As the title says, we ran into a situation just a minute ago where my paladin player wanted to use both of his smite uses during the same battle, one on each of two different targets, one after the other.
RAW doesn't give any restrictions. So would you allow the Paladin to make a second smite declaration before the target of his first smite was dead?
RAW also doesn't have any restrictions on turning into a blancmange as a swift action. So go for it!
As the title says, we ran into a situation just a minute ago where my paladin player wanted to use both of his smite uses during the same battle, one on each of two different targets, one after the other.
RAW doesn't give any restrictions. So would you allow the Paladin to make a second smite declaration before the target of his first smite was dead?
Sure.
RAW also doesn't have any restrictions on turning into a blancmange as a swift action. So go for it!
RAW doesn't have rules governing which creatures and objects you are actually permitted to make melee attacks against. It tells you how to make a melee attack and it talks about armor classes and how to tell if a hit once made makes impact, but it doesn't actually specify valid targets. For instance, if I make a melee attack on an orc one round, am I permitted to attack an ogre the next round? Rules don't say I can attack different creatures in different rounds (while there might be wording letting me mix my iteratives within a round), so can I or can't I? Perhaps once I start attacking that orc I have to keep attacking him forever. In fact, there's no rule that says I'm allowed to stop attacking. Is there a rule for voluntarily waking up in the morning because I'm well-rested? Oh no. I guess we'll just sleep through the adventuring day and indeed our entire life.
The rules do document how smite works. There's no indication, hint, or suggestion that indicates only one active smite is permitted at any given time. The rules are permissive... they permit you to smite. So smite. There's a duration. Smite again during that duration. The rules provide no reason to believe the second attempt in any way impacts the first. Given you're starting with a permissive rule and the original poster was asking if there are rules overriding a deny... your over-the-top response doesn't really fit.
Well since it's not a typed bonus, start laying down multiple smites against the same opponent, then!