D&D 5E Eldritch Smite, Why?

[ManBagel]

I would like to know why it’s only warlock spell slots. I can use any spell slots for Paladin smites why not Eldritch smite? Would it be broken if I could smite with a sorcerer spell slot? 1st level slot on a long rest. That’s like a Paladin and warlock but on a long rest. So the question is the rest difference equal to no save prone?

 

[Weiley31]

I would like to know why it’s only warlock spell slots.

THE ONLY thing I can think the reason why is because the Warlock supposedly shines on short rests. Combine that with something like Paladin/Sorcerer multi-class and it could end up Novaing super hard!

And that apparently ruins fun. Or kills kittens or something.

 

[ManBagel]

I would argue that if you have gritty realism in your games then it should be allowed. Short rests are 8 hours and long rests are a week long is what I mean.

 

[DammitVictor]

Huh. When was this combo finally banned? I was pretty sure it was legal last time I played, because I thought it should be banned.

 

[TwoSix]

Huh. When was this combo finally banned? I was pretty sure it was legal last time I played, because I thought it should be banned.

The OP is referring to the Eldritch Smite warlock invocation from Xanathar's, which is similar to paladin smite but can only be powered by warlock spell slots.

As to the why, my assumption is that they realized letting paladins use any spell slot to smite was probably a bad idea, and had no desire to give the ability to yet another class.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Huh. When was this combo finally banned? I was pretty sure it was legal last time I played, because I thought it should be banned.

It's still legal - Eldritch Smite always had the restriction to Warlock slots.

Divine Smite (paladin) does not have the restiction because there's no such think as 'paladin slots' if you multiclass into another class with normal spellcasting - a sorcadin doesn't have separate paladin and sorcerer slots - so resticting the ability to paladin slots isn't really possible.

But you can still Divine Smite with Warlock slots, which can result in shenanigans. (It's only really broken if you have too few encounters between rests, but then again everything's broken when you have too few encounters between rests and players take advantage of that. )

 

[UngeheuerLich]

But you can still Divine Smite with Warlock slots, which can result in shenanigans. (It's only really broken if you have too few encounters between rests, but then again everything's broken when you have too few encounters between rests and players take advantage of that. )

Actually, Jeremy Crawford brougt it up and it it not clear at all. The multiclass ruleabout mixing pact magic and normal spellcasting only speaks about when you cast a spell you can mix and match as desired, it leaves out fueling class abilities with spell slots. And since it shuts down a lot of broken multiclass combos, I immediately adaped that reading.