Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Please improve Oath of Devotion's "Holy Rebuke"

Holy Rebuke, the Level 1 class feature for the Oath of Devotion Paladin is by far the worst class ability in the game and needs to either be revised or replaced altogether. It can't even be compared to the Oath of Ancients' Healing Radiance ability which at least scales with level and CHA mod, affects the entire party, is a bonus action, and allows the Paladin to attack and heal everyone on the same turn. I realize these Level 1 Paladin abilities are made by Larian as a way to flavor the class at the start, and I appreciate that. That said, it seems the 'flavor' they went for on Oath of Devotion, I'm afraid, is chopped liver.

Why Holy Rebuke needs revision/replacement:
- Doesn't affect the Paladin (Can't target self).
- it is an action.
- Responds only to melee attacks. Ranged attacks and spells are unaffected.
- Does nothing if the target you are trying to protect doesn't get hit.
- Laughable damage (1d4, no mods).
- Only lasts 2 rounds.

1. Possible revision for Holy Rebuke:
- Make it castable on self.
- Change it to be a bonus action.
- Add CHA modifier to damage.
- Make it heal the friendly target for the same amount.

2. Alternative revision:
- Make it castable on self.
- Keep it as an action, so as to synergize with Compelled Duel.
- Add CHA modifier to damage.
- Have the damage dice scale every by one every 4 levels: Level 1: 1d4, Level 4: 1d6, Level 8: 1d8, Level 12: 1d10, etc.
- Increase the duration to 3 rounds like Compelled Duel.

Sure, it still wouldn't be as good as Healing Radiance, but it doesn't have to be. A change like this would go a long way to improving this subclass, and giving them access to Warding Bond (I'm looking at you: Silence) would be a nice touch as well, just saying.

I've played 120 hours with a devotion paladin and haven't used Holy rebuke, not worth it. Also, I think I've used Detect Evil maybe twice in early levels?

Flavourful powers, but low utility.

On the bright side, their absence doesn't affect character power... bit sad when put that way.

Rebuke is hilariously underpowered.

While we fix it, can we also limit Smites to 1 per turn? In fact, can we limit all spells to 1 per turn, as per the actual rules? At least on Balanced and Tactician. Double and triple Fireballs are just as dumb as unloading 4 Smites per turn. These remove all challenge from combat effectively as much as Shoving bosses into chasms does.

In 5e, there is no rule against using Divine Smite on every attack a Paladin lands, and yes, it is immensely powerful. While this is true of the DIvine Smite Paladin class feature, the same should not be said of *all* smite spells that even other classes get access to. Regarding casting multiple spells requiring a full action in a single turn, the only way you should be able to do this is with the Fighter's Action Surge. If the Haste spell is allowing this, that is a significant oversight.