Divine Smite

Divine Smite was fine as it was in 2014. Put it back, you cowards.

This should be a reaction, not a bonus action. Since you cast it when you hit something.

At least the instantaneous smites, the ones with 1 min durations should then be a magic action for balance,since they add more effects and can damage the target each turn.

Quote from StefanNilsen >>

This should be a reaction, not a bonus action. Since you cast it when you hit something.

At least the instantaneous smites, the ones with 1 min durations should then be a magic action for balance,since they add more effects and can damage the target each turn.

The 2024 rules on spellcasting do explicitly say that some spells are cast with a bonus action in response to a triggering effect. That's a new thing for the 2024 rules, but it's not an error.

The fact that it's a bonus action and not a reaction is likely intended to largely restrict it to only being used once per turn, and only on your own turn. I think there was a sense that Paladins' potential to deal an extremely high amount of damage in a turn by using smites on several attacks was a bit much.

Is something broken with this spell on D&D Beyond, or am I missing something here? I'm trying to build a paladin in a game that's using the 2014 rules, and I have the 2014 PHB which *very clearly* says the paladin can cast Divine Smite, but when I go to select the paladin spells, it's just not an option, even though I have access to many other varieties of smite if the character is leveled up, and this page says "Available For: Paladin (Legacy)" so I can't figure out what's up. Is there some buried toggle or check box I have to enable to use it? Thanks!

Quote from UncertainKittyPrinciple >>

Is something broken with this spell on D&D Beyond, or am I missing something here? I'm trying to build a paladin in a game that's using the 2014 rules, and I have the 2014 PHB which *very clearly* says the paladin can cast Divine Smite, but when I go to select the paladin spells, it's just not an option, even though I have access to many other varieties of smite if the character is leveled up, and this page says "Available For: Paladin (Legacy)" so I can't figure out what's up. Is there some buried toggle or check box I have to enable to use it? Thanks!

Divine Smite was not a spell in the 2014 rules. It was just a class feature that Paladins had.

The 2024 rules changed this such that it's now a spell (which is what this page is for) but that doesn't affect the 2014 version of the Paladin class.

Imagine having your soul defining class featured nerfed into being a spell.

Maybe I'm missing something, but what is the verbal component?  A quick prayer to their deity? Invoking the name of their deity?

Quote from Jwee1125 >>

Maybe I'm missing something, but what is the verbal component?  A quick prayer to their deity? Invoking the name of their deity?

D&D doesn't generally specify what the verbal or somatic components for any spell actually are, just that they have them. The idea is that different spellcasters may have different words or gestures for the same spell (depending on how they got access to it or how they connect with magic in general) and players are encouraged to customize them for their specific characters.

This spell is generally exclusive to Paladins, and 5e/5.5e Paladins don't necessarily get their power from a deity. But if your Paladin does have a relationship with a deity, then some sort of prayer would certainly be a reasonable verbal component.