Searing Smite can potentially do some damage, if you maintain the concentration and have the target burn for multiple turns...
But in general Smite spells are there for utility, hence why most of them provide an additional non-damaging effect (Thunderous provides knockback/prone, Wrathful provides Frightened, Branding prevents invisibility and Blinding provides Blind)
Divine Smite is the pure damage use of Paladin spell slots. Not only is it additional to any attack (Rather than costing a Standard + Bonus action like Smite spells), but also provides just raw damage. Every other spell slot usage is just pure utility (Including any multiclassing into spell casters, it will be hard to find anything more destructive than multiple attacks with Divine Smites attached unless you're just dipping Paladin and can access high level AoE spells)
I'm not sure how Searing Smite fares if you build for it with some sort of 2 Paladin/10 Fire Draconic Sorcerer - I'm not sure how its damage scales with upcasting and Dragon Sorc's CHR mod on spells (If it affects every tick it could theoretically do a lot of damage... But if that's worth over just slapping something with Divine Smites as a regular Paladin build is another matter...)
Last edited by Taril; 25/04/24 07:17 PM.
