| 2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Can a paladin smite multiple targets at once? Can a cavalier challenge multiple targets at once?
Assuming a paladin can smite more than once a day (level 4+), can he smite 2 targets at the same time, using 1 daily use of smite evil for each target?
Ditto with a cavalier and challenges?
For example, if a paladin is fighting a giant riding a dragon, can he spend 1 smite on the giant and 1 smite on the dragon, or must he first use 1 smite against one of them, and then, once that foe is vanquished, use his 2nd smite on his 2nd foe?
Keeping in mind the multiple actions required to declare the multiple smites, sure. Iomedae just pours more energy in. Paladins are fine.
Some of the cavalier mechanics say that you have a penalty against anyone but your challenge target. If you try and challenge two people at once, I'd probably invoke that... Which means that against Target A you get the bonuses for challenging them AND the penalty for ignoring Target B, and vice versa for Target B. Against anyone else you'd get the stacked penalties for. Ignoring both your targets. Probably not so good. Of course, if your challenge doesn't invoke penalties like that, you're fine.
RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16
|
Some of the cavalier mechanics say that you have a penalty against anyone but your challenge target. If you try and challenge two people at once, I'd probably invoke that... Which means that against Target A you get the bonuses for challenging them AND the penalty for ignoring Target B, and vice versa for Target B. Against anyone else you'd get the stacked penalties for. Ignoring both your targets. Probably not so good. Of course, if your challenge doesn't invoke penalties like that, you're fine.
I think you're right on the money, with the exception of the bit about the penalties for ignoring both targets stacking. Since they are from the same source, wouldn't they only apply once?
Because the Smite persists until the foe is dead, or the Paladin rests to recover abilities, I would say that maintaining multiple Smite effects is ok.
Consider the case of an early-in-the-day encounter. The Paladin declares a Smite Evil against a foe who flees. Is the Paladin then forbidden to declare another daily use in the next encounter because the previous target is not present? That doesn't seem right.
The Cavalier's Challenge, on the other hand, is described as requiring his concentration (and that justifies the penalties). I would say that generally maintaining two at once would not work for that reason.
I do not see any explicit statement in the rules forbidding two simultaneous uses of either ability, but the implications are that the Paladin's Smite should be ok and the Cavalier's Challenge not, as I read them.
This question just came up in a campaign I am participating in as well. Flagging for FAQ.
Question also came up in our campaign. Our DM searched the rules for an answer and did not find any rules that would forbid a Paladin to smite more than one target at a time. Don't know about the cavalier, though.
| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Can a paladin smite multiple targets at once?
Smite Evil (Su): "Once per day, a paladin can call out to the powers of good to aid her in her struggle against evil. As a swift action, the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite. (Etc.) The smite evil effect remains until the target of the smite is dead or the next time the paladin rests and regains her uses of this ability. At 4th level, and at every three levels thereafter, the paladin may smite evil one additional time per day, as indicated on Table: Paladin, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level."
There's nothing there that says (or implies) that if you have multiple smites per day, that you can't use one while the first is still active. You may smite evil one additional time per day.
Assuming a paladin can smite more than once a day (level 4+), can he smite 2 targets at the same time, using 1 daily use of smite evil for each target?
No: "the paladin chooses one target within sight to smite" means it'll take two swift actions to smite two targets. One target, not two targets.
Can a cavalier challenge multiple targets at once?
Challenge (Ex): "Once per day, a cavalier can challenge a foe to combat. As a swift action, the cavalier chooses one target within sight to challenge. (Etc.) The cavalier can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus one additional time per day for every three levels beyond 1st, to a maximum of seven times per day at 19th level."
Seems to be the same as above.
"The cavalier takes a –2 penalty to his Armor Class, except against attacks made by the target of his challenge."
I think this means the penalty for the first challenge will still apply to the target of the second challenge. IE: challenge the dragon, get -2 AC vs the giant. Then challenge the giant, get -2 AC vs the dragon.
And vs everyone else it would be -4 AC, since penalties stack and 'same source' applies to bonuses. (Unless someone else has a citation?)