Okay this is a complicated one, so I am unsure whether it works and might need some deep diving into text, but I'm curious what people think.
If your sorcerer-paladin has Booming Blade (or Green-Flame Blade) you can smite with it, as a melee weapon attack is part of the spell.
If you use the metamagic 'empowered spell' you can reroll the damage dice of a spell up to your charisma modifier
What I want to know is whether smite damage counts here?
I am already fairly certain that the weapon damage and the extra d8s at higher levels can all be empowered, because the attack is part of the booming blade spell. In other words the attack's damage dice are icluded in the spell's damage dice. (You may disagree, but I'm running under that assumption)
But what about the smite damage? That is usually doubled on a crit along with all the other dice, as it counts as part of the attack's damage dice. So if the smite damage dice are part of the attack's damage dice and the attack's damage dice are included in the spell's damage dice, then by extension wouldn't the smite damage dice be part of the spell's damage dice?
Okay this is a complicated one, so I am unsure whether it works and might need some deep diving into text, but I'm curious what people think.
If your sorcerer-paladin has Booming Blade (or Green-Flame Blade) you can smite with it, as a melee weapon attack is part of the spell.
If you use the metamagic 'empowered spell' you can reroll the damage dice of a spell up to your charisma modifier
What I want to know is whether smite damage counts here?
I am already fairly certain that the weapon damage and the extra d8s at higher levels can all be empowered, because the attack is part of the booming blade spell. In other words the attack's damage dice are icluded in the spell's damage dice. (You may disagree, but I'm running under that assumption)
But what about the smite damage? That is usually doubled on a crit along with all the other dice, as it counts as part of the attack's damage dice. So if the smite damage dice are part of the attack's damage dice and the attack's damage dice are included in the spell's damage dice, then by extension wouldn't the smite damage dice be part of the spell's damage dice?
Thoughts?
Don't think so.
Empowered Spell
When you roll damage for a spell, you can spend 1 sorcery point to reroll a number of the damage dice up to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). You must use the new rolls.
You're only re-rolling the damage dice for the spell, not the whole attack.
Now, if your paladin-sorcerer casts a smite spell like thunderous smite, you could Empower that, but a "normal" Divine Smite is a class feature, not a spell.
The wording on booming blade and green-flame blade also make it not entirely clear whether you should be able to Empower the weapon damage, although I think most people are OK with it:
You brandish the weapon used in the spell’s casting and make a melee attack with it against one creature within 5 feet of you. On a hit, the target suffers the weapon attack’s normal effects...
The fact that you're making a regular melee attack and not a melee spell attack, and doing "the weapon attack's normal effects" when you hit, tells me no you can't Empower that, but the counter-argument is "the attack is part of casting the spell" and thus counts as spell damage. (I think that makes it effectively a somatic component, not part of the spell's effects, but I'm pretty sure that's a minority position and it's hardly unbalancing if the re-rolls are allowed by your DM).
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I would rule the damage from the weapon attack is indirectly caused by the spell, not direct spell damage. It would be like trying to empower the extra damage rolls incurred when your Eldritch Blast pushes something into an area of Spike Growth. It took the damage because of the spell, but it wasn't the spell actually doing the damage.
That being said, these cantrips are kind of a weird special case and I wouldn't object if a DM wanted to rule the other way.
I'd think it would be limited to the spells cast also, not the weapon damage (unless it says different) nor Divine Smite as that's an "add on to an attack" class ability like Sneak Attack.
I would rule the damage from the weapon attack is indirectly caused by the spell, not direct spell damage.
The weapon attack is a direct cause of the spell text. The weapon attack is a spell effect. For example, if someone counterspells your booming blade, it stops the melee attack from happening entirely. Why? because the weapon is a portion of the spell effect text.
So, the weapon attack is the spell effect. The damage of that attack is because of the spell directly and could be re-rolled with empower spell.
However, Divine Smite couldn't be. Divine Smite does it's own damage, over and above the damage of the attack, and isn't a result of the spell booming blade directly. <--- This is like the rider effects you'd describe from pushing a creature into an area effect. It happens because of the attack, sure, but it isn't the attack directly.
So, the bonus thunder/fire damage and the weapon damage could be rerolled, from empower, but the divine smite could not be.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Agreed, Divine Smite is not a spell. It is a class feature that uses a spell slot as a ressource, nothing more. It is not subject to Metamagic at all. Although, you can technically get an extra attack using something like Quickened Booming Blade to get the Divine Smite in as a Bonus Action but that's about the best you can expect from Metamagic and Divine Smite as far as interactions go.
I'd also be in the camp that the weapon's damage is not the spell's damage and wouldn't also be affected by Empowered, only the Booming Blade's extra damage would be affected at our table but I can see the value in the arguments brought forward and don't think it'd be game breaking either. Divine Smite is a hard no though.
Okay this is a complicated one, so I am unsure whether it works and might need some deep diving into text, but I'm curious what people think.
If your sorcerer-paladin has Booming Blade (or Green-Flame Blade) you can smite with it, as a melee weapon attack is part of the spell.
If you use the metamagic 'empowered spell' you can reroll the damage dice of a spell up to your charisma modifier
What I want to know is whether smite damage counts here?
I am already fairly certain that the weapon damage and the extra d8s at higher levels can all be empowered, because the attack is part of the booming blade spell. In other words the attack's damage dice are icluded in the spell's damage dice. (You may disagree, but I'm running under that assumption)
But what about the smite damage? That is usually doubled on a crit along with all the other dice, as it counts as part of the attack's damage dice. So if the smite damage dice are part of the attack's damage dice and the attack's damage dice are included in the spell's damage dice, then by extension wouldn't the smite damage dice be part of the spell's damage dice?
Thoughts?
Don't think so.
You're only re-rolling the damage dice for the spell, not the whole attack.
Now, if your paladin-sorcerer casts a smite spell like thunderous smite, you could Empower that, but a "normal" Divine Smite is a class feature, not a spell.
The wording on booming blade and green-flame blade also make it not entirely clear whether you should be able to Empower the weapon damage, although I think most people are OK with it:
The fact that you're making a regular melee attack and not a melee spell attack, and doing "the weapon attack's normal effects" when you hit, tells me no you can't Empower that, but the counter-argument is "the attack is part of casting the spell" and thus counts as spell damage. (I think that makes it effectively a somatic component, not part of the spell's effects, but I'm pretty sure that's a minority position and it's hardly unbalancing if the re-rolls are allowed by your DM).
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I would rule the damage from the weapon attack is indirectly caused by the spell, not direct spell damage. It would be like trying to empower the extra damage rolls incurred when your Eldritch Blast pushes something into an area of Spike Growth. It took the damage because of the spell, but it wasn't the spell actually doing the damage.
That being said, these cantrips are kind of a weird special case and I wouldn't object if a DM wanted to rule the other way.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
I'd think it would be limited to the spells cast also, not the weapon damage (unless it says different) nor Divine Smite as that's an "add on to an attack" class ability like Sneak Attack.
The weapon attack is a direct cause of the spell text. The weapon attack is a spell effect. For example, if someone counterspells your booming blade, it stops the melee attack from happening entirely. Why? because the weapon is a portion of the spell effect text.
So, the weapon attack is the spell effect. The damage of that attack is because of the spell directly and could be re-rolled with empower spell.
However, Divine Smite couldn't be. Divine Smite does it's own damage, over and above the damage of the attack, and isn't a result of the spell booming blade directly. <--- This is like the rider effects you'd describe from pushing a creature into an area effect. It happens because of the attack, sure, but it isn't the attack directly.
So, the bonus thunder/fire damage and the weapon damage could be rerolled, from empower, but the divine smite could not be.
I'm probably laughing.
It is apparently so hard to program Aberrant Mind and Clockwork Soul spell-swapping into dndbeyond they had to remake the game without it rather than implement it.
Agreed, Divine Smite is not a spell. It is a class feature that uses a spell slot as a ressource, nothing more. It is not subject to Metamagic at all. Although, you can technically get an extra attack using something like Quickened Booming Blade to get the Divine Smite in as a Bonus Action but that's about the best you can expect from Metamagic and Divine Smite as far as interactions go.
I'd also be in the camp that the weapon's damage is not the spell's damage and wouldn't also be affected by Empowered, only the Booming Blade's extra damage would be affected at our table but I can see the value in the arguments brought forward and don't think it'd be game breaking either. Divine Smite is a hard no though.