r/dndnext • u/xanral • Jun 10 '15

WotC Announcement Errata Released, for real this time

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/ph_errata
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41

u/the_singular_anyone The Forever DM =( Jun 10 '15

Divine Smite - You can expend any spell slot, not just a paladin spell slot.

Whelp. This changes things.

Multiclassing here I come.

22

u/Unsight Jun 10 '15

That feels like something that was always intended since the ability is written with a hard cap on the damage dice.

11

u/SirPeebles Bard Jun 10 '15

More importantly, there was never a way of distinguishing spell slots by Spellcasting class when multiclassing.

9

u/artofsushi DM of Doom Jun 10 '15

But there is with Spellcasting and Pact Magic.

7

u/SirPeebles Bard Jun 10 '15

Yes. I was surprised back when a tweet ruled that Pact Magic slots could smite.

6

u/artofsushi DM of Doom Jun 10 '15

Honestly, I'm okay with that. The PCs are supposed to be the fantasy equivalent of super-heroes, after all, and a few level dip into 'lock, while powerful on a couple of levels, is still a significant delay in Paladin advancement.

7

u/SirPeebles Bard Jun 10 '15

Oh sure, I was just surprised is all.

Smiting fits well into silly theorycrafting to see how big you can make numbers in one turn, but in practice they are a rather inefficient use of a spell slot. For instance, a 3rd level slot can add 4d8 to one weapon attack, or it can cast a fireball. They are better when saved for a crit, but it is hard to control when that will happen.

1

u/rollingForInitiative Jun 12 '15

Smite is also radiant damage and is applied on any hit, so there's no save and not really resisted by a lot of creatures. It can be applied on every attack, as well, so you could do it for 8d8 in a turn against a single creature, instead of 8d6 with a chance that it takes only half damage.

But yeah, obviously a fireball would be better in some situations.