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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marandahir" data-source="post: 9036493" data-attributes="member: 6803643">They said they want to separate the Paladin and the Ranger more, that the Paladin should be melee not Ranged. That suggests they want to define it more and they got feedback that Ranged Paladins were stepping too much on Rangers. That's my reading of the what they were saying in the video, but you're right that the video doesn't outright state "no Archery-style Paladins."But if you're an Archery Fighting Style Paladin but can only smite when you wack them with the blunt side of your bow or a different weapon, are you really able to fulfill your character type? I feel like the closest I can currently get to the Kagome/Kikyo style purifying sacred arrow exorcist character are Bow Clerics (where the archetypal concept abilities are expressed in subclasses that don't get Martial Weapon proficiency and default to Potent Spellcasting, though Divine Strikes optional feature helps mitigate the issue) and the Monster Hunter Ranger, which again has a TASTE of what I'm trying to get at but is really more akin to the Matt Mercer homebrew class "Blood Hunter" than to a Ranged Sacred Exorcist. I think if you can't play a version of your character concept at 1st level it's really not a viable option. Even if you don't have special abilities that support your concept, even just being able to utilise the core class feature on your play style is the critical factor. A Warlock may have already made their pact with a demon or archfey etc at 1st level, it's just that the boon from the patron didn't kick in until 3rd. But they still could flavor their spells in a fiendish or fey way at that time. A Paladin who refuses to touch melee weapons and only fights at range can't use their divine smite for however many levels it takes to get to the subclass feature where that option opens up. That's bad-wrong-fun game design, and it's anathema to the game of D&D. If someone at my table wanted to play such a character I'd immediately house rule that they could do divine smites, but ONLY on their ranged attack and not their melee attacks. But that's because it's my table. If I'm playing that character at a table that ONLY uses official core rulebook rules, then I'm out of luck.</blockquote>

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