Quote from CoolaireOfDankstora >>

This is the worst decision made in the 2024 edition. Paladin smite can now be counterspelled and only once per turn, which flies in the face of making lay on hands a bonus action as well. Another five-head decision from y'all. Great that I can just ignore this and run smite as normal, because you can't stop me from doing that. 

Paladin Smite being once per turn is kind of a good thing. 
It deals with one of the big problems of Fighter vs Paladin, which was that Paladin smite novas way outshined action surge, on top of also having Lay on Hands, auras, etc.
And critically, you can still crit fish with this. 

"you could take two levels of Paladin and the rest in Sorcerer and then Smite using a 9th lvl spell slot.........not sure why you would do this, but you could if you wanted to."
For the juicy Crits, of course.
Realistically you might do 5 or 6 levels of Paladin, then go sorcerer for extra smite fuel, unless you really want spellcasting that doesn't suck, rather than extra attack, aura, and lay on hands fuel.

Transformar isso em magia lascou tudo pro Paladino, se você é alguém da staff do site fica aí a minha reclamação!!

What does the range "self" mean

Quote from foRealfool >>

What does the range "self" mean

It means that it's a spell that you're casting on yourself, to empower yourself, rather than on someone or something else.

Soooo if a player is to cast Smite does that mean they strike them self's then like a goblin 

I had a player just cast Smite like it was Fireball but I did not know till later that it's range was self 

Quote from foRealfool >>

Soooo if a player is to cast Smite does that mean they strike them self's then like a goblin 

I had a player just cast Smite like it was Fireball but I did not know till later that it's range was self 

No, that's not how this spell works; it is nothing like Fireball. This is a spell you cast as a bonus action when you make an attack with a melee weapon or an unarmed strike. It makes the attack you're making deal extra radiant damage.

Ooooooooh ok thank you so much that is very interesting 

Quote from Arnagorn >>

Sword and board paladins don't work with this. It takes somatic components and you can't use somatic components with both hands full unless you take the warcaster feat which you can't take till level 4 and then have to give up ability score or another feat to just use a basic paladin ability.

 It only has a verbal component. 

Quote from Melfast >>

Quote from Arnagorn >>

Sword and board paladins don't work with this. It takes somatic components and you can't use somatic components with both hands full unless you take the warcaster feat which you can't take till level 4 and then have to give up ability score or another feat to just use a basic paladin ability.

 It only has a verbal component. 

The comment you are responding to was made back when there was an error on this page that said that it had somatic components. The error was corrected almost a year ago.

Frankly this is why the newest comments on D&D beyond pages should appear at the top on the first page. It avoids people responding to something that was resolved so long ago.

Let's be honest: Paladins being able to dump multiple spells worth of damage in a single turn before was kinda overpowered. This change was reasonable.

For anyone saying "counterspell ruins paladins now", this is an awful target for counterspell. Once they reach 6th level, Paladins tend to have insane Con saves despite their lack of proficiency on them, due to typically having high con, and Aura of Protection buffing all of their saves by their charisma modifier. If the Paladin succeeds the con save, then that counterspell was simply wasted. And if the paladin *does* fail, all that was lost is a bonus action, and between 2d8 and 7d8 damage (depending on the spell slot used and whether or not the target was a fiend/undead). Meanwhile, the party's casters now don't need to worry about their own spells getting counterspelled this turn anymore.

And counterspell no longer wastes the spell slot if the spell it countered was cast using one (and monsters don't use spell slots anymore, instead using the X casts per day system, so this only really benefits the players)

Lastly, to those who say it conflicts with Lay on Hands being a bonus action now, you couldn't use Lay on Hands and Divine Smite in the same turn before anyway, unless you did some shenanigans to attack as a bonus action.

Quote from Shov3ly >>

.... so you can use it on a handaxe for example? that is a melee weapon, thrown to make a ranged attack, but it is a melee weapon that hits.

 That's smart actually.

Javelins are probably the best option overall for this, due to their superior range vs other throwable melee weapons, and their very cheap cost of just 5 SP. You can buy 4 javelins for the cost of 1 dagger or light hammer.

But different weapon properties could also make niches for other weapons.

Quote from ShaydyCharacter >>

Quote from CoolaireOfDankstora >>

This is the worst decision made in the 2024 edition. Paladin smite can now be counterspelled and only once per turn, which flies in the face of making lay on hands a bonus action as well. Another five-head decision from y'all. Great that I can just ignore this and run smite as normal, because you can't stop me from doing that. 

Paladin Smite being once per turn is kind of a good thing. 
It deals with one of the big problems of Fighter vs Paladin, which was that Paladin smite novas way outshined action surge, on top of also having Lay on Hands, auras, etc.
And critically, you can still crit fish with this. 

 I'm so glad they went back on the proposed change of making crits only double the weapon's damage die.

Just FYI

Counterspell now forces a CON save which, if you're a paladin, you're somewhat decent at.

With Aura of Courage, you get an extra to that saving throw

Plus, now if you fail the save, you fail the spell, but you don't lose the Spell Slot. You just expend the bonus action you tried to use there.

So personally? Please, *do* waste your 3rd level spell on my smite. Take the gamble. And if you succeed, congrats — you just wasted your spell to stop me, and not the wizard with the fireball.

And if you're still alive next turn? I'll still have my Divine Smite, while you will be a third level spell slot shorter.

This iteration is not only more balanced for the paladin, it's also a lot more convenient for the party.