I'm DMing a 4e campaign and the PCs are level 19, now, but I have been having trouble with a power. Reaper's Challenge.
My group's swordmage saves it through every adventure so he can use it on a Boss (solo or elite monster) effectively making it the easiest combat for the group. And worse, sometimes, when he uses this power, the group's Paladin marks the monster. So it can get punished or punished. There's no way out.
As I see, reaper's challenge weakens the monster immediately after he attacks. So if it decides to attack someone other than the swordmage, the damage is already compromised (is it correct by the rules)? Being that the case, the swordmage goes Full Def, gets a +2 on his already ridiculously high defenses (and sometimes, he will even use a stance, which makes it even more ridiculous) and his work is done.
Now, some people might argue: "it isn't a big deal. It's a daily" or something like that. But my group loves solo monsters. They're exciting bosses. The Dragons from Monster Vault are powerful and the Beholder is quite scary. Or was... Because now they keep getting perma-weakened.
So, my question is:
Does this power actually work like that? And if so, does that last even after the swordmage is knocked out? And if so... Am I the only one who believes it to be that broken? Am I missing something?