1. How exactly does it work now?
2. On a lore level, the fact that it changed from a class skill to a spell, what does it imply?
3. Being a spell, can it be combined in the same turn with the Warlock's Elderitch Smite?
the new "god" of the melee classes will be a valor bard with a 1 lvl dip of Warlock ..... attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, dw attack => 7 attacks with no additional abilitys, with CME @9th lvl thats just a tiny amount of: 3x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 4x 1d10 + 12d6 with a 60% hit chance thats just a measly 200dpR for 10 min with just 1 spell slot .....
but of course the paladin was way to strong and according to a lot of people still is .......
and if you now go into the field of optimization ( bard ( valor ) 17 / warlock 1 / sorcerer 2 ) you will nova like no tomorrow ^^
attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, quicken scorching Ray = 2x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 4x 1d10 + 12d6 & 9x 2d6 + 12d6 with a 60% hit chance thats 400+ dpR Nova dmg or attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, quicken chromatic orb 2x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 4x 1d10 + 12d6 & 10d8 + 12d6 x 1-8 targets ( max 8, lets say 3 avg ) with 60% hit thats 330 avg, with 8 targets 600 dmg
and if you say i don't need to cast lvl 9 spells you could go : ( 15 bard / 2 ftr / 2 sorcerer / 1 warlock ) attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, quicken scorching Ray, action surge => attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ) = 20 attacks = 3x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 8x 1d10 + 12d6 & 9x 2d6 + 12d6 with a 60% hit chance thats 550+ dpR Nova dmg
while a paladin with 2h - sword : 2x 2d6 + 5 + 1d8 + 1d4 ( divine favor ) + 6 ( GWM ) 6d8 ( highest smite ) + 12 d8 * 0,05 ( crit smite ) = 53 dpR if you go and say i won't smite but instead of a greatsword i will use a halberd ( Polearm mastery ) 2x 1d10 + 5 + 1d8 + 1d4 + 6 & 1d4 + 5 + 1d8 + 1d4 + 6 = 36 dpR
old paladin smitihing with 3x 4th lvl about 10-15% above the new paladin
so Paladin as a Melee class does 25% of the dmg output of a caster class, and he gets nothing that can even begin to close that gap
PS: sorry if that sound a bit aggressive wasn't meant that way, but i don't understand the logic behind all of this
1. How exactly does it work now? 2. On a lore level, the fact that it changed from a class skill to a spell, what does it imply? 3. Being a spell, can it be combined in the same turn with the Warlock's Elderitch Smite?1. It mostly works the same except it now expends a bonus action and counts as being a spell.
2. Difficult to know at this point.
3. Yes, Eldritch Smite is not a spell and so it does not conflict on the one spell cast with a spell slot rule.
the new "god" of the melee classes will be a valor bard with a 1 lvl dip of Warlock .....
attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, dw attack => 7 attacks with no additional abilitys, with CME @9th lvl thats just a tiny amount of:
3x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 4x 1d10 + 12d6 with a 60% hit chance thats just a measly 200dpR for 10 min with just 1 spell slot .....
but of course the paladin was way to strong and according to a lot of people still is .......
and if you now go into the field of optimization ( bard ( valor ) 17 / warlock 1 / sorcerer 2 ) you will nova like no tomorrow ^^
attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, quicken scorching Ray
= 2x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 4x 1d10 + 12d6 & 9x 2d6 + 12d6 with a 60% hit chance thats 400+ dpR Nova dmg
or attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, quicken chromatic orb
2x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 4x 1d10 + 12d6 & 10d8 + 12d6 x 1-8 targets ( max 8, lets say 3 avg ) with 60% hit thats 330 avg, with 8 targets 600 dmg
and if you say i don't need to cast lvl 9 spells you could go : ( 15 bard / 2 ftr / 2 sorcerer / 1 warlock )
attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ), nick attack, quicken scorching Ray,
action surge => attack, ( extra attack -> eldritch blast ) = 20 attacks
= 3x 1d6 + 12d6 + 5 & 8x 1d10 + 12d6 & 9x 2d6 + 12d6 with a 60% hit chance thats 550+ dpR Nova dmg
while a paladin with 2h - sword :
2x 2d6 + 5 + 1d8 + 1d4 ( divine favor ) + 6 ( GWM ) 6d8 ( highest smite ) + 12 d8 * 0,05 ( crit smite ) = 53 dpR
if you go and say i won't smite but instead of a greatsword i will use a halberd ( Polearm mastery )
2x 1d10 + 5 + 1d8 + 1d4 + 6 & 1d4 + 5 + 1d8 + 1d4 + 6 = 36 dpR
old paladin smitihing with 3x 4th lvl about 10-15% above the new paladin
so Paladin as a Melee class does 25% of the dmg output of a caster class, and he gets nothing that can even begin to close that gap
PS: sorry if that sound a bit aggressive wasn't meant that way, but i don't understand the logic behind all of this