I'll contest your Smite>Bless in tier 1 claim by noting that you probably didn't give bless enough credit! After all, trying to burst a target down in tier 1 also means you risk missing. For example, take a Level 3, Longsword Dueling Paladin+2 Casters with Firebolt. Attack+on hit first Smite: 1d8+5+2d8, 18.5 damage on hit, approx ~10 damage on average vs AC 15. Bless: 0.15*2d10 = approx 1.5 damage immediately, and 3 per turn afterwards. Damage wise, it'll catch up in 4 turns. And, this is the worst example I could possibly give for bless damage. There's no other martials, no BA attacks or Extra Attack, no PAM, no -5/+10, nothing. Still almost as good as your best case. And this isn't accounting for the fact that the saving throw half of of Bless is BETTER than the attack roll half, especially when most of the things you desperately want to burst are saving throw based. Take that enemy wizard for example, you've just improved the chances of your team saving against their nastiness by like 15%, on top of the extra damage! Speaking of extra damage, you dunno how right you are about -5/+10 affecting Bless value As an example, Level 5, with a Longsword Paladin+GWM Fighter+Fire Bolt Wizard Smite: 17.6 damage on turn 1 Bless: 7.2 damage on turn 1, ~10 damage on turn 2. That's only 1 extra round before you reach parity with Smiting, on top of the saving throw buff, on top of, you know, every future round afterwards. Bless is insane. You should cast it more.

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

This is correct. Thank you! Pinned.

@NQWG

2 жыл бұрын

4 rounds is a lot, smite might allow you to eliminate a creature in 1-2 rounds which means you can now double team another creature. You also have to maintain a concentration on bless, and if you are a front liner you might lose it in the same round you cast it. Blessing a wizard isn't too bad but you reduce the damage part of bless, and bless being concentration doesn't allow you to use cooler paladin spells like wrathful smite, aura of vitality, crusaders mantle etc.

@WhyYouMadBoi

2 жыл бұрын

@@PackTactics Also Paladins use divine focus not arcane focus. Divine focus doesn't need to be held at all it just need to be out and exposed to work

@Necroes

2 жыл бұрын

Bless really isn't that good for paladins, friend; 1.) It's only that good if there are sufficient targets. The average party size is 4-5 players. Assuming half of them prefer ranged combat, there's a good chance they won't be in range of the spell when it's cast. This is doubly true as a paladin, as paladins are almost always near the front lines. If you're only getting 2 targets with bless, it's not nearly as good. 2.) Bless doesn't actually add damage. It adds to-hit. If your chances to hit are already very good-as is quite common for physical attacking classes-then what you want is damage. Which is why the GWM feat is so common; an excess of to-hit, without enough damage. Paladins don't need to worry about low damage, because they can smite. 3.) It requires concentration, which means the chances of the paladin maintaining it as a front liner are very low. Either they'll be fighting a single target, which will deal a lot of damage and require a high DC constitution save to make the check-which paladins aren't proficient in-or they'll be fighting several smaller targets, and if they all attack, then the paladin will be called on to make many such saves. 4.) Bless has somatic components, meaning you have to have a free hand open to cast it. While you can draw OR sheath a weapon as part of another action, doing both in the same turn is an action to perform. Meaning you have to choose between having a weapon in hand, not using a shield, or casting bless. If you prefer a shield as a paladin-which is Very common-then it's a less attractive option. 5.) If someone else in the party has the bless spell, the benefits don't stack. If that party member is in a better position to use it than the paladin is-quite likely, as the paladin will be on the front line-then casting bless does nothing. Beings as bless IS a very good spell, it's quite likely someone else will have it. 6.) Bless isn't guaranteed damage, but still requires a slot. If a paladin makes use of bless, but no one benefits from it before they lose concentration, the spell slot is wasted. Smite is only wasted if you didn't need the extra damage to deliver the killing blow, which is something easily avoided by paying attention to the amount of damage already dealt. 7.) Once you reach level 5, Smite receives a huge damage boost, as it can then happen twice a turn. It requires double the slots, but if it means ending a threat in one turn it's generally very worth it. Bless, by contrast, means spending a turn not attacking at all. 8.) Your calculations on damage don't account for fighting undead or fiends, which receive additional damage from smite. As undead and fiends are very common enemies, your calculations become wrong on a regular basis. Conclusion: Let the cleric cast bless, paladins have better things to do with their slots. Like cast Shield of Faith as a bonus action, then draw their sword and charge into combat to smite first-turn.

@WhyYouMadBoi

2 жыл бұрын

@@Necroes You shouldn't smite twice in one turn unless it's a big obvious boss enemy and it's on turn 1-2. Don't make it a habit to smite twice a turn. Yeah it doesn't show undead or finds because that's not every enemy. So this is for more enemies that you will face. So no the calcs aren't wrong. You can in fact take a hand off a two handed weapon to do somatic components and then put your hand back. The only issue is if you're using a sword and board.

"Should you smite on every crit? No!" Me: "It's part of my oath, I don't make the rules"

@KajiinSkyrim

2 жыл бұрын

and you should always shout : "For Kingdom and Glory!" when it happens otherwise you will break the oath

@couragew6260

2 жыл бұрын

“You’re the one who agreed to the oath!”

@kolinaspronok

2 жыл бұрын

@@KajiinSkyrim FOR THE EMPEROR

@DoomsdayR3sistance

2 жыл бұрын

should you smite every crit? no.... but it sure as heck does feel nice to do it anyways!.... so what if the boss only had 12 HP left, smiting them down for 2d8+5 slashing damage, +10d8 radiant damage still feels nicer as you hitting for that average 59 damage compared to the average 23 damage you'd do from 2d8+5 slashing, +2d8 radiant as an 11th level paladin. And if you get good rolls the feeling of hitting that poor creature for over 70 damage XD!

@Koscum

2 жыл бұрын

You also took Oath of Critfishing?

"You shouldnt go for that round 6 crit smite, its overkill" bro thats WHY we smite on it

@shorewall

2 жыл бұрын

Overkill points go on the leaderboard. :D

@austinrobinson6065

2 жыл бұрын

Literally did this and my dm was like, "he had 5 hp left" I didn't bat an eye baby

@salvadortoscano2534

2 жыл бұрын

@@austinrobinson6065 My response: So he's dead, right??

@mugenokami2201

2 жыл бұрын

@@salvadortoscano2534 not dead enough

@salvadortoscano2534

2 жыл бұрын

@@mugenokami2201 Exactly

"Smite too much?" There is no such thing as too much smite! *BLASPHEMOUS!*

@TheWickedSir

2 жыл бұрын

Cast a smite spell with your divine smite for maximum smite!… you will burn through all of your slots in just a few short bursts, so make sure to have your recovery time. Still, the sooner you end a fight the better!

@Drekromancer

2 жыл бұрын

H E R E T I C ! kzread.info/dash/bejne/e3l70ZZqZJeZmaw.html

@derigel9783

2 жыл бұрын

Deus Vult!

@albertgore7435

2 жыл бұрын

Also applies to League of Legends Junglers

@acridharbor6253

2 жыл бұрын

@@albertgore7435 TRUE!!!

wotc: thats a nice 1st level spell list for the plaladin... ...would be a shame if they were oh I don't know ... ALL concentration.

@lucas_lipp

2 жыл бұрын

The bane of my existence, at least once I noticed.

@DoomsdayR3sistance

2 жыл бұрын

at least bless improves your concentration saving throws... which is a real blessing early on. Ok... I'll show myself out for that one!

@christopherjones7191

2 жыл бұрын

Just bless and hold it. Everything else is smite.

@MiniEnder

2 жыл бұрын

When I played a ranged paladin this was the bane of my existence.

Mage: casts Hold Person Paladin (bellows to the heavens): It's free real estate.

@zealotoftheorchard9853

2 жыл бұрын

i would drop my shield and take out my other short sword

@adepressedcatwithabadnicot246

10 ай бұрын

Had this happen the other day, round 1, 1 hit kill with 52 damage. It was glorious!

@attemptedunkindness3632

10 ай бұрын

Smite early. Smite often. Smite life. Smite coffin. Hold Person? Smite both them. Smite wizard and then held person. Praise god. Smite god. Smite until it's worth it, smite until it's perfect!

“You don’t need to smite on round six, it is overkill.” My party fighting an adult dragon at level 10: “are you sure about that, because I’m not”

@Le_GingerBeardMan

2 жыл бұрын

That was my first thought haha

@sergioaugusto166

2 жыл бұрын

Always make the most out of a crit especially vs a boss that survived to round 6

@Grimmlocked

2 жыл бұрын

John cena “are you sure about that”

@Janders3000

2 жыл бұрын

Level 10? How about level 8, like in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, then again 1 level later.

@Michael-bn1oi

2 жыл бұрын

At lvl 10? They should be making an absute joke out of that dragon lol seen lvl 6 parties mop up adults

Paladin: "I cast Command!" DM: "Ok. What command do you give them?" Paladin: "Run." *heavy music*

@timmartin6885

Жыл бұрын

You just made me think of this scene. kzread.info/dash/bejne/f2WTq9RvmbG5nZc.html

@paulcoy9060

Жыл бұрын

Dude, setting up my phone to play *heavy music* would be the highlight of the session. More of my NPCs will have Command from now on.

my favorite smite quote is "smit never misses" (because you declare smite after a hit, therefore you can't miss)

@megashark1013

2 жыл бұрын

Well actually you declare it after the roll, but before the DM says if it hits or misses. But unless you're dumb or the enemy you're fighting has unexpectedly high AC, you're still unlikely to miss.

@letsplaysvonaja1714

2 жыл бұрын

@@megashark1013 "Starting at 2nd Level, when you hit a creature with a melee weapon Attack, you can expend one spell slot to deal radiant damage to the target, in addition to the weapon's damage." A hit should be a hit, no?

@lordfelidae4505

2 жыл бұрын

@@megashark1013 no, it’s after you hit.

@wesleywyndam-pryce5305

2 жыл бұрын

@@megashark1013 oof

@rodrigoa.m3566

2 жыл бұрын

@@megashark1013 oof

I find this hilarious honestly. My favorite Paladin I’ve ever played is a BLUE Kobold who’s whole battle plan is magic weapon, the devotion pally sacred weapon ability, and just swings away. I try to save my smites for the nat 20 (as you can decide AFTER you roll when to use it) For anyone who read this far: he is called “Sir Pelius, the Blue”

@silverwyhrecat5

2 жыл бұрын

That's funny because I have a kobold rogue the party picked up that ended up getting knighted for killing a half dragon. His name is Sir Trabik Blueslayer.

@musicalsystem927

2 жыл бұрын

Never played a kobold, but I have a half-elf paladin. Took on animated scarecrows in a 2v1 at level... 5? It's been a bit. He killed each with one attack with searing smite on the first, and divine on the second. Yeah... and this is a dex-based paladin, BTW.

I Smite too much? I Smite every time I interact with objects, eat food? smite the food with your fork, your dm might say nooo you cant do that your foods not a creature. But one day that object will be a mimic and you will have saved yourself a lot of trouble.

@MsNathanv

2 жыл бұрын

You find your tongue adheres strangely to the peanut butter sandwich.

@drunkendwarf5264

2 жыл бұрын

Noooooo my ultimate survival guide has failed

Im only 7 months into dnd, and im running my own game for friends. Your shit helps balance combat so much thanks man. Keep the videos coming, 10/10

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

Damn, thats good, that makes me feel good! Thank you! I haven't even given any DM advices but I do know what you mean. If you understand the players and what their features and spells can do then you'll have a good idea what to throw at them and what not to. Before I got into DMing, I just calculated classes. It was hell but I'm happy I did it and now I slowly want to share my player knowladge to everyone both from experience practically and theoretically. This helps everyone grow including myself. Thank you!

Golly, Wrathful Smite is an action Wisdom *check?* With frightened that's amazing! :OOO But thank you for bringing up the Damage Now vs. Damage Later argument. There's absolutely right times to smite, especially if it's to drop a big damage dealer early. Always a fan of your work o7

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

Fan of your work to! Sub to Wintry Wyvern, guys!

@antongrigoryev6381

2 жыл бұрын

Yes. Only the initial save is a save, further ones are checks. This means they get a disadvantage, but also that they *can't have proficiency* with it, even if they are proficient in Wis saves. Not only that, it takes *an action* to try to end the effect. Wrathful Smite is one of the best single-target control spells in the game.

@someoneonyoutube8622

2 жыл бұрын

You can actually use divine smite on top of wrathful smite given that wrathful smite is a bonus action and divine smite is included in the attack action with no action required to activate it. Same with eldritch smite if you dip into warlock so if you stack those up you can at most do 5 smites per turn Stacking divine eldritch and smite spell on one attack and divine and eldritch on another. That’s potentially 12d8 and knock the target prone (or 13d8 if undead or fiend) + smite spell damage and effect (5d10 for banishing smite) + weapon damage. Assuming you’re using a greatsword and the creature is undead or fiend. That’s on average 73 to 83 damage and you get to knock the target prone depending on if you use searing smite or banishing smite. Searing smite is 73 on average for initial damage but it has a lingering effect of fire damage each round so after 4 rounds the average damage would be above 83.

@loganricard8713

2 жыл бұрын

Subbed, not because you said so, but because of the profile pic

@holykonchu7250

2 жыл бұрын

@@someoneonyoutube8622 become randy savage and just give then the noogy of GOD

Funny enough, we fought 6 ghosts as 4 level 8 players without a cleric and it was awesome! (Complicated and deadly, but awesome)

A paladin never smites too much, nor do they smite too little. A paladin smites precisely when they mean to.

My DM noticed I was crit-fishing on my paladin, saving my smites for when I hit a crit, and also noticed that at level 14 I hadn't changed any of my magic items out since I'd gotten a pretty standard loadout that worked well for me, and she wanted to give me something that mattered. She gave me a vorpal axe. Now, if I crit, I decapitate the dude I'm fighting, which removes any desire I ever had to save my smites, since I know that my crits are usually OHKOs anyway now, so I feel a lot more empowered to use em just... whenever.

@keykiq

2 жыл бұрын

Nat 20 instakill is not OP at all lmao

@MissingNovice

2 жыл бұрын

@@keykiq It is absolutely OP, but our DM has a habit of giving us a bunch of magic items and then just giving us really strong encounters anyway XD This just opened me up to actually using my smites more liberally is all, because I absolutely was that dude that always waited for a crit.

@keykiq

2 жыл бұрын

@@MissingNovice If it works at your table, good for u =)

@MrKostrom

2 жыл бұрын

Good call on not upgrading until you get something serious. Some of our best items don't seem all that special to others.

@Drekromancer

2 жыл бұрын

She sounds like a lovely DM!

Never played a Paladin but I do know as a Cleric I tend to upcast bless to cover as much of my group as possible and the amount of attacks I have seen go from misses by 1-2 that suddenly turn into full damage sneak attacks, paladin smites, etc is pretty crazy. Our GM has started to just zerg me as much as possible to break my concentration simply because he gets so annoyed at how much work Bless has been doing at our table.

I would argue you want the order cleric to cast bless on the paladin with voice of authoritah and the pally to bonus action shield of faith and rush to the middle of things

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

You wouldn't need to argue.

@XanderHarris1023

2 жыл бұрын

You would just need to find a table with a pally and a cleric. Often times, depending on build, they can fulfill the same role so some tables might not see a need for both or there just aren't any players interested in playing those classes.

I say you smite too little. Always Smite, keep smiting, even if the situation is bad for it. Talking to the noble? SMITE HIM. Fighting a Deva? SMITE HIM. Exploring the ancient tomb of a dead god? SMITE THE TOMB. There is also Thunderous Smite. It deals 2d6 thunder damage (a little bit less than Divine Smite) and, against a Strength save, you make the enemy prone and push 10 feet away. While on some situations this may be bad, like when you have a group of sharpshooters, but on a group of melee fighters and if the push doesn't put people too far away, it can be really powerful. You have both the buff to hit from Bless and comparable damage to Smite. And the question of Smite or Not also depends a lot of the subclass you are playing. An Oath of Vengeance could justify spending only one spell slot with Bless or Shield of Faith and go insane with advantage attacks with his weapon attacks. But an Oath of Redemption or an Oath of Ancients paladin should consider more their options, since their spells from 1st and 2nd spell level are really potent. Things like Sanctuary, Hold Person, Ensnaring Strike, Moonbeam and Misty Step are all amazing options to have.

@kmoustakas

2 жыл бұрын

Smite all the things. When in doubt, smite.

@kalamander8563

2 жыл бұрын

Last time I play I was a paladin of conquest and one of my favorite moments was using thunderous smite to launch an enemy off a balcony into a gladiator pit. He was promptly killed by the monsters meant for us.

This reminds me of my very short lived first campaign. I never got to have that Crit-Smite moment, but using Thunderous Smite to threaten criminals was always fun (if an utter waste of a spell slot)

Thanks for clarifying paladins actually do have good spells. (although imo not that many to make full use of being a prepared caster)

Excellent breakdown, I love Paladins, and nobody else has made a video about tactics for them so I appreciate your smite and Paladin spell videos.

There is also divine favor, which is just baby's first smite. It's very conservative, lasting a minute and adding a d4 radiant to all weapon attacks. If you make a combo that allows for a bonus action attack, like duel wielding, then you get to basically add 3d4 (similar to d12), assuming you hit all attacks. If you average out and hit two, then you get 2d4 (similar to d8), if you just get 1 attack, it's a little boost to your already shitty turn. And if you get none, then you haven't wasted any spell slots by doing this. (Also, I just love bless on paladins, bless falls off for clerics after a little while, as they get more powerful spells to concentrate on, but paladins can find this as a great use of their concentration even throughout higher level play)

My current character is a Paladin of Redemption so I've been really sparse on actually smiting things. I use almost all of my spell slots on utility or buffs with my only smites coming when I get an impactful crit, so I've really come to appreciate the paladin spell list. It's got some really nice versatility, and when I'm real dumb and prepare a whole bunch of tracking/divination spells I still can fall back on the reliable damage of smite.

@bryanwoods3373

2 жыл бұрын

I think I did the same thing, though I had just played a paladin so much that I had an idea of what spells worked with my play style. Though one of my funnier moments with my Redemption Paladin was getting Friends cast on me in a tournament match and told to stop my party from attacking him. So I cast Calm Emotions, popped my Emissary of Peace for the bonus to Persuasion, and rolled to convince them not to attack. I knew it wasn't going to work. The others even gave me props for quickly coming up with it. And I used to do an arena thing. I quickly became noteworthy despite Redemption seeming like a non-combat subclass. I would use my different abilities to control some elements of how people were getting damaged. Besides knowing how to wreck others on my own. There were various bets that would be set up. I would use Rebuke the Violent in free-for-alls when one PC would attack another just so they'd also take damage. I might have done the same if there was an additional NPC monster and a PC attacked it. I'd use Aura of the Guardian when it was down to the wire with three of us depending on turn order. One PC would attack a weak one, so I'd take the damage. The weak PC would attack the other to hopefully drop them, and I would come in to drop the weak PC. All about knowing your class.

@ananonymousnerd.2179

Жыл бұрын

Same here... my only smite so far has been a thunderous smite to break a grapple that would have otherwise killed me next turn.

Thanks for drawing attention to this issue! Way too many paladin players (and not just new ones) just smite and smite and smite and before you know it, they're out of slots after the first encounter of the day and didn't cast any spells. They might as well be playing a fighter who is more effective than the average party member 10% of the time, and worse 90% of the time. Paladins have a very unique spell list and plenty of good options! Dealing an extra 2d8 damage with one weapon attack is an awful use of a 1st level slot. Waiting for a crit to deal an extra 4d8 damage is a decent use of the same slot but, often enough, not better than an actual 1st level spell would be. You need to carefully consider whether smite damage will actually make an appreciable difference in how quickly you will weaken or defeat the enemy you just hit. The vast majority of the time, it won't. Overkilling, or making the encounter one attack shorter, is not worth a spell slot.

@caiusdrakegaming8087

2 жыл бұрын

Problem is, Smite's literally the thing people pick paladin for. If you need to think about a good time to use Smite, you're more likely to just never use it at all and thus wasting your time playing the class instead of a fighter. That's why paladins just use Smite whenever they feel like it, even if it's not a 'good moment'. We're prepared castors too for fuck sake, so we're only preparing spells we know we're going to use anyways. If we prepare Smite, we're going to use the damn spell no matter what. This is why I say Smite should have been a cantrip for Paladin, it's the gimmick spell for the class same way as Eldritch Blast is the gimmick spell for warlocks. It'd also kill the argument of when a good time to use it would be, because you're not wasting a spell slot anymore thus it' ALWAYS a good time to use it.

@slayeroffurries1115

2 жыл бұрын

@@caiusdrakegaming8087 smite being a cantrip is a surprisingly good idea, specially since SCAB exists

@caiusdrakegaming8087

2 жыл бұрын

@@slayeroffurries1115 Exactly. I mean seriously, Smite is just the read and butter for paladins so it just makes sense for it to be a cantrip. I really also feel like there isn't ever a good or bad time to use Smite. It's all subjective anyways. Saving them for crits? Valid choice. Save them for undead or fiends? Valid choice. Spam them early in a fight so the full castors and supports don't need to waste more spell slots themselves during or after the fight? Valid choice. The last point there is something else I want to bring up. Paladins SUCK at being a healer. Paladin is built to be a frontline class like fighter or barbarian, all healing it does get is meant to help keep the frontline stable enough to keep going. Clerics get all the same healing spells as paladins, plus more on top of just having more spells to use in general. Paladins are a half caster class, just like rangers, thus we have the same spell slot limitation as them. Clerics are a full caster so they can go all the way to 9th level spells easy, and they just get all the stuff us paladins can get twice as fast. For us, a 5th level spell is late endgame, but for a cleric that same spell is just early midgame. Half casters don't worry about their spells as much, because it's so slow to get the actually good stuff that we just spam what we already got that works. That's why there's the joke that paladins are just Smite machines, because as a half caster the different Smites are honestly the best stuff we got. If we run out of spell slots, we still have our weapons. And we still have access to the big stuff unlike most full castors, so even without our spell slots we can still fight. Maybe not as great as we could with spell slots, but at least we're not helpless without them as a full castor would be.

@raymondsandalphonrahon6124

2 жыл бұрын

@@caiusdrakegaming8087 "Paladin suck at healing" Lay on hands: Am I a joke to you? No joke tho, they may not be the best but they're decent at healing, it just take an action to heal though which you can use your BA to cast smite spells.

@janus2773

2 жыл бұрын

life domain clerics basically get smite lite at level 8: "Divine Strike At 8th level, you gain the ability to infuse your weapon strikes with divine energy. Once on each of your turns when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cause the attack to deal an extra 1d8 radiant damage to the target. When you reach 14th level, the extra damage increases to 2d8." why paladins don't get something similar with the ability to increase this effect by a lot with a spell slot is beyond me

Thank you good sir for further spreading the needed information for us all to be the best Paladins we can be. You truly are a hero.

6:42 Staff is only Arcane/Druidic focus. It won't work for Paladins as they need a Holy Symbol for Focus. Some DMs may allow using a shield with it as a focus, however. But generally, for Paladins there's no difference between spear or quarterstaff.

@nathanielberele9174

2 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

Obviously the Paladin eventually multiclasses out to warlock or sorc.

@antongrigoryev6381

2 жыл бұрын

@@PackTactics Perhaps. However, I remembered another thing - that if the spell doesn't have Material Components, you RAW can't cast it with Focus. So "Quarterstaff is a Focus" would work only if the spell *does* have Material Component, while War Caster, which lets you perform Somatic component with weapons in hands, works only if the spell *doesn't* have Material component. So those two aren't interchangeable, you still need War Caster.

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

@@antongrigoryev6381 Correct. Component rules are really stupid.

@YourBoyNobody530

2 жыл бұрын

I think for clerics and paladins alike they should be able to use their spell focus without hands as why would you need to hold and amulet to cast a spell with it. Additionally, what exactly constitutes a holy symbol. However, I had a lot of fun playing a paladin with the tavernbrawler feat using my religious text as an improvised weapon which the DM made it do 1d10 radiant damage and allowed it to benefit from great weapon master because my character constantly said god is great no one realizing the Arabic translation of the term.

I'm actually going to play a paladin soon for the first time, and I appreciate now having an idea of when it is better to smite or cast a spell.

I'm really enjoying these D&D math videos. Subscribed!

YES with the quarterstaff. This nugget of info clicked into my head a few years ago while discussing builds with my brother, especially with the fact that it can benefit from Dueling and be treated as a casting focus. It is such a powerful weapon when taking PAM.

Even if smite is nerfed to only a d8, it still has THE best Action Economy on the game for burst damage as a free action on hit

@user-xe4xw1ws1n

2 жыл бұрын

Especially if you have a monk on the team to stun lock your heavier opponents.

@NieroshaiTheSable

2 жыл бұрын

If you want to eat all of your slots as fast as possible though, you can cast (wrathful, thundering, or whatever) Smite, which lasts until you hit, when you get your instant cast of Divine Smite. That's effectively 2 spellcasts plus a melee.

Excellent video. I may be playing a Paladin soon and this kinda math/logic is right up my alley. I'm gonna need to watch this again for sure.

@cornuqopia4460

2 жыл бұрын

I've been binging the lack tactics videos recently, and I was just thinking about how I'm really into DnD math, so it's funny to see you here😂 You do the math for DMs, Pack Tactics does the math for players

@DDCRExposed

2 жыл бұрын

@@cornuqopia4460 PT and I are a good "I need more D&D math in my life(!)" combo 😄

Why do you choose quarterstaff instead of a spear? Yes, some spellcasting focus are quarterstaff, but paladin dont use arcane / druidic focus, he uses holy symbol that dont need to be holded in hand, they can wear it in their shields (So warcaster is not necessary anyways). Also a Spear can be thown if need to and works with polearm master too.

@Storywalker4

2 жыл бұрын

Because spears don't work for the extra 1d4 bonus damage. *Only* glaives, halberds, and quarter staffs. Pikes are excluded, and as such so would spears. So, you could use a spear you're gonna arrive at a lower dpr.

@io6741

2 жыл бұрын

@@Storywalker4 Have you been living under a rock? The errata that added spears to polearm master would've become a greatwyrm by now if it were a dragon

@Storywalker4

2 жыл бұрын

@@io6741 It would appear I misremembered. I didn't realize it said *both instances.* In which case, unless you're using shillelagh, there's no reason not to take the spear. Weird then than pikes are excluded.

@yamatohekatsue9143

2 жыл бұрын

@@Storywalker4 spear was added to pole arm master after an errata

@dascientist8443

2 жыл бұрын

You still need to look at warcaster anyway if your DM is enforcing free hand required for spells with no material component

Awesome analysis, as always! I appreciate how you expressed your goal/hypothesis to kill Smite.

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

Guys, go sub to Flutes loot!

@FlutesLoot

2 жыл бұрын

@@PackTactics

I do appreciate this video. Got a dwarf paladin I'm playing right now, and right off the bat, our group had to fight a band of werewolves at level 3. I started combat with Bless on the Sorcerer, Warlock, and Druid before moving to engage an enemy with my 19 AC. Landed a hit one round and the DM asked why I didn't use Smite. "I have 2 more spell slots left, and would like to keep my options open." Besides buffing and protecting my group with Bless and Heroism, I stayed ready in case my spells were needed for something important. Haven't fought anything the Smite would do extra damage to yet so I'd rather protect my allies first before wasting it all in damage that I could possibly roll all 1s on.

@MrKostrom

2 жыл бұрын

Include yourself, or the others will lose it too when you fail a concentration check.

@laschicvalisca2481

2 жыл бұрын

@@MrKostrom Typically when I play a Paladin, charisma is one of my strongest stats. At an early level like that,it is a bit of a risk, but with the Aura of Protection later on, it is less risky. Taking either Warcaster, Resilient (Constitution,) or both minimizes this risk. Those feats and high charisma do turn a Paladin into a caster, and the best at being a "Caster" is a Conquest Paladin. In this character's case, though, my focus is buff spells and smiting when it counts, such the vampire that character fought recently. Used Protection from Evil and Good, then positioned myself in a way to block its path to the casters. So high AC with disadvantage on the enemy's attacks. Even if I'm hit, I've still got a good chance of success, even without those feats and aura.

Im playing The Wild Beyond the Witchlight as an Ancient Oath Paladin, and literally, you tips and insights about Smite and paladin spells are the sole reason of my party's survival. Im at lvl 4 atm and only used smite twice in the whole campaign (Only on crits when the damage was necessary), because i was too busy shutting down Bosses or Dangerous creatures with my Smite spells like Wrathful Smite or Esnaring Strike from Ancient Paladin! Thank you my dear Kobold! lol!

I think one additional complication when it comes to bless is that it's concentration. Taking even small amounts of damage can waste the spell, whereas smite is never wasted. And considering you will be in melee, it's very likely you'll be making multiple checks a round. At least until you get to level 6 and / or take war caster.

@frking100

2 жыл бұрын

Once you hit lvl 6 the paladin gets the equivalent to proficiency in every save so casting concentration checks becomes more worthwhile. I usually max charisma (or at least get it to 18) since it is pretty easy to get a belt of giant strength or at least gauntlets of ogre power by lvl 8 which is when youd be getting to 20 str anyways

Fantastic video, instantly subscribed!

extra bonus with your use of "staff" as polearm = you later can try the "crusher" feat and enjoy the combination with "polearm master"

@thecharmer5981

2 жыл бұрын

Polearm mastert with slasher and crusher is pretty fun

Currently playing an Oath of Vengeance paladin on a Westmarches Server, and it's been a real eye opener as to my own play-style as a paladin and I thought I'd share. Bless has been a favourite spell of mine for a long time - And if you're fortunate enough to be able to use downtime and the like, is relatively cheap and easy to pick up as a spell scroll (together with protection from evil and good). Having some scrolls ready for the hard missions means that you can have your cake and eat it too in regards to smiting - And boy does it feel good to just go all out in some of those battles and see your enemies driven before you. Having such a strong basis in bless also allows you to keep some other useful spells in your utility belt. Being able to suddenly take a knee and raise three allies with the use of Aid, putting protection from poison, or pulling out a spirit shroud against a regenerating enemy, can have agreat impact. Last, but not least - And this is unique to only a few Oaths I believe, but having Haste on a paladin is *very* potent. Rarely for damage dealing, but... When everything really looks grim, and you need to get yourself or your allies out of a bad situation, being able to go up onto your mount (Find Steed/Find Greater Steed) and share haste with them by casting it upon yourself, can be very potent and make for some incredible scenes of someone holding the line... And then the knight in shining armour comes riding in upon their steed to save the day!

Recently saw a video from Dungeon Dudes on their take of what they called a Witch Knight going all the way to level 20 (Conquest Paladin 6 or 7/ Hexblade Warlock 13 or 14 [depending on if the player wants Aura of Conquest or not.]) I actually had to research a bit afterwards, but yeah, smite stacking is actually a thing (Divine Smite + Eldritch Smite in a single attack so with a lv. 1 paladin spell slot and a 5th level warlock spell slot,, that's 3d8 radiant with the improved smite and 5d8 psychic with an auto knockdown effect.) And the building suggested is nuts: Great Weapon Fighting Style (reroll 1s and 2s for damage) with the master feat (-5 hit for +10 damage) with a great sword, all while using the Hexblade's ability to use Charisma for attacks/damage, then stack the Lifedrinker Invocation. That's a baseline 20 damage before rolling! And with the paladin side's fear based tactics, they often have advantage to hit. What are your thoughts on this build, Kobold?

I completely agree. So many good spells go unused for the sake of magic-smash

Senior Kobold!!! I love your brain!!!!! Thats it. Keep the videos coming

I did the math one time for a level 20 paladin trying to nuke their opponent single-handedly. With no outside buff or support, and a +0 magical greatsword, I was able to math out a *theoretical* maximum of around or a little over 1200-1400 damage over 2 rounds (all crits, max damage rolls, etc.) It involved I think holy weapon and 4 level 4+smites

There is nothing called Smiting too much as a Paladin. I shall deliver the Divine Punishment in Your Holy Name!

Wait, wait wait wait wait wait, is that YOU playing the bagpipes in these videos? That's amazing!

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

Yes!

I won't lie, I kinda miss your character voice. I love hearing a kobold explaining how I'm playing wrong was enjoyable.

Thinking about your latest video: My favorite part of the Paladin spells isn't about optimizing damage, but making myself the favorite player at the table with bless, PfG&E, Shield of Faith etc.

RE; quarterstaff and Warcaster. A rule that a surprising number of people don't seem to be aware of is that you can only perform somatic components with a hand holding a spell focus if that spell also has material components that the focus replaces (a costly component still requires a free hand). Otherwise, a hand holding a focus is not a free hand, and therefore can't perform somatic components. Is this silly? Yeah, a little bit. But I believe it's because a spell focus can be a weapon (staff) or shield (holy symbol), and they wanted you to choose two of those three unless you got Warcaster. Another rule some people don't know about is that a spell focus doesn't need to be held; you can access it with a free hand. Besides, paladins don't use arcane foci, _and_ your shield is _also_ a spell focus. If you could somehow perform somatic components with a hand holding a spell focus, you could just use your shield hand. Which is precisely why you _can't_ do it.

5:35 When facing a ghost you figure out which party member has the worst Charisma save and put PFEaG on them unless you think you can kill the ghost before it gets a turn.

Divine Favour also gets overlooked but you only need to hit with it up four times to get a level 1 smite worth out of it, which can be very easy to do if you run something with bonus action attacks. It also works for archer paladins which is unusual hahaa.

IIRC [Adjective] Smite stacks with Divine Smite. Divine Smite procs when you hit. [Adjective] Smite remains a charge on your weapon until you hit. These are both bonus damage onto your attack, meaning it all multiplies on crit. Buffing spells can be cast on you by somebody else, provided it's part of your team strategy. Make somebody else cast Bless. And yes, sometimes it does pay to have everybody huddle around outside the door before kicking it in and ruining your DM's villain speech.

Hexblade warlocks with only 2 slots at level 5: "This is worthless"

@samhill6831

2 жыл бұрын

Ah be careful. He’s gonna tell you that hex is a trap for averaging 2dpr. When bless does the same. Just for more people. But bless isn’t a trap at all.

@cockman8437

2 жыл бұрын

@@samhill6831 👀 check his channel

@samhill6831

2 жыл бұрын

@@cockman8437 yea I saw the hex trap video lol.

Crit fishing usually isn't worth it. Building towards it takes a lot of levels, and the most consistent build requires you to be exactly level 20 which takes too long. Of course if you're doing a level 20 one shot..... 17 levels of College of Swords bard, 2 levels paladin, 1 level hexblade warlock. Your STR is 13, dex is 20, and cha is at least 13. Play an elf of some kind, any will do. You're also gonna take the "Elven Accuracy" feat. Your 9th level spell is foresight, and your main weapon is some kind of dex weapon (probably a rapier). Single target on the boss, hexblade's curse + elven accuracy + foresight is double advantage on all attacks (roll 3d20 instead of 2), and you crit on a 19 and 20, upping that crit chance to ~25%, or 50% per turn with extra attack. You have lots of high level spell slots as well for divine smites and smite spells as well, though you might consider Shadow Blade if you don't have a good weapon otherwise, though you won't have the smite spells option. Obviously, this is a shit build. You need to be level 20 to get the consistent advantage on attack rolls, since you can't use Elven Accuracy with STR weapons, you can't go with barb's reckless attack skill, so other than foresight, there aren't many options for consistent advantage on more than the first attack on your turn. But for fun, let's calculate the damage on an attack roll against an undead, assuming you hit twice an crit once using shadow blade with a 7th level spell slot, and used divine smite on both attacks: non crit = 5d8+5 (shadow blade) + 6d8 (smite) + 1d6/1d12 (bard blade flourish) + 6 (hexblade's curse). + crit which is this again x2 on all dice rolls. Is it worth it? Kinda, not really. Honestly in my opinion, a better crit build is just a sword's bard using a ranged weapon like a longbow. Swords Bard skills work with ranged weapons. then you can take the ideas from this paladin build to make it work better. You'll be more consistent at mid-level since you can take Swift Quiver with magical secrets, upping your attacks from 2 to 4, and then you can put in Sharpshooter, elven accuracy, and up to 3 levels of multi-class which can be anything you have the stats for that boosts you. Paladin seems like it'd be great for a crit build, but it's hard to make consistent by RAW when there are better options for such a character.

Hey, Pathfinder player for like 5-6 years now here. In Pathfinder the smite class ability has a separate pool you get at level one and can only smite 1 creature per use as long as it's Evil and you get about 5 uses of it a day at level 20 (each use lasts until the target dies, the paladin reaches 0 HP, it cancels the smite or smites a different creature)... and you get the spellcasting at lvl 4... Now recently started to play a kobold paladin and while I appreciate that smite does not discriminate, but I immediately did noticed that DnD Paladin's have to take more care of their resources since smite consumes your spells. I'd say... once or twice tops if the encounter is pretty difficult seems worth it for me. Don't get me wrong, funny numbers and lots of dices is great XD but I just say... blow them on the boss before taking a long rest XD not just on a small goblin using a rusty dagger.

A Hexblade dip offers a lot to a Paladin and also grants a crit chance extension feature. It can be a potential nova enhancer and doesn't hinder any of your build resources, so you can be a critfisher by happenstance.

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

Depends on where you dip. Dip too early and you get the 5th level burn due to lack of extra attack and 2nd level spells. Hexblade’s Curse is one time per short rest and uses your bonus action so its not ideal. I'd rather book paladin to 7th level and then consider multiclassing.

i like having smite as a go to option for damage. If you hit with an attack and need the enemy to lose concentration on something, or kill it fast even normal smiting is good. Eldritch smite is fun because it synergises well with hexblades as a multi per day use, not many enemies resist force so it is usually better than casting a spell. 4d8 damage + your weapon attack could be better than casting fireball, which could be negated by resistances and high dexterity saves. I rate smites very highly.

Wraithful Smites are very useful when it comes to being a oath of Conquest paladin as you can turn their movement to absolute zero when you reach level 6 or 7.

Great video: )

Lovin the bagpipes in the background, must be a Scots thing B)

Great video only One small correction paladins can't use Quarterstaff for spell focus since they aren't arcane casters, they're divine casters but you can't put your holy symbol on your shield for the same effect.

A bit late to the party here. I've finally gotten to try out a Sun Elf Oath of Devotion Paladin (I know, suboptimal as all hell). It's just insane. The session zero didn't go as planned, as my friends decided to roll the whole martial gallery. Then I thought about reconsidering my choice - as our bard is the only full caster option we've got for the game -, but my DM told me that she won't let me if it's just because of the martial leaning of the group, because it's her job to find a solution. I decided to stick with it. Oh boy. Turns out that a Barbarian, a Fighter and a Ranger is pretty insane for a dude with 18-19 AC who can just use their action to cast bless. Both the fighter and the barbarian are taking great weapon master on level 4. I'll be taking fey touched (CHA +1) for increased versatility with misty step and access to silvery barbs as a reaction battle control spell. Probably won't be maxing strength, because I've decided that the one minute sacred weapon is enough for any hairy encounter that survives the two rounds I need to 'power up' so to speak. May raise it later on to an 18 though. Naturally I've been looking into spells to increase my potential in creating weapons of mass destruction out of my compatriots, and will probably picking up Aid, Crusader's Mantle and such. It's certainly going to be an interesting campaign.

If you really want to get a thing dead fast, wrathful smite is a bonus action and can thus be combined with regular smite, this costs 2 1st level spell slots and is thefore more of a panic button when a creature needs to die asap, but 2d8+1d6 extra damage is a nice bonus in an emergency.

Quick note, if you haven’t looked into it, periodically check in on 5e Errata. It’s official tweaks to the published rules after publication, and Wizards keeps them all on a single document for easy access. I only bring it up because there’s a couple ones that interact with what you’ve mentioned, like Spear officially being added to the Polearm Master feat (as it always should have been), and the max cap for Divine Smite being bumped to 6d8 on a 5th Lvl Spell slot, 7d8 if fiend/undead (to, you know, actually match the highest potential of a non-multiclassed paladin’s spellcasting, go figure). There’s others, but it’s worth it for players, DMs, and content creators alike to give it a look now and then. Keep up the great work!

@justas423

2 жыл бұрын

That sentence is "The damage increases by 1d8 if the target is an undead or a fiend, to a maximum of 6d8." The 6d8 does not apply to using a 5th level slot. Although it would still be more advantageous to use the other 5th Level Smite Spells.

@tempname3308

2 жыл бұрын

@@justas423 Comparing the two documents side by side, that does appear to be the case, I stand corrected. I would however contend that it is somewhat dumb mathematically speaking, despite being accurate to what is written, because that means Warlocks have a higher damage potential with their Eldritch Smite than Paladins do with Divine Smite. It would’ve been so much simpler if “Smite = 2-6d8” regardless of how the feature was acquired, but oh well.

Video: Only smite on the first round. Me: Got it! My gloom stalker 5, paladin 2, fighter 2, hexblade 1 will smite 6 times on the first round.

Personally my fave paladin ive built was a divine soul/redemption paladin. it was defo a supporting build and eventally green flame blade became the go to option. 4d8 fire damage at 18th vs 5d8 radient for a 5th slot. instead i often traded that slot for more sorc points to quicken flame blade for second slash

Divine Favor is pretty good for fighting groups of Zombies because it turns off the Undead Fortitude Trait for a whole minute instead of one attack, Bless is good but at the same time if you have a Cleric it would probably be a better use of their slot to go for bless and yours to go for Divine Favor in tier 1, in Tier 2 the Cleric Has access to spirit guardians which is just an amazing spell for damage over time. As a note as well Bless is good for concentration checks as well, once you get to level 6 you have probably got +2 or +3 Aura of Protection which means you can have a 4~6+1d4 Con save on the Paladin which is pretty good for keeping the bless up

Smite is for Paladins who want to be the center of attention/MVP of melee DPR. Spells are for Paladins who realize the real role of a paladin is to be a front line all-rounder. The caveat to this is, if you're a DM who is tired of Paladins that just spam smite, it might be because you're not doing enough to build encounters that are more complex than a bunch of front line enemies. Present encounters that can threaten EVERY PC by including magic users, archers, AND front line enemies. If the paladin has to be concerned about the wellbeing of his back line, he will think twice about using his slots on a smite vs using buff spells that can keep his soft allies safe.

just dump 1 Lvl in Hexblade and the rest on paladin oathbraker, its really good

I agree for bosses with large health pools (dragon boss as an example) you should try to bless but honestly not as a paladin. If you’re the one concentrating and fighting the dragon, you’re going to loose that quickly. Better command or aura of vitality round three and armor of agathis if your boss might be a little melee-y. Bless can be used by paladins, but better it be someone not in the front line

Paladins have such a great spell list. The fact that Paladins basically don’t get subclasses and they still outpace other martials is a testament to this.

loving the bagpipe music.

1st level slots outside of *Command* and *Franktuary* (If you're a real Paladin or Redemption it's on your list) are for "Set then forget" spells. You can set one up, and your other slots are free for smiting. (Don't use *Cure Wounds*, it's bad, and we should probably get a video on how bad healing is in 5E) Since they're all concentration once you have one set n' forget the rest are free for whatever. I'd argue *Aid* isn't worth a 2nd level Paladin slot, and if you play right you won't need to re-summon your steed. Since outside of *Bless*, 1st level Paladin spells don't upcast well, your 2nd levels are for smites and smites only. *Lesser Restoration* is good in-combat, but half of its function is covered by *Lay on Hands* removing poison/disease, so it may not be relevant. 3rd level has a lot more spells that are worth casting, so those are dedicated to spells.

You smite too much! - said the blue Kobold. No I don't! - responded the paladin after leaving the poor kobold dead form way too much smite force trauma.

Great video! 👍🏻 You are a D&D tactical genius! ❤️ How do we get you out of the habit of incorrectly saying the numbers *after* the decimal point the same as how you correctly say the numbers *before* the decimal point? 😉

"You smite too much" bold words from somone within smiting range...

Dude yah, I played a conquest paladin and discovered the power of wrathful smite. Its such a cool interaction and I feel like so many people miss the fact that its a check.

"You smite too much." "Bold words for a heretic in smiting distance."

It's slightly more then 9 dpr since you need to account for crits. The exact dpr will depend on your crit chance but it should be a few points higher at the least.

@shanderraa7751

2 жыл бұрын

I’m not sure you need to account for crits since this is about using non-crit smites

I imagine with Hexadin multiclass the Crit fishing thing isn’t so bad though. You only need a single level to activate it and you get improved critical on a single target using a bonus action, so if there is something you absolutely need dead you have a much greater chance at Crit smiting it. Paladin 11 Hexblade Warlock 9 with Polearm Master, Sentinel, and a halberd/pike/glaive can stack divine smite and Eldritch smite using both level 5 pact spell slots on a critical, and they get improved divine smite too. That’s 2D10 slashing/piercing + 10d8 Radiant + 12d8 Radiant + 10d8 force. On a single attack when you Crit and double smite, on your first of three, potentially four with a reaction trigger, polearm attacks, each of which can Crit on a 19 or 20 because of hex blades curse. You get a good shot in and any one creature you want fucking dies, and you can potentially do that every short rest. You look at the final boss and it dies, while the other party spellcasters clean up the minions.

I really like that youtube tagged this video as a Smite (the videogame) video.

MORE SMITE MOAR DIVINE WRATH

Also, you may only be able to cast 1 level 1 spell or higher per round, but since Divine Smite isn't a spell, you can spend 2 spell slots and use Divine Smite together with a Smite Spell in the same round. That's how you burst~

I know taking a round to cast bless a the start of combat might be inefficient but imagine smite+bless. Sounds like extra dpr if you ask me

@PackTactics

2 жыл бұрын

Yes but you know. I dont have to tell people that bless + smite is good! I really focus on round 1 more than anything.

@NieroshaiTheSable

2 жыл бұрын

I mean hopefully you have a Cleric and/or Bard. Party comp matters.

[Edit: This is for the Fun of playing Chars so optimized in one Way they are completeley prone to an other Style and thus "useless" without a Party and Teamwork helping them to apply their "Advantages"] And then there is the Guy who Multiclass after Pally(2) in Sorc(3) and Rogue(3) as well as in Fighter(2). This Guy is a Special Agent named "Agent Smite", a Subordinate of the King, and he hunts a specific shapeshifting Troublemaker called "Polymorphius", a Druid(4)/Transmutation Wizzard(3)/Sorc(3) Multiclass, who seeks to free all the "captured" Animals. His real Name is Peta Pan, but noone knows because Names have Powers over a Shapeshifter-Fey. Have Fun. Brute Force against CC.

Huzzah,, much needed information.

Using DPR to determine whether or not Bless is better than Smite only works if you have a single target. If you have multiple targets and you want to force them all down faster, then it might be worth while to Bless so that multiple weaker things die from your teammates. Unless you guys all huddle around each other and only attack the same target. Which I guess some parties do and is generally not a bad tactic.

Dear palidins, there are two other pillars of play and your spell list caters to it, also your charisma caster so your social play game is also going to be strong.

@0:20 - you don’t “extend” a spell slot, you “expend” it.

I played a paladin from level 1-8 and used smite twice once on a crit and another on the big bad. Maybe I could have used more, but I spent more slots on things like aid and first turn bless

“Judging my smite?” …… that’s a Smitin’! That’s feels weird to type.

yeah many paladins really don't use their actual spells. my DM was actually surprised to see me often prefer spells like shield of faith over smiting and well he wasn't surprised when I took sorcerer levels (divine soul so I can cast healing word with charisma. Yes that was the reason I dipped into sor. Healing word, more spell slots and a bit more staying power with shield. i also picked up booming blade and quickened and twinned spell). But I actually only smite against bosses. and bosses straight up eat my highest spell slot I don't need for healing as a smite. meaning of my 3 level 3s I will at best smite 2 and keep the third as an emergency cure wound or healing word. Same with enemies like ghosts as you mentioned. the type of thing you don't fuck around with. Generic monster encounters take way longer than boss fights if you play your paladin correctly. Starting next levle (Pal 5 sor 5) I will actually start smiting on round two, but that is simply because I will need round one to cast haste. (twinned spell haste on me and the ranger will on average deal more damage than BA hasting and attacking 3 times myself even with smites. Sure my round one damage wil be insane but over the course of an encounter I expect the ranger to make up for the three attacks I missed out on especially as they for sure won't be all smites unless it is a monster that'S weak to radiant damage. ) and it's often not very nice to end up completely empty after a single fight because you blew through all your spell slots. For spells, yeah. Having protection from fucking everything, as i like to call protection from good and evil and not using it is stupid. Shield of faith is a good buff too. As I said I surprised my DM many times when I used these spells. and well the offensive smite spells, no fan of them but making them flee with wrathful smite is a good idea. and if you are on the early levels (below level 5) and you REALLY have to take something down, combining a smite spell with the actual divine smite is a stupid amount of burst damage. I admit that's what I had thunderous smite prepared for as another boost to melee damage to DPS down a tough enemy but again that only is viable in low level unless you're a pure paladin and willing to sacrifice one of your higher spell slots for that)

Counter argument : You dont smite enough.

I think you got war caster wrong, war caster is for replacing Somantic components, focuses replace Material components. You can perform a Somantic component with the hand holding the Material component but if the spell needs no Material component then you still need a free hand to perform the Somantic component meaning war caster or a free hand is still needed. Additionally a quarterstaff as a druidic focus does not work for the Paladin spells, but if you multi-classed druid/paladin, you could have both focuses via quarterstaff & shield. Now for the fun part, MOST of the spells that Paladin's will want to cast in battle don't have a Somantic component, all the smite spells only have a Verbal component while a lot of the remaining spells which do have a Somantic component also have a Material component (without cost) which a Paladin or Cleric can use a shield bearing their holy symbol to cover both the Somantic and Material components. The spells which a Paladin would need war caster or a free hand for are: Cure Wounds Detect Evil and Good Detect Magic Divine Favor Heroism Purify Food and Drink Find Steed Lesser Restoration Magic Weapon Protection from Poison Zone of Truth Create Food and Water Daylight Dispel Magic Elemental Weapon Remove Curse Spirit Shroud Death Ward Find Greater Steed Holy Weapon And for note, the following spells require the specific material (due to cost) and can't be substituted for the holy symbol Ceremony Revivify Raise Dead Summon Celestial There really isn't that many spells where warcaster would make a difference for a Paladin in the first place. Dispel Magic I think the main singular spell that somebody may want it for but dedicated spell casters are going to be better for casting that spell anyway. The rest of the spells are either very situational or there are better alternatives for, not worth taking a whole feat for that once in 20 encounters situational moment. The only time I think warcaster is useful for a Paladin is when paired with Polearm master, if the Paladin has booming blade in some method while using either a quarterstaff or spear.

So, I often use a smite as a means to kill and enemy who would survive my basic attacks. For example my party was fighting a group of hobgoblins with my first attack missing, and my second attack hitting doing 9 damage severely injuring but not killing the hobgoblin so I popped a first level slot to deal an additional 2d8 damage to finish it off making it so that the party wizard didn't go down to longbow fire letting him blast the rest of them to kingdom come with shatter

If you can precast bless before combat starts to prevent the DPR drop.

It has always been in my case playing d&d, that people hype up paladin as smiting a lot, and while I like the concept of a paladin as a character, I didn't mechanically find it that interesting, so I often play as a Divine soul sorcerer and fighter multi-class instead, we're in universe I'm a paladin even if I'm not mechanically.

"Don't smite on every crit its overkill" >Smite on crit >Obliterate enemy >intimidate all other enemies because you have just cut a guy in half in one strike.

I love how you call variant humans vumans

I just like bless because it's very spell slot efficient at higher levels. 9 damage isn't much at level 11, but +1d4 to hit is just as good now as it was at level 1. It's similar to shield and absorb elements in that way.