Is there any benefit to casting Word of Power over Smite?

[Illuminated One]

Originally Posted by llamaserver

Yeah, I know chris, but if you can do a communion it's a bit of a disappointing outcome. It's arguable whether it's even worth casting it rather than paralyze (lower fatigue but less duration).

I don't think it's entirely fair to compare Word of Power and Paralyze.
Paralyze is better but can't be cast in all situations (mages lacking paths, research).
Also a mage who can cast paralyze can maybe cast something better than smite.
So instead of having the mage cast paralyze and the priest cast smite have the priest cast Word of Power and the mage cast something else.