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<blockquote data-quote="Bacon Bits" data-source="post: 8952236" data-attributes="member: 6777737"><p>As far as I know they did errata the Weapons table to remove Unarmed Attack from it. Like it's gone from current printings, it's not in the SRD, and it's not in D&D Basic. The whole weapon attack vs melee weapon attack vs unarmed attack vs attack action vs attack roll vs attack <em>thing </em>is some incredibly frustrating, noodley, and not particularly useful semantics. It feels like it's a darling of someone on the design team at WotC, because otherwise it's just a series of really dumb distinctions to draw. It's a level of nuance and precision that does not serve the game well.</p><p></p><p>That said, I've never seen a DM even bat an eye at unarmed smite. First because it essentially never comes up, and second because it's actually pretty cool.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think it's fine because not all paladins are humans in full plate anymore.</p><p></p><p>That said, I doesn't look like they've really done anything to address Dex being so potent in combat except to nerf the big ranged feats (which is a significant change).</p><p></p><p>Mechanically they kind of don't make sense, but only if you think the smite comes from the paladin, and not their deity or power. Imagine being an elven paladin whose every arrow has a thin gold wire spiraled around it. When the arrow strikes, a bolt of energy strikes the target from the heavens.</p><p></p><p>I'm not particularly concerned here, I guess. It's potent and continues to discourage melee, which isn't good. But, it's really Sharpshooter and Archery Fighting Style that really keep ranged combat so good.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I expected this and was only surprised that they similarly included spellcasting in the limitation. But I think it was needed, and I'm kind of frustrated they didn't make this change in 2016. Quite honestly, I don't understand why Divine Smite isn't just a first level spell, and then give paladin a class feature that gives a bonus 1d8 damage when casting a Smite of some kind. It's honestly even sillier now than it was before.</p><p></p><p>Or, I don't know, give Paladin it's own spell list and then when other classes can steal spells default to only including "Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, or Druid." They've always had oddball spells on the half caster lists that don't always work well when you get them 8 levels earlier like 5th level spells. The current designs mean the classes get 5th level spells at level 17, but they're required to be as balanced as a spell you could get at level 9. Just stupid.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I think this is true of all bonus damage dice now. It's boring, but I guess the swingyness of crits is a thing.</p><p></p><p>Still, I'm not really sure why we need to nerf <em>PC</em> crits. Is there some D&D PVP arena out there? Elven Accuracy is so good that we need to nerf <em>crits </em>instead of issuing functional errata on the broken feat?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I agree, they're a better design now.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Bacon Bits, post: 8952236, member: 6777737"] As far as I know they did errata the Weapons table to remove Unarmed Attack from it. Like it's gone from current printings, it's not in the SRD, and it's not in D&D Basic. The whole weapon attack vs melee weapon attack vs unarmed attack vs attack action vs attack roll vs attack [I]thing [/I]is some incredibly frustrating, noodley, and not particularly useful semantics. It feels like it's a darling of someone on the design team at WotC, because otherwise it's just a series of really dumb distinctions to draw. It's a level of nuance and precision that does not serve the game well. That said, I've never seen a DM even bat an eye at unarmed smite. First because it essentially never comes up, and second because it's actually pretty cool. I think it's fine because not all paladins are humans in full plate anymore. That said, I doesn't look like they've really done anything to address Dex being so potent in combat except to nerf the big ranged feats (which is a significant change). Mechanically they kind of don't make sense, but only if you think the smite comes from the paladin, and not their deity or power. Imagine being an elven paladin whose every arrow has a thin gold wire spiraled around it. When the arrow strikes, a bolt of energy strikes the target from the heavens. I'm not particularly concerned here, I guess. It's potent and continues to discourage melee, which isn't good. But, it's really Sharpshooter and Archery Fighting Style that really keep ranged combat so good. I expected this and was only surprised that they similarly included spellcasting in the limitation. But I think it was needed, and I'm kind of frustrated they didn't make this change in 2016. Quite honestly, I don't understand why Divine Smite isn't just a first level spell, and then give paladin a class feature that gives a bonus 1d8 damage when casting a Smite of some kind. It's honestly even sillier now than it was before. Or, I don't know, give Paladin it's own spell list and then when other classes can steal spells default to only including "Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, or Druid." They've always had oddball spells on the half caster lists that don't always work well when you get them 8 levels earlier like 5th level spells. The current designs mean the classes get 5th level spells at level 17, but they're required to be as balanced as a spell you could get at level 9. Just stupid. I think this is true of all bonus damage dice now. It's boring, but I guess the swingyness of crits is a thing. Still, I'm not really sure why we need to nerf [I]PC[/I] crits. Is there some D&D PVP arena out there? Elven Accuracy is so good that we need to nerf [I]crits [/I]instead of issuing functional errata on the broken feat? I agree, they're a better design now. [/QUOTE]
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