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I'm a new player in the DnD world playing with a group of semi new players. I chose the battlemind as my class and the group has had questions about mark since then. Most have been answered but we cant seem to agree on one thing.

When I mark a enemy do I need to be within 1 square of the marked target or attack them in some form on my turn for them to stay marked?

From what I understand once I mark a target it will stay marked until I mark another target, the target is marked by someone else, or the encounter ends.

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The mark from a Battlemind's Demand is long lasting and has no range limit after it has been established. Your understanding is correct. There is no requirement for a Battlemind to attack or stay close to the marked target in order to maintain the mark.

However, the Battlemind punishment options are only significant if you keep the marked enemy close. An enemy that gets away from you suffers a -2 penalty when attacking your allies (on an attack that does not include you), but barring a few additional powers you can purchase at higher level, you cannot do much about it. Generally to get the chance (or hold threat) of using Mind Spike, the Battlemind needs to stay as close as possible, and usually you want this, it's part of the job to control enemies that way.

Note that some Battlemind powers (and some Feats, not necessarily restricted to Battleminds) can apply additional marks, and the durations of those are typically different to the mark from the class feature Battlemind's Demand. Check the wording of the power. Usually all the other consequences of the mark are applied - such as being able to use Blurred Step.

Each of the defenders has different mark and punishment mechanics, and they affect how you play that class. The mark/punishment rules have typically been designed so the defender player has to commit something (an action, use of a single mark, staying close to enemy) in order to gain control over melee. But otherwise they vary, and they make each of the classes behave slightly differently - sometimes needing a little extra care when reading the abilities and figuring out how they work, but leading to enjoyably different tactics that work for each class.

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    \$\begingroup\$ It sounds like the confusion in the OP's group stems from the Paladin's mark (Divine Challenge) mechanics, which do require the Paladin to either attack his mark or end his turn adjacent to it. Seems like that should be part of the answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – DCShannon
    Commented May 21, 2014 at 23:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ @DCShannon: Question does not mention Paladin, so adding it to the answer may just seems to add personal cross-reference for OP. But yes all marks work differently, that might be worth adding in case someone mis-reads in opposite direction . . . \$\endgroup\$
    – Neil Slater
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 7:14
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    \$\begingroup\$ The only thing missing here is a statement that the duration of a mark is wholly dependent on what applies the mark. Most of the time it's a class feature, but it can be applied by a power as well, and if it's based on a power, the power dictates how long it lasts. \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 12:10
  • \$\begingroup\$ @wax eagle: Good point, I think identifying the class feature by name and noting there are other ways to get the mark stops the first paragraph from getting too abstract \$\endgroup\$
    – Neil Slater
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 12:34
  • \$\begingroup\$ @NeilSlater excellent edit. \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Commented May 22, 2014 at 12:53

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