You smite too much in D&D 5e - Advanced guide to Smite

You Smite too much! Cast and try different things!

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[xenken]

I'll contest your Smite>Bless in tier 1 claim by noting that you probably didn't give bless enough credit! After all, trying to burst a target down in tier 1 also means you risk missing.

For example, take a Level 3, Longsword Dueling Paladin+2 Casters with Firebolt.

Attack+on hit first Smite: 1d8+5+2d8, 18.5 damage on hit, approx ~10 damage on average vs AC 15.
Bless: 0.15*2d10 = approx 1.5 damage immediately, and 3 per turn afterwards. Damage wise, it'll catch up in 4 turns.

And, this is the worst example I could possibly give for bless damage. There's no other martials, no BA attacks or Extra Attack, no PAM, no -5/+10, nothing. Still almost as good as your best case.

And this isn't accounting for the fact that the saving throw half of of Bless is BETTER than the attack roll half, especially when most of the things you desperately want to burst are saving throw based. Take that enemy wizard for example, you've just improved the chances of your team saving against their nastiness by like 15%, on top of the extra damage!

Speaking of extra damage, you dunno how right you are about -5/+10 affecting Bless value

As an example, Level 5, with a Longsword Paladin+GWM Fighter+Fire Bolt Wizard
Smite: 17.6 damage on turn 1
Bless: 7.2 damage on turn 1, ~10 damage on turn 2.

That's only 1 extra round before you reach parity with Smiting, on top of the saving throw buff, on top of, you know, every future round afterwards.

Bless is insane. You should cast it more.

[michaelferrone]

"Should you smite on every crit? No!"
Me: "It's part of my oath, I don't make the rules"

[lancesmites]

"You shouldnt go for that round 6 crit smite, its overkill" bro thats WHY we smite on it

[internetlurker]

"Smite too much?" There is no such thing as too much smite! *BLASPHEMOUS!*

[astolfoappreciator]

“You don’t need to smite on round six, it is overkill.”
My party fighting an adult dragon at level 10: “are you sure about that, because I’m not”

[cheezeofages]

Mage: casts Hold Person

Paladin (bellows to the heavens): It's free real estate.

[tiggs]

wotc: thats a nice 1st level spell list for the plaladin...

...would be a shame if they were oh I don't know ... ALL concentration.

[moonlightergaming]

Paladin: "I cast Command!"
DM: "Ok. What command do you give them?"
Paladin: "Run." *heavy music*

[letsplaysvonaja]

my favorite smite quote is "smit never misses"
(because you declare smite after a hit, therefore you can't miss)

[drunkendwarf]

I Smite too much? I Smite every time I interact with objects, eat food? smite the food with your fork, your dm might say nooo you cant do that your foods not a creature. But one day that object will be a mimic and you will have saved yourself a lot of trouble.

[giraffedragon]

I find this hilarious honestly.

My favorite Paladin I’ve ever played is a BLUE Kobold who’s whole battle plan is magic weapon, the devotion pally sacred weapon ability, and just swings away. I try to save my smites for the nat 20 (as you can decide AFTER you roll when to use it)

For anyone who read this far: he is called “Sir Pelius, the Blue”

[matthewduax]

Im only 7 months into dnd, and im running my own game for friends. Your shit helps balance combat so much thanks man. Keep the videos coming, 10/10

[WintryRPG]

Golly, Wrathful Smite is an action Wisdom *check?* With frightened that's amazing! :OOO
But thank you for bringing up the Damage Now vs. Damage Later argument. There's absolutely right times to smite, especially if it's to drop a big damage dealer early. Always a fan of your work o7

[kmoustakas]

Funny enough, we fought 6 ghosts as 4 level 8 players without a cleric and it was awesome! (Complicated and deadly, but awesome)

[MissingNovice]

My DM noticed I was crit-fishing on my paladin, saving my smites for when I hit a crit, and also noticed that at level 14 I hadn't changed any of my magic items out since I'd gotten a pretty standard loadout that worked well for me, and she wanted to give me something that mattered. She gave me a vorpal axe. Now, if I crit, I decapitate the dude I'm fighting, which removes any desire I ever had to save my smites, since I know that my crits are usually OHKOs anyway now, so I feel a lot more empowered to use em just... whenever.

[badideagenerator]

A paladin never smites too much, nor do they smite too little.

A paladin smites precisely when they mean to.

[Specter]

I say you smite too little. Always Smite, keep smiting, even if the situation is bad for it. Talking to the noble? SMITE HIM. Fighting a Deva? SMITE HIM. Exploring the ancient tomb of a dead god? SMITE THE TOMB.

There is also Thunderous Smite. It deals 2d6 thunder damage (a little bit less than Divine Smite) and, against a Strength save, you make the enemy prone and push 10 feet away. While on some situations this may be bad, like when you have a group of sharpshooters, but on a group of melee fighters and if the push doesn't put people too far away, it can be really powerful. You have both the buff to hit from Bless and comparable damage to Smite.

And the question of Smite or Not also depends a lot of the subclass you are playing. An Oath of Vengeance could justify spending only one spell slot with Bless or Shield of Faith and go insane with advantage attacks with his weapon attacks. But an Oath of Redemption or an Oath of Ancients paladin should consider more their options, since their spells from 1st and 2nd spell level are really potent. Things like Sanctuary, Hold Person, Ensnaring Strike, Moonbeam and Misty Step are all amazing options to have.

[kmoustakas]

I would argue you want the order cleric to cast bless on the paladin with voice of authoritah and the pally to bonus action shield of faith and rush to the middle of things

[Kingofredeyes]

Never played a Paladin but I do know as a Cleric I tend to upcast bless to cover as much of my group as possible and the amount of attacks I have seen go from misses by 1-2 that suddenly turn into full damage sneak attacks, paladin smites, etc is pretty crazy. Our GM has started to just zerg me as much as possible to break my concentration simply because he gets so annoyed at how much work Bless has been doing at our table.

[antongrigoryev]

6:42
Staff is only Arcane/Druidic focus. It won't work for Paladins as they need a Holy Symbol for Focus. Some DMs may allow using a shield with it as a focus, however. But generally, for Paladins there's no difference between spear or quarterstaff.