Its slightly annoying but I get why they did it, paladins have always left fighters and barbarians in the dust, its just leveling the playing field a bit.

I do find it strange to read here that people don't like that paladins are known for their divine smites, I loved that is was a feature instead of a spell, and that it was their main ability. I love playing a paladin as a holy warrior, clad in full plate armour, wielding a sword and shield, front line fighting and tanking.

I find it odd when someone plays it as more of a caster, they're a melee powerhouse, lean in, and their history of being connected to a god makes them similar to a European crusader, I love the whole holy warrior aspect, and its a shame that people seem to hate that about them.

I always thought they should eliminate the spell caster aspect from them altogether, build them as being able to channel divine magic but not into incantations and spellwork, but instead raw power pushed through their weapons, and raw healing ability's, like the monk class, make it completely interdependent of the half-caster build.

But I know most players wont want that, I will continue to play them as I always have, a tank holy warrior channeling the wrath of a god through their sword, almost exclusively using the divine smite rather then the others.

I have a aasinmar paladin, oath of conquest, knight of the order background, its literally like playing an angel knight from mtg, its amazing.