Oath of Vengeance clarification

[Erik Freund]

Trying to clarify the Powerful Justice aspect of Oath of Vengeance

First, let's clarify what normal Smite Evil does:
- CHA to hit
- CHA to AC
- level to damage
- 2x level to damage on first hit against special evil
- DR/all

Powerful Justice specifically gives you:
- level to damage
And specifically denies you:
- CHA to hit
- DR/all
Leaving ambiguous, does Powerful Justice impart either of these?:
- CHA to AC
- 2x level to damage on first hit against special evil

------------

After figuring out those details, I'm a little unsure how exactly the ability is used.

It seems to me that with one expenditure of the ability, the Paladin choses to either give himself "full smite" or to give the whole party (including himself) "lesser smite." Is that true?

Other possible interpretations:
- with one expenditure of the ability, only allies get "lesser smite", and the Paladin himself gets nothing
- with one expenditure of the ability, the Paladin gets "full smite" and his allies get "lesser smite"

Thanks!!

[Nicos]

Oath of vengane do not modify the smite evil ability.

[Irontruth]

Smite is not replaced. Nothing is changed about Smite Evil at all with this Oath.

Your question looks like it's actually about Powerful Justice.

I would say the paladin gives everyone, including herself, the lesser version of smite. The paladin can then use another Smite Evil to give herself the regular version.

[Erik Freund]

Any insight on whether the "lesser smite" given by Powerful Justice would impart the 2x damage or the AC bonus?

[Irontruth]

It doesn't explicitly exclude the AC bonus, but I would think it is excluded since it says "only gain the paladin's bonus to damage".

The x2 damage on the first hit versus certain types would be included, because that is damage, and the damage bonus is the same as the paladin's.