Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="ezo" data-source="post: 9370133" data-attributes="member: 7037866">Then don't quote me in your post? If you quote me, it seems like you are, in fact, addressing me unless you make it clear you aren't. Otherwise, I will continue to read it that you are. Which, in fact, is the reason why 90+% of people quote a post: to reply directly to them, to expound on the quoted point, etc. I don't often see someone quoting another's post "just for kicks and giggles." <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />Your views and experiences are most definitely in the minority. To be clear, I am NOT saying majority/popularity makes something "true" or valid--so let's not go there?It is subjective, like the vast amount of everything in life. You feel the way you do? Fine. Most people won't agree with you.And frankly, it depends on what you are trying to do with those spell slots. With all the other casters typically in most games, paladins have little to do with their spell slots other than smiting most of the time.I still don't know them, nor do I know or care about whatever "rating" system they came up with or use. It is all subjective, and even so, now I know "two", you and them.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f644.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":rolleyes:" title="Roll eyes    :rolleyes:"  data-smilie="11"data-shortname=":rolleyes:" />No, I said:So, stop misreading me, please. I very rarely (see what I am doing here?) deal in absolutes--it isn't in my alignment or personality (no Sith here, thank you!).Paladins have something like over 50 spells I believe? You keep talking about a handful or two, so what 10-20% of spells you consider better than smiting? I would say that the remaining 80-90% of the other spells falls with my quantifier of "pretty much" in terms of any paladin spells.Smites deal damage--that's it. So comparing them to spells which don't deal damage is inconsequential. Is a 3rd-level smite "more powerful" than revivify? Well, if your goal with the spell slot is to deal damage, of course it is! But if your goal is to return a recently deceased creature to life, of course it is not.It is your belief what "most would consider", not mine, and certainly not fact. I can only judge by my own experiences and those others relate to me. How many people are you discussing this with here to seem to disagree with your premise that smite isn't that powerful, for instance?Sometimes paladin spells have their uses, certainly, otherwise they wouldn't be spellcasters at all. But I have very often seen paladin players hold onto slots to purposefully use for smites when the time comes. They know and understand the incredible value of being able to smite.Smite, in and of itself, is fantastic for damage (which is all it does). The extra d8 or two (on criticals) a smite can do over what a spell does of the same level is most often better than any rider a spell might have. You have all the different "smite" spells, which rarely (VERY) have ever seen the light of day in any game I've been part of.The true game breaking (yes, game breaking) power of smites is in the critical hit. The vast damage potential a paladin can do in a single strike is overwhelming to the targets, often finishing them off IME. Is it costly, certainly, but from a DMs perspective it can ruin an encounter. Of course, the same can be said of sneak attack in that respect.Anyway, I've already wasted too much time on this. Happy gaming! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

Verification