D&D 5E The Paladin excerpt

[Agamon]

So Divine Smite works on everyone now? Well...so much for him being on "Team Good Guy"

It works better on undead and demons.

It's not arbitrary restrictions on abilities that make him on Team Good Guy, it's his oath.

 

[Andor]

So Divine Smite works on everyone now? Well...so much for him being on "Team Good Guy"

He is on team "I kick ass for the lord!"

 

[Gladius Legis]

So Divine Smite works on everyone now? Well...so much for him being on "Team Good Guy"

Don't smite things that aren't actively out to kill you. Done.

And not everything that is out to kill you is going to be of evil alignment.

 

[Zhaleskra]

Really? Considering that alignment no longer has mechanical effects at all (no more detect evil!), this would surprise me.

So Divine Smite works on everyone now? Well...so much for him being on "Team Good Guy"

I approve of both of these changes. Smite X should just be Smite, take Alignment mechanics out of the equation.

 

[mlund]

Hating evil doesn't mean you are good. It just means you hate evil.

Maybe you hate yourself, but have a job to do killing worse people. Maybe your ideal world would be the one that starts the moment after you fall on your own sword - because you were the last monster left.

Evil Paladin is actually pretty easy to contrast with a Blackguard.

- Marty Lund

 

[gyor]

You know what's funny I used to think the Divine Smite feature sucked because it was functionally like a spell, why wasn't it just a spell, its not really any better then the spell smites. Then it donned on me that its not a spell so you can use a spell smite like wrathful smite and divine smite at the same time, it doesn't take a bonus action. So if you want to smite and say shield bash or twf with your bonus action you can. Or Cast a spell and smite in the same turn. And it has no verbal, somatic, or material compentents so it can be messed with on that front. I can't believe it took me so long to catch on.

 

[drjones]

There is nothing inherent about smiting that says the target has to be evil or committing evil acts, it's just someone the god approves of killing. And the god themselves might not be good.

 

[Agamon]

There is nothing inherent about smiting that says the target has to be evil or committing evil acts, it's just someone the god approves of killing. And the god themselves might not be good.

Yup. We have a paladin of Tempus in our group. Alive and in the way of his swinging axe is qualifier enough.

 

[Morlock]

Paladins and alignment is easily and properly house-ruled: Paladins are LG. There, done. I'd add "human, elf, or half-elf only" too, because I'm a bigot. I just don't see the stunty-race Paladin thing, and orcs and half-orcs? Uhm, no.

Am I the only one that cringed and then face palmed over the half-orc paladin?

Nope! Thief, Assassin, Barbarian,[fill in evil class here], there are plenty of appropriate places to put orcish character art. It's fine on the cover of Dragon or whatever, but not in the PHB as the first, archetypical illustration.

To my mind, it's dependent on whether you view alignment as the sum of your actions or the sum of your ideals. The ideal a paladin aims for might be LG, but he has his personal issues that might make him LN or NG. Or his sworn ideals might not be LG at all, an Oath of Vengeance towards wrongdoers strikes me as CG, personally (although I understand there are differing interpretations). I think the important part of the paladin's oath is that it represents something she strives for, even it proves to be an impossible goal.

To my mind, alignment reflects action, not thought. And I think of Paladin as a very strict class, one where backsliders can observe from afar and do their striving as fighters.

The Oath of Vengeance seems very much Batman to me. Was Batman lawful good?

I do have that much room for interpretation in the Paladin; his LG need not be everyone else's LG. Lawful changes from one jurisdiction to the next and I don't think the Paladin (or any other LG character) need or should change along with.

I think this will be it, short of houserules or DMG-inspired class hybridization. Want to be a non-casting Paladin? Just burn all your spell slots on smites. Done. A tiny lizard told me rangers might also have a way of burning spell slots, but we'll see what makes it into the PHB.

I think the burn spell slots on class abilities thing is an inspired way to let people play spell-less versions of spellcasting classes. It would be nifty to seal the deal with an extra crumb or two for characters incapable of using those slots on spells, though.

 

[pkt77242]

Paladins and alignment is easily and properly house-ruled: Paladins are LG. There, done. I'd add "human, elf, or half-elf only" too, because I'm a bigot. I just don't see the stunty-race Paladin thing, and orcs and half-orcs? Uhm, no.



Nope! Thief, Assassin, Barbarian,[fill in evil class here], there are plenty of appropriate places to put orcish character art. It's fine on the cover of Dragon or whatever, but not in the PHB as the first, archetypical illustration.



To my mind, alignment reflects action, not thought. And I think of Paladin as a very strict class, one where backsliders can observe from afar and do their striving as fighters.



I do have that much room for interpretation in the Paladin; his LG need not be everyone else's LG. Lawful changes from one jurisdiction to the next and I don't think the Paladin (or any other LG character) need or should change along with.



I think the burn spell slots on class abilities thing is an inspired way to let people play spell-less versions of spellcasting classes. It would be nifty to seal the deal with an extra crumb or two for characters incapable of using those slots on spells, though.

So you think that Paladins should be LG and that elves should be Paladins while dwarves shouldn't? Yet elves are by nature more chaotic and dwarves more lawful, and your reasoning is you don't see the "stunty-race" Paladin thing? Wow, I hope that isn't the logic you use with you players. Why can't they play a "stunty-race" Paladin or half-orc Paladin? Because it doesn't fit your view of a Paladin? Why can't a half-orc be a LG Paladin or a dwarf be a LG Paladin?