Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Smite Changes
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8954477" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>I mean, pretty much, nothing in D&D really maps to "reality" in any way, and everything about combat, from AC to hit points, to the turn order, is completely abstract beyond "being stabbed with sword enough times eventually kills you".</p><p></p><p>The fact that a given proud nail bothers some people isn't abnormal; if you see the game as more than just a "fantasy simulator" and want to achieve some level of immersion, then there's always going to be some weird thing that pulls you out of the illusion and disrupts verisimilitude.</p><p></p><p>I think we all have that "one thing" (or more than one thing; I have a list!) of stuff about the game that irks us. If it's simply a matter of finding a way for it to "make sense", that's one thing. But sometimes I see debates like this, and it seems more like some people want to use this as an excuse to nerf characters because of some perceived imbalance.</p><p></p><p>Now is the Paladin balanced? That's hard to say; in many respects, they might have the most resilient chassis of any class in 5e. They excel at hit points, defense, saves, they have decent burst damage, spellcasting that isn't 100% gimped like an Eldritch Knight, as well as a few immunities and party buffs. Seems pretty solid.</p><p></p><p>But actually playing one, you realize that spellcasting is poor because you're not really built to be a melee caster; until you find a way to bolster your concentration check, most spells you'd want to cast can fall off very quickly what with you being the target of bad guy's ire. The defensive options are nice, but you're a backup healer in a game where healing isn't great to begin with, and all you really do is chuck a bunch of dice at enemies until your tank runs dry and then you just say "I attack for middling damage" the rest of the session. (Limiting Smite to once per turn seems like a good thing for pacing, since as it is now, I see no reason not to Smite everything you can to end fights as soon as possible).</p><p></p><p>Which, if that's your bag, more power to you, but I don't find that terribly fun. Opening up Smite to non-standard builds is at least interesting, and I'm hoping subclasses will do something with this idea; maybe we'll get the Sacred Fist or the Divine Hunter!</p><p></p><p>The ability to wait until you know you're not going to waste your cool thing when you use it is nice, and I like how classes and subclasses that rely on hitting an enemy were given that consideration (Paladin with Smite, Monks with Stunning Strike, Battlemasters with their Maneuvers); it's already bad enough when you whiff in combat and do nothing for however many minutes it takes to get back to your turn, but losing your "I do a cool thing" resource on top of it just bites.</p><p></p><p>I would need a very good reason to want to see this changed beyond "it doesn't make sense to me", especially in a game where, as I said before, Wizards can totally react to hits after the fact to decide if they want something to hit them or not with Shield. And don't even get me started on Shield v. Magic Missile, lol.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 8954477, member: 6877472"] I mean, pretty much, nothing in D&D really maps to "reality" in any way, and everything about combat, from AC to hit points, to the turn order, is completely abstract beyond "being stabbed with sword enough times eventually kills you". The fact that a given proud nail bothers some people isn't abnormal; if you see the game as more than just a "fantasy simulator" and want to achieve some level of immersion, then there's always going to be some weird thing that pulls you out of the illusion and disrupts verisimilitude. I think we all have that "one thing" (or more than one thing; I have a list!) of stuff about the game that irks us. If it's simply a matter of finding a way for it to "make sense", that's one thing. But sometimes I see debates like this, and it seems more like some people want to use this as an excuse to nerf characters because of some perceived imbalance. Now is the Paladin balanced? That's hard to say; in many respects, they might have the most resilient chassis of any class in 5e. They excel at hit points, defense, saves, they have decent burst damage, spellcasting that isn't 100% gimped like an Eldritch Knight, as well as a few immunities and party buffs. Seems pretty solid. But actually playing one, you realize that spellcasting is poor because you're not really built to be a melee caster; until you find a way to bolster your concentration check, most spells you'd want to cast can fall off very quickly what with you being the target of bad guy's ire. The defensive options are nice, but you're a backup healer in a game where healing isn't great to begin with, and all you really do is chuck a bunch of dice at enemies until your tank runs dry and then you just say "I attack for middling damage" the rest of the session. (Limiting Smite to once per turn seems like a good thing for pacing, since as it is now, I see no reason not to Smite everything you can to end fights as soon as possible). Which, if that's your bag, more power to you, but I don't find that terribly fun. Opening up Smite to non-standard builds is at least interesting, and I'm hoping subclasses will do something with this idea; maybe we'll get the Sacred Fist or the Divine Hunter! The ability to wait until you know you're not going to waste your cool thing when you use it is nice, and I like how classes and subclasses that rely on hitting an enemy were given that consideration (Paladin with Smite, Monks with Stunning Strike, Battlemasters with their Maneuvers); it's already bad enough when you whiff in combat and do nothing for however many minutes it takes to get back to your turn, but losing your "I do a cool thing" resource on top of it just bites. I would need a very good reason to want to see this changed beyond "it doesn't make sense to me", especially in a game where, as I said before, Wizards can totally react to hits after the fact to decide if they want something to hit them or not with Shield. And don't even get me started on Shield v. Magic Missile, lol. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Smite Changes
Top