to do. Due to this I will give you my basic play style as something to work with. I am also fairly new to DnD and this is my highest level character (the few others <=2)

I have been targeting mobile versatility, in so far as getting to where I need to be to do my defendering as quickly as possible, and being able to quickly move across the battle map to where I'm needed if circumstances change. I've focused so far on abilities like Persistant Harrier, the level 2 utility Dimension Slide, level 1 daily Accelerating Strike, Improved Initiative feat, Lightning Rush, Lodestone Lure (almost always used augmented to bring in the ones I can't reach).

Also while I know I'm no striker, I like to be reliable with my damage and as such am using a Falchion, taken Valenar Weapon Training, and have currently got Iron Armbands of Power

Stat wise I have so far focused on Constitution, dumped Intelligence, ignored Charisma, and tried to spread the rest relatively evenly between Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom. I haven't worried too much about my secondary stat riders in powers as they really haven't come into play much. I'd probably throw nearly everything in con and some dex (for the initiative) if I didn't have to worry about NADs.

Nothing too special feat wise except I'd want to keep Improved Initiative and Valenar Weapon Training.

The multiclass I mentioned is mainly for flavour, and as something to do while I'm sitting there getting pounded by multiple enemies to assist/buff my allies. This situation does seem to happen a lot as the Battlemind is great at throwing out a lot of marks :)

Thanks again.

Answer 1

A battlemind doesn't have lots of options in that regard, but there are a few with which you may be able to get close to what you want.

Note that other than your suggestion I haven't found a way to significantly increase the range at which a battlemind can mark, so most suggestions here are just workarounds or ideas which could help with increased mobility and so on.

The highest range I could find among battlemind powers with a quick Compendium search was melee weapon +3 reach (Dimensional Ambush^[DDI]) respectively close blast 3 (Obsidian Shield^[DDI]) - the rest was at most close burst 2.

Class features, powers and feats:

• Wild Focus^[DDI]: Battlemind class feature; free action, encounter, close burst 10; pull target Cha modifier squares and mark it till EOYNT.
• Speed of Thought^[DDI]: Battlemind class feature; free action, encounter; move 3 + Cha modifier squares, can be used even when surprised. Can be enhanced to 5 + Cha modifier squares with Improved Speed of Thought^[DDI].
• Persistent Harrier^[DDI]: Battlemind class feature; immediate reaction, encounter, melee weapon; when enemy hits or misses you, you attack him back (even if the target is outside your melee reach) and teleport adjacent to it.
• Iron Trap^[DDI]: Githzerai racial feat; when enemy misses you because of Iron Mind racial feature, the enemy is marked and you gain combat advantage until EOYNT.
• Demand's Reach^[DDI]: Battlemind feat, paragon tier; increase Battlemind's Demand to close burst 5.

Equipment:

• Predatory Weapon^[DDI]: Weapon power; free action, encounter; when hitting with the weapon mark one target within 5 quares until EOYNT.
• Farslayer Weapon^[DDI]: Weapon power; standard action, at-will; make melee basic attack up to 5 squares away.
• Greater Dancing Weapon^[DDI]: Weapon power; minor action, at-will; animate weapon (direct with move action, fly speed 6, must see target squares), while you can see the weapon you can make melee weapon attacks through it (counting the weapon's square as origin square instead of your square).
• Blade of the Eldritch Knight^[DDI]: Weapon property; when using a standard action to make a melee attack increase reach to 5 for that attack.
• Planesplitter Weapon^[DDI]: Weapon power; free action, encounter; when making a melee attack increase weapon reach by +2 squares.

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In any case you might want to take a look at the "Beyond Bodily Brutality: the Basics of Building Battleminds" handbook on the WotC boards.

And yes, your assumption is correct. Taking Student of the Sword^[DDI] would allow you to mark any enemy once per encounter with any attack that is made with the selected weapon type (one-handed melee or two-handed melee) regardless of hit or miss.

Answer 2

Expanding @arotter's answer, my preferred method of marking at range is with half-elf, hand of radiance, and dabbling defender^*. You can mark up to three targets that way, and you'll be able to keep it up every round (if you have nothing better to do) in paragon.

Beyond that, any ranged power and defending dabbler is an excellent choice for marking, as is soldier of the faith.

However, looking at the meat of your question, I have a different recommendation. Given that your objective is teleportation, I'd recommend multiclassing warlock and, next level, taking the warlock's at-will teleport utility. Two feats for at-will teleport (1, but trivially improvable in all the standard ways) is a better trade than two feats for an encounter teleport. I'd also recommend this method due to its synergy with lightning rush positioning, allowing you to choose an arbitrary square to command the battlefield from.

Also, runepriest is a trap. it has little to no stat synergy and no real mechanical synergy with battlemind.

Edit for increased details:

Objective: maximize battlefield mobility at level 9 as a half-elf battlemind. Dilettante should be used for marking and/or opportunity attacks. Multiclassing choice preserved, therefore con or wis for dilettante. No implements. Try to preserve feats improved init, valenar weapon training.

Thoughts:

With HBE, that gives us 2 feats to work with, with one earmarked for "RP" purposes. Stats can be either con/wis, or con/cha. Given poster's emphasis on initative, speed of thought + quick reactions seems to have some nice synergies.

Persistent harrier provides teleportation mobility, especially with the fantastic harrying step.

Quick reactions chosen instead of improved init, allows complete dropping of dex focus and higher mobility first round. A move 7 + lightning rush means a delicious double-attack against enemy artillery when they choose to be silly. Optimally, this means eldritch strike, meaning far-marking is tricky. Powers selected to maximize advantages of high mobility. Most importantly "Lodestone lure" since there's no condition of adjacency for the player.

Soldier of the faith is fantastic. While it's not the requested runepriest, it's potentially an encounter-long mark at a distance. When combined with the initial mobility, it should fulfill the requirements. This also gives us holy symbols for a potential lark into implement classes. However, a cross-battlefield teleport is slightly redundant with the huge movement granted by speed of thought. While nice for bothering artillery and other folks who want to stay out of battle, this build already accomplishes that.

While nominally I'd recommend persistent harrier more, I believe speed of thought accomplishes the intent of this build more accurately. Fey-strike falchion chosen due to synergies with defending dabbler. While I feel that it's redundant in this build, there were no "must have" feats for level 8 and this does satisfy the question. Personally, I'd take defensive mobility for more choices during lightning rush. The other major problem with this build is that the defenses are a little soft, which just compounds the pain that speed-of-thoughting the enemy artillery will bring.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&D Character Builder ======
level 9
Half-Elf, Battlemind
Psionic Study: Speed of Thought
Eldritch Strike: Eldritch Strike Constitution
Half-Elf Power Selection: Dilettante

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 14, Con 22, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 16.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 18, Dex 10, Int 8, Wis 10, Cha 13.


AC: 24 Fort: 22 Reflex: 16 Will: 21
HP: 85 Surges: 15 Surge Value: 21

TRAINED SKILLS


UNTRAINED SKILLS
Acrobatics +4, Arcana +3, Bluff +7, Diplomacy +9, Dungeoneering +4, Endurance +12, Heal +4, History +3, Insight +6, Intimidate +7, Nature +4, Perception +4, Religion +3, Stealth +6, Streetwise +7, Thievery +4, Athletics +6

FEATS
Level 1: Quick Reactions
Level 2: Valenar Weapon Training
Level 4: Heavy Blade Expertise
Level 6: Soldier of the Faith
Level 8: Defending Dabbler

POWERS
Battlemind at-will 1: Twisted Eye
Battlemind at-will 1: Vicious Cobra Strike
Dilettante: Eldritch Strike
Battlemind daily 1: Living Fortress
Battlemind utility 2: Telepathic Challenge
Battlemind at-will 3: Lodestone Lure
Battlemind daily 5: Inconstant Location
Battlemind utility 6: Psionic Ambush
Battlemind at-will 7: Lightning Rush (replaces Vicious Cobra Strike)
Battlemind daily 9: Cascade of Rippling Force

ITEMS
Iron Armbands of Power (heroic tier), Dwarven Scale Armor +2, Fey Strike Falchion +2, Elven Cloak +2
====== Copy to Clipboard and Press the Import Button on the Summary Tab ======

^* The feat investment for defending dabbler is expensive, especially as battlemind doesn't come with implement powers. Adept dilettante allows the power to be rekeyed at the cost of the multiclass feat. Implements cost extra. As arotter notes: "Well, then it's already up to 2 feats (3 if you want to tackle the implement issue and that introduces an additional money/loot sink for the Battlemind). "

Answer 3

After investigating the other answers, I see a number of options available to directly answer my initial question of a Battlemind's ability to mark at longer ranges.

Student of the Sword

• Allows you to mark on a hit or miss with a one or two handed weapon attack.

• Range is dependent on the weapon or power used. Max can be up to 20 squares (Javelin or Fey Strike Weapon for example).

  Requires
  • Student of the Sword multiclass Fighter feat.
  • A weapon or power that allows you to make an attack at range with a one or two handed weapon (chosen with feat).

Demand's Reach

• Increases Battlemind's Demand out to 5 squares.

  Requires
  • Demand's Reach feat (paragon tier).

Soldier of Faith

• Allows you to use Paladin's Divine Challenge to mark a target within 5 squares.

  Requires
  • Soldier of Faith multiclass Paladin feat.

Hand of Radience/Defending Dabbler - Half-Elf only

• Allows you to use Hand of Radiance to mark up to 3 targets on hit.

• Range of 10.

  Requires
  • Hand of Radiance as dilettante power.
  • Defending Dabbler feat.
  • Ideally you also need a decent wisdom or Adept Dilettante feat, and be able to use implements for it to work well.

Let me know if I have missed anything.