Hey so I have a friend playing a paladin in his campaign with his other friends. He's getting frustrated because most of the enemies he's been fighting have been neutral, so his smite evil has been absolutely useless. Is there anything he can do with the smite uses he has other than wasting them everyday?
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Keep detect evil up constantly and look for evil wildlife, peasants, etc. Ask the GM every round if something, anything evil comes up, and then smite it without mercy.
Within the base class, I'm not aware of any alternate uses for Smite Evil. There are a few archetypes that alter or replace the Smite Evil class feature with something that may be useful, but generally an archetype has to be taken at first level (he can always ask the GM if he can apply it after the fact).
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Reading over the archetypes, there's only one that alters Smite Evil to the point where you don't actually need an evil creature to use it - Oath of Loyalty. So maybe that isn't an option after all...
There's also Stonelord, but it's not particularly good.
There's also Stonelord, but it's not particularly good.
Requires Dwarf (or a human with the Racial Heritage feat). I've seen it played and it looked like a potentially-fun archetype, although rather niche-y (like a lot of archetypes); honestly, it alters so much it's almost more like a different class.
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Joke response:
Step 1: purchase potions of infernal healing
Step 2: utilize beguiling gift
Step 3: Profit! (Smite!)
Honestly, if a campaign isn't going to feature evil opponents, that's a feature the GM should share with the players ahead of time so this situation doesn't come up. Most people don't want to play a character that can't use its major abilities.
Paladins have many powers besides smite; healing themselves as a swift action, channelling, spells, enhanced weapon or animal companion, status immunities, amazing saves, full BAB...
But it's still not great playing as a Paladin without evil opponents. Why is the paladin even on this adventure if it doesn't involve battling evil?
If it was an undead campaign the other players would be complaining about the paladin. ;)
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Stonelord is good if you are a dwarf paladin. You lets you dump CHA without penalty as it trades all the things charisma gives you. In exchange you get a flat bonus to hit and damage on smites and are really good at sundering things. DR plus a swift action lay on hands means you are one of the most durable characters in the game. Defensive stance and an earth elemental pet are gravy.
It's a really good archetype, but you have to build to its strengths and not think of it as a "Paladin"
If you are mostly fighting non evil foes, you have a better chance of persuading them to your side, or at least to stand aside.
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Honestly, if a campaign isn't going to feature evil opponents, that's a feature the GM should share with the players ahead of time so this situation doesn't come up. Most people don't want to play a character that can't use its major abilities.
Why is the paladin even on this adventure if it doesn't involve battling evil?
I think we've hit the nail on the head with these two responses. Both in character and out of character, why is there a paladin around if there's no evil to smite?
In character, the paladin might leave on a crusade to find some evil to smite, instead of sticking to whatever you've been doing instead. Out of character, the GM should have given the players an idea of what type of campaign it would be, which likely would have resulted in nobody playing a paladin when they realized there wouldn't be evil enemies.
If it was an undead campaign the other players would be complaining about the paladin. ;)
Only if they only fight 1~4 undead enemies per day...
What level is the campaign currently? At low levels, animals and plants are frequent enemies. At higher levels, demons, devils, dragons, aberrations, giants, etc. tend to represent Team Evil more frequently.
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Paladins can be alot of fun in a morally dubious campaign. That being said ask the DM to let him change to a Sword of Valor paladin. Then when he has no use for smite evil he can use it to go in the surprise round.
As a side not what level is he? I wouldn't be surprised if there is lots of evil but nothing he is fighting detects as evil because they are all low HD. The GM maybe be teaching him not to abuse detect evil. I had a GM teach me this, it was a lot of fun to roleplay learning about Lesser Evils.
Hey so I have a friend playing a paladin in his campaign with his other friends. He's getting frustrated because most of the enemies he's been fighting have been neutral, so his smite evil has been absolutely useless. Is there anything he can do with the smite uses he has other than wasting them everyday?
Paladins, by their very nature, seek out evil foes. Is this a case of the GM deliberately 'withholding' evil foes in an effort to negate the Paladin? If so I'd say your friend needs to give his GM the finger and find a group that doesn't actively work against his ability to enjoy play.
What level is the campaign currently? At low levels, animals and plants are frequent enemies. At higher levels, demons, devils, dragons, aberrations, giants, etc. tend to represent Team Evil more frequently.
This is a good point - also at mid to higher levels, a smart Paladin can find a wealth of usefulness in his spell selections, even when not fighting evil enemies.
Actually, the GM kinda made it clear from the beginning that there wouldn't be too much evil, but did say that there would be some and that it would be worth it...to be fair, the other party members have swarmed on the targets that have been identified as evil before the paladin had thr chance to respond, according to him
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Infernal Healing doesn't change alignment nor does it cause the affected creature to be treated as evil for anything other than detection spells. So you can't smite them.
Thus the "joke response" disclaimer. Meant to be a silly "solution."
If the GM warned the player pre campaign, I'm not what to tell him. If I bring my unwashed viking warrior into a pre-declared courtly intrigue game, it's not the GM's fault I don't fit in. The player chose to play something that might be less effective than normal, he should either roll with it or retire the character if he's not having fun.
Hey so I have a friend playing a paladin in his campaign with his other friends. He's getting frustrated because most of the enemies he's been fighting have been neutral, so his smite evil has been absolutely useless. Is there anything he can do with the smite uses he has other than wasting them everyday?Why would a paladin fight non-evil enemies?
Not all antagonist are evil? Shockingly.
Anyways, there are a few things you can do. RAW, paladins are a full BAB class with a lot of good features, including great saves, auras, healing, spells, and blah. Not so RAW, you could consider allowing the paladin to smite non-evil enemies, but some people are against that.
Champions of Irori can smite chaotic as well, so only true neutral, neutral good, lawful good and lawful neutral are safe.