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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DM_Blake" data-source="post: 3911611" data-attributes="member: 57267">Many people seem hung up on the smite+heal or smite+AC mechinic. There are comments about how it doesn't make sense that a paladin can swing at a monster and, hit or miss, some random friend 20' away gets a bonus to AC.And those people are right, assuming the AC bonus has a cause/effect relationship with the attack. But it is not a cause/effect relationship. The attack does not casue the side effect.Think of it this way.In a world where magic actually works, and people learn how to control magic to the greatest effect, it stands to reason that users of magic would find ways to do more than one thing at once. It's just more efficient.Why shouldn't a wizard learn how to cast a single spell that gives him Mage Armor, Mirror Image, and Blur, all at once, and casts Magic Missile at an enemy. Very efficient. Imagine the first round of combat with such a mage. He gets up 3 powerful defensive spells and he blasts an enemy with an attack spell.If wizards COULD do this, they absolutely WOULD do this.Of course, it is hard to balance game mechanics. If the real world is a game, then the game designer keeps everything balanced and nobody gets the ability to do things that everyone cannot do. So, in D&D, because it is a game, wizards cannot combine all of that into a single spell.But if it were real life, you can bet some wizards would be looking for a way to do exactly that.Same goes for these paladin smites.Paladins want to smite enemies. Paladins want to heal allies. Paladins want to shield their companions from harm.So, they've finally figured out a way to combine some of these effects into a single prayer to their god.I think that's a fairly cool idea from a viewpoint of roleplaying. Finally people can actually manipulate magic, or divine channeling, to make it efficient, rather than just memorizing age-old formulas to do one thing at a time.What will be really cool is when all the other classes learn how to do this too. Maybe wizards will be able to combine effects like I described. Maybe clerics can bless and cure in a single round. Maybe rogues can pick pocket and sneak attack at the same time. Maybe fighters can trip and disarm at the same time.Now, finally, the characters, NPCs, and monsters are taking control of magic and making it work for them, instead of following straightjacket rules.</blockquote>

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