Perhaps this has been covered in depth before, but while I was looking for a monster to put up against my group that could smite good (I thought it'd be fun to see the paladin taking it as well as dishing it out), I noticed what looks like a curious omission. Creatures with the fiendish, half-fiend, celestial, and half-celestial templates all have the ability to smite once/day. However, actual fiends and angels (untemplated) do not.
Now, in my game I think I'll give angels and fiends the same number of smites as a paladin of equivalent HD, but it just seems like an odd oversight. Or is there reasoning behind it of which I am unaware?
No it is not an oversight. They were given that ability to make them more attractive as templates.
No it is not an oversight. They were given that ability to make them more attractive as templates.Sure, back in 3.5 when it hardly mattered because smite was a very minor extra on top of the other abilities granted by the template. Back then the Smite Good ability of half fiends gave them this:
Once per day the creature can make a normal melee attack to deal extra damage equal to its HD (maximum of +20) against a good foe.That's a far cry from what it gives now:
Once per day, the fiendish creature may smite a good-aligned creature. As a swift action, the creature chooses one target within sight to smite. If this target is good, the creature adds its Charisma bonus (if any) to attack rolls and gains a damage bonus equal to its HD against that foe. This effect persists until the target is dead or the creature rests.
For creatures with multiple attacks and/or high Charisma bonuses, it is now probably the nicest part of the template. Nonetheless, I am not saying that it is therefore overpowered. Just that it makes no sense to give part-fiends something that fiends could only get by taking the fiendish template themselves.
Not giving fiends smite across 3 bestiaries is not an oversight. Neither is going out of they way to rewrite it so it does not work like the paladin version while giving it to said templates. In short it is just a move of convenience and balance rather than logic.
What I do wish they would have done is have each fiend(evil outsider type) or celestial(good outsider type)have its own template since it does not make sense that devils and demons along with the other evil fiends give the exact same template.
Sooo... how's this for a rationalization?
Channeling all that alignment goodness (or badness) requires more connection to the prime material plane than those "pure" outsiders can muster... however, their half-blooded offspring are able to focus their heritage and express it (via smiting) BECAUSE OF their prime material connection.
I mean, I don't know if having a plausible explanation makes it any better, but plausible is one of my best things, I'm an Aquarius.
:)
Not giving fiends smite across 3 bestiaries is not an oversight. Neither is going out of they way to rewrite it so it does not work like the paladin version while giving it to said templates. In short it is just a move of convenience and balance rather than logic.
The language of the smite ability listed for half-fiends in my hardcopy Bestiary is a pure holdover from 3.5, whereas the smite ability for creatures with the fiendish template is very close to that of a paladin's. However, in the PRD (maintained by Paizo on its own site) the half-fiend is shown as having a smite that works exactly like a paladin's smite (other than the switched alignment component): Half-fiends in PRD
So I'm not convinced it was something they had completely thought through when they released the first Bestiary. Even now, in the PRD smite is not listed in the Universal Monster Rules that list the various sorts of special abilities/attacks monsters can have.
What I do wish they would have done is have each fiend(evil outsider type) or celestial(good outsider type)have its own template since it does not make sense that devils and demons along with the other evil fiends give the exact same template.
I am in complete agreement with you on this.
What I do wish they would have done is have each fiend(evil outsider type) or celestial(good outsider type)have its own template since it does not make sense that devils and demons along with the other evil fiends give the exact same template.
Maybe someday, Paizo will make official differencied templates for the different Half-Fiends and Half-Celestials.