New Design & Development: Paladin Smites!

[Gloombunny]

Nice trick, and thanks. Maybe there are indeed ways to get around their (ahem) "security" and actually read some of the 4e advertisements from their site.

The easy way is to click the "printer friendly" link at the bottom of each page.

 

[Stalker0]

I like these a lot!!

The big question of course is what is a charisma attack?

Is it an attack modified by charisma instead of strength....just a charisma check, a charisma check modified by a few things like your level bonus?

My guess is it will work very much like BO9S. Your number of manuevers won't go up very much, and as you increase in level you can start upgrading 1st level powers into higher ones.

I do like the charisma/wisdom parity. More charisma = more raw damage. More wisdom = more help to your friends. Both are viable in their own way. That's a kind of MAD I could really come to like.

 

[Yair]

I'm not sure I like this whole "I hit, and an ally gets X". Seems very strange, especially the "I miss, and an ally gets X". Yes, I suppose it could be prayers, but why does a prayer needs to be accompanied by a strike? And it doesn't seem to require even a verbal component, or concentration... it doesn't feel right. I'm also concerned it will lead to paladins attacking the mooks to activate their smite's secondary effects on an ally in need.

That won't stop me from buying the book and seeing how it all works in practice. But I don't think I'll like it.

 

[Merlin the Tuna]

I'm not sure I like this whole "I hit, and an ally gets X". Seems very strange, especially the "I miss, and an ally gets X". Yes, I suppose it could be prayers, but why does a prayer needs to be accompanied by a strike?

A paladin is a lodestone of the gods whose powers manifest most strongly during the channeling of a smite. In these moments, he can achieve greatness, working his will on himself, his companions, and his enemies.

AKA magic.

Imagine it like this. Most of the day, a Paladin is a regular dude. Maybe an unusually upstanding (or at least exceptionally devoted) dude, but a regular dude nonetheless. When Smiting Season rolls around, though, his magical mojo spikes and pours out of him. Crazy shenanigans ensue. Unless you're a bad guy, in which case cranial bleeding usually ensues.

 

[FadedC]

Seems like the paladin might be able to just "smite the air" to activate the 2nd part of his power if he really wanted to. I can't imagine him wanting to very often though...the true power of the ability seems to be the fact that it gives you a strong attack in addition to providing a bonus of some kind. Without the attack part, the effect seems intended to be minor (except maybe for the epic power).

 

[OakwoodDM]

But the 1st level smite actually scales (with normal weapon damage). It does just as much damage as the 13th level smite, and I'd argue that a AC bonus is worth more than a really very small amount of healing (for 13th level), which doesn't scale well, and actually becomes a smaller percentage of your hit points as you increase in level, no matter how small your HP increase is each level.

Heck, you aren't even healing the bonus hit points you get from the toughness feat, unless you have a wisdom modifer of +6! Since Safeguard would give you a +6 AC (even if just for a round), swapping Safeguard for Renewing seems a poor choice, if its possible.

That is, unless the Wis bonus to the Heal is the Wis bonus we saw on the Spined Devil card, and it's initial Wis bonus + Half level, in which case, it scales fairly nicely (and starts off essentially as 16 + initial wis bonus)

 

[Voss]

Meh. Even if (and I doubt it) that is true, that only keeps it at ~10% of a characters hit points. Thats perhaps a single hit from a normal weapon, and would lag far behind the damage capability of anyone with comparable abilities. As a once/encounter thing, that isn't much. It doesn't come close to a 10 to 15% shift in the odds that a character will get hit at all (from all attacks for a round) and thats what Safeguard smite will give you, even if you don't push Wisdom to truly unreasonable levels.

 

[Geron Raveneye]

Well, one thing is for sure...WotC has picked up the consolation-price strategy from different sports competitions. Missed your attack roll with that nifty class ability? No worries, it'll still have an effect on somebody. Makes me wonder if the fighter will be able to turn a near enough miss into decreased damage with some or other ability. Color me unimpressed. :\

 

[Voss]

One of the three smites has an effect on a miss.

But, yes, there is a fighter ability that inflicts a character's strength modifier in damage when he misses. whee.

 

[senna]

Meh. Even if (and I doubt it) that is true, that only keeps it at ~10% of a characters hit points. Thats perhaps a single hit from a normal weapon, and would lag far behind the damage capability of anyone with comparable abilities. As a once/encounter thing, that isn't much. It doesn't come close to a 10 to 15% shift in the odds that a character will get hit at all (from all attacks for a round) and thats what Safeguard smite will give you, even if you don't push Wisdom to truly unreasonable levels.

True, but it could help a ally that droped to negatives and put him in shape again, or could heal the wizard who is being scorshed with fire in the back of the party, in witch case a bonus to ca would notbe too helpfull. It´s very situacional and both are usefull in the right context, but the first is more so i admit. What is nice because that first level power will still see use as you go upin level.