I was responding to somebody who said Valor Bard is bad because its damage falls so far behind by pointing out your Magical Secrets choices at 10th level are important. Then the subject changed to multiclassing, which is a different beast entirely.
That's not a different subject, lol. We're comparing options, some options don't become invalid.
If you're not talking from actual experience with an MC'd Bardadin, you're theorycrafting. BTW, when you theorycraft, you have to take into account the odds of hitting & saving, e.g.
I'm talking experience playing bards and paladins, and DM'ing many builds. I didn't notice you were DM'ing as opposed to playing the class but that doesn't change you stated the paladin was using higher level spells because of a lack of cleric being the paladin's advantage.
Calling basic character options "theorycrafting" certainly doesn't dispute the "theory".
What you are presenting is anecdotal without support for it's validity or additional context.
As I said, for single-target damage, a 3rd-level smite beats Fireball. Fireball owns mobs, though. If you want to go for damage in 5e, don't be seduced by the seemingly large numbers of dice Wizard/Sorc spells have. Warriors rule.
They do rule in targeted damage. The large numbers of dice in both cases falls short of the abilities lost to focus on that damage. Throwing away slots that fast as a priority comes with an opportunity cost and it's a strategy that only works well in a 5MWD scenario.
I don't claim to be using slots for anything. I'm the DM. I have a player at my table who was a P2/B6 right up until the plague put the campaign on hiatus. He mostly smites. Sometimes, he uses his slots for other things. The full Paladin does the same. It's just one of them runs out of resources a lot quicker than the other.
And that contradicts your earlier comment regarding the what the paladin was doing with higher level paladin spells, ignores the abilities I mentioned for paladins that can be taken, and doesn't acknowledge any level other than 8th level.
It's not like the P2/B6 had extra attack and smite ability at the same time prior to 8th level. A straight paladin has extra attack 3 levels earlier and as I mentioned multiple times can easily pick up a bonus action attack. PAM cheese for example.
Yes, he's playing a front-line melee character, not back-line artillery, thanks for finally noticing. Also, you have no idea what classes my players should have chosen, or what twists and turns the campaign has taken to get them to where they're fighting off a demon invasion (although if you know ToEE, you might guess).
Well, to be fair you aren't enlightening me much either. I do know what fighting demons is like. Many have good saves and magic resistance and immunities. The don't have immunity to force damage from agonizing blast. Changing to attack roll spells bypasses spell resistance save benefits.
The fast that he's front line doesn't mean any comparison needs to be front line or it doesn't count. It's arguing "the best class" but refusing to allow for builds with a distinct advantage over one concept of "the best class".
A person cannot argue "this is the best/better build" by refusing to acknowledge other options available.
How is the party dealing with confusion, darkness, dispel magic, and other possibilities with glabrezu?
I must have misunderstood your point with this line. If you only use a smite when you actually hit I don't see how accuracy matters in the spell slot vs damage math.
It's because if the character hits twice the character can smite up to 2 times. If the character hits thrice the character can smite up to 3 times. If a person wants to nova by smiting then accuracy can make a big difference as to how many smites land. It's not that the smite gets lost so much as how fast they can be applied.
Paladins going smite nova can be hampered pretty fast by range or disadvantage.
