Divine Smite

You don't need to cast it, it is automatic and passive. 

You do however have to expend a spell slot for each time you want it to go off. 

So if you have a total of 6 unused spell slots, you will be able to use it 6 times as long as you do NOT use any other spells. 

If you do use another spell (like Fireball) you lose a spell slot and it goes from 6 uses to 5 uses.

Hope that helps.

OK

I have myself confused here.

What I mean is Divine Favor, which gives 1d4 radiant extra.

It seems redundantm cuz Divine Smite is bad enough.

Divine Favor takes a Bonus Action to cast IIRC, so you can cast it attack with it in the same round.  It can last up to 1 minute, so 10 rounds, & you get the +1d4 Radiant on every hit, so it can really add up.  But since it requires Concentration, you might only get a few swings with it before you lose it, & it precludes you from using another Concentration spell while it is up.  It is a question whether or not it is worth the spell slot.

Never liked it.   Paly is front line and (as mentioned) gets smacked a LOT.   I save all my spell slots for smites.   Also, this way I can have the option to use a shield, which in turn also opens up the possibility of Protection, which I find very useful. 

OK

I'll watch the stats in game and see if I can tell it works.

In theory Divine Favour is more spell slot efficient than a smite, if the fight last 10 rounds, if you don't get smacked and loose concentration. In practice you want to get the fight over as quickly as possible so burning through your slots with smites is pretty much always better. Shield of Faith is bad for the same reason.

In theory Divine Favour is more spell slot efficient than a smite, if the fight last 10 rounds, if you don't get smacked and loose concentration. In practice you want to get the fight over as quickly as possible so burning through your slots with smites is pretty much always better. Shield of Faith is bad for the same reason.

Yeah, I have prettty much quit any bless type spells from everybody. Seems like a waste you can't afford.

A thing to keep note of is Divine Favor works with ranged attacks as well as melee (smite is melee only), so as long as you get about 4 attacks it will break even with a single smite attack provided they are not undead.

A thing to keep note of is Divine Favor works with ranged attacks as well as melee (smite is melee only), so as long as you get about 4 attacks it will break even with a single smite attack provided they are not undead.

That's what I noticed. It's important to me, as all my people try to kill from a distance.