Sorry I should have stated thrown melee weapons, not ranged!
What I was thinking about as I wrote was javelins(or spears). But also dagger, light hammer and handaxe should apply!
So As far as I can tell these weapons should be able to to inflict divine smite and improved divine smite when thrown at an enemy?
That's half right. When thrown, these weapons are melee weapons making a ranged attack. In fact, that's what the "thrown" property means.
http://www.5esrd.com/equipment/weapons#weapons-properties-thrown said:
Thrown: If a weapon has the thrown property, you can throw the weapon to make a ranged attack. If the weapon is a melee weapon, you use the same ability modifier for that attack roll and damage roll that you would use for a melee attack with the weapon. For example, if you throw a handaxe, you use your Strength, but if you throw a dagger, you can use either your Strength or your Dexterity, since the dagger has the finesse property.
Improved Divine Smite works on attacks with melee weapons (sometimes called "melee-weapon attacks"), so it works when you throw your javelin. However, Divine Smite itself specifies a melee weapon attack, which means "not a spell attack and not a ranged attack", so it doesn't work with thrown javelins. Why not? Who knows? That's just how the rules work. As I said in post #8, one of the great deficiencies of 5E is that it creates these jargony distinctions but never explains the underlying fantasy physics creating the distinction.
As for smiting not to be the best idea always I agree. But on pure damage its great slot for slot compared to spells, because the paladins spells just arent that powerfull!Also if you use the slot for spells or smite, you still use it, so its more about the situation then the need for saving slots. As for better roleplaying on the other hand, im all for spells over smite!
Paladin spells are pretty cool IMO. Take Wrathful Smite, for example. Not only do you get a bit of extra psychic damage (1d6) out of it, you also have a chance of taking one enemy completely out of the fight. Frightened enemies can't move towards you and get disadvantage on all attack rolls and ability checks while you're in line of sight,
including the ability check to overcome Wrathful Smite. And enemies with Wisdom save proficiency obviously don't get that bonus against the Wrathful Smite wisdom check, because it isn't a save. What this means in real life is that if the target fails the initial saving throw, the spell basically lasts for as long as your concentration does. All you have to do is step back a pace or two and now that enemy is completely unable to approach you until you lose concentration--if it doesn't have spells or missile weapons it has no real option but to flee.
Or compare Thunderous Smite to Divine Smite. You can either do 9 points of damage with Divine Smite, or do 7 points of damage with Thunderous Smite
and knock the enemy away and prone (Strength save to avoid). Unless you were doing something else with your bonus action already, or you're fighting something so horrendously strong that it will never fail the save, or you're in a ranged-heavy party and want enemies
not to go prone to make them easier to hit, you'd pretty much always rather Thunderous Smite than Divine Smite.
Don't even get me started on how Smiting 3rd level spell slots (18 points of damage) is vastly inferior to healing 70 points of damage with Aura of Vitality. (140 points of healing if you're a Paladorc w/ Extended Spell.) 70 points of damage is probably more damage than the monster does in two full rounds, which means it's like buying two rounds of at-will attacks from
everyone in the party. That ought to be 100 points of damage or more, which is way better than 18 points of damage.