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Alternative Channeling halves the healing/damage rolled. A Phylactery of Positive/Negative channeling adds +2d6. Is this number halved also?
Additionally, if I am a positive channeler and I use an alternative channel to harm undead do I:
A) Do 1/2 standard damage
B) Do 1/2 standard damage and apply the effect under harm from the alternative channel or
C) Do standard damage?
Stubs is right. The +2d6 is on top of whatever you would normally do. Since taking the alternative channels makes your "normal" 50% of a standard cleric, you'd do 50% +2d6.
As to your second question, you would do B. The amount of damage you inflict/heal is halved as a general rule for alternative channeling unless the ability states otherwise. In exchange for this reduction, you gain some specific boosts.
Actually the answer to the second question is C.
The alternate versions only apply to channeling Positive Energy to Heal, or channeling Negative Energy to Harm.
Using positive to harm undead, or negative to heal undead has the normal effect.
The only way to get access to both alternate versions is if you are a Neutral channeler with the Versatile Channeling Feat, and even then it is still only applying to positive healing and negative damaging... positive to damage and negative to heal are always the standard form.
Yeah, I guess you could be right Interzone, but it seems that it could have been worded better if that was the intent. If "heal" was meant to apply only to "healing with positive energy" then it might have been useful to expressly call that out somewhere. The way I initially read it was that you select an alternate channeling type and then, how you use it, determines the effects.
Since I can use positive energy to heal living creatures and harm undead (and vice versa for negative energy), it seems to me that the "heal" effect would apply when you use your channeling to heal the appropriate creatures and "harm" effect would apply when using your channeling to harm the appropriate creatures. The mention of positive energy used to heal not effecting undead is just clarifying that, as normal, you have to choose living/undead as your effect when channeling and that you don't get both.
Take a look at the "Undeath" version. "Heal" lists how it works for undead. If heal = positive energy, then the healing of undead should be in the "harm" section.
I was just going by this part of the book:
"A variant channeling either modifies positive energy when used to heal or modifies negative energy when used to harm." at the beginning of the third paragraph in the variant channeling section. It doesn't seem to contradict that later anywhere...
I think Undeath might be a special case, it mentions that undead get the 'enhanced' heal effect, which is described at the beginning of the section as well.
If I am wrong, hopefully a Paizo employee will point it out, but that seems to be the way it works.
I would certainly prefer having the option of doing either with only positive or only negative. :)
I'm actually going to FAQ the OP, because the wording is unclear to me and, though it doesn't need an errata, could use some clarification on how it's supposed to work. I'd encourage you to join me.
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4, Legendary Games
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I was just going by this part of the book:
"A variant channeling either modifies positive energy when used to heal or modifies negative energy when used to harm." at the beginning of the third paragraph in the variant channeling section. It doesn't seem to contradict that later anywhere...
I think Undeath might be a special case, it mentions that undead get the 'enhanced' heal effect, which is described at the beginning of the section as well.If I am wrong, hopefully a Paizo employee will point it out, but that seems to be the way it works.
I would certainly prefer having the option of doing either with only positive or only negative. :)
When I wrote that section, I worded it specifically as "heal" and "harm" in order to make it usable with both kinds of energy use (positive as heal (living) or harm (undead) or negative (reversed)).
That was *my* RAI as the writer.
HOWEVER, all Paizo stuff goes through editing and development, and their call is final on all rules elements. My read of the above-referenced sentence in the section is that they chose to make it positive/heal and negative/harm ONLY. That appears to be the RAW, and the RAI of the editing/dev team.
As to the OP's question about the phylactery, because the phylactery has a very specific effect - adding +2d6 to your pos/neg channels - that effect derives from the item and not from your own abilities. While its effect is similar to the 3.0/3.5 item that gave you "turn undead as 4 levels higher," that is not how the PF item works.
The +2d6 is applied AFTER any modifications to your own dice of healing or harming.
That makes sense, thanks for the feedback :)
When I wrote that section, I worded it specifically as "heal" and "harm" in order to make it usable with both kinds of energy use (positive as heal (living) or harm (undead) or negative (reversed)).That was *my* RAI as the writer.
Very good to know. Sounds like I'll be implementing a houserule at my table to stick with your RAI. Thanks for the input.