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The soul warden or envoy of balance prestige classes might help. Besides the phylactery, look up the Channeler's Aspergillum, Scepter of Divine Providence, the Channeling shield property, and a Death Warden's Bandolier. Channel Foci may be relevant too though I don't think they aid exactly the things you asked for.
The Channel Ray feat extends the range a lot.
The Cleansing Light or Envoy of Healing traits might help too.
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Alright, incoming Wall of Text. I have most likely been ninja'd for various of these links due to the long post, but who cares.
Class:
- Blossoming Light: Positive channel-focused Cleric. Starting lvl 3, considers creatures with light sensitivity, chaotic evil outsiders, and their worshipers as Undead when harming with Positive Energy.
Domain:
- Glory Domain: Add 2 to the DC of your Channel Energy when channeling positive energy to harm the undead.
- Sun Domain: Add Cleric level to damage when channeling positive energy to harm the undead. Undead do not gain their Channel Resistance to their saves.
Feats:
- Channel Ray: Target one creature within 30ft per channel die. Increase Channel DC with 2.
- Channel Surge: Use two channels to increase the damage/healing with 50%.
- Improved Channel: Add 2 to the DC when you channel energy.
Magic Items:
- Channeling armor: Increase channel die by 1 for 3/d.
- Channeler's Aspergillum: 3/d raise the effective cleric level by two concerning Channel Energy.
- Sacrosanct weapon: 1/d, increase channel radius towards 40ft (more times with Mythic Rules)
- Ring of Protected Life: Increases channel radius with 5ft, once a day channel as a swift action (sacrifes the extra 5ft for 24h).
- Scepter of Divine Providence: By spending extra channels, one can increase the radius up to 30ft.
- Blessed Keepsake: Allows its wielder a specific version of Alignment Channel (does not grant the feat, though).
- Brilliant Flash Symbol: Gives a DC10 Fortitude rider that inflicts Dazzled. Low power, but cheap.
- Glory Medallion: Treats on dieroll of 1 as a 6, but only for positive channeling.
- Ghostvision Gloves: Can be activated once a day for a minute. During that minute, one can target a single undead with Positive Channeling and use d12's instead of d6's.
- Malleable Symbol: Alters the area when channeling into a 10ft burst within 30ft, a 60ft line, or a 30ft cone.
- Mantle of the Faithful Vessel: Those healed by the channel also gain a Bless. Add the Mythic tier to damage dealt or healed.
- Symbol of Luck: Halfling only. Gives those healed by the channel a +1 Luck bonus to saves for an number of rounds equal to the channel dice.
- Unicorn's Blackened Horn: twice per day, channel the opposite energy.
- Uplifting Boots: Sacrifice 1 Channel Energy for 1 minute of Air Walk.
- Vestment of War: Gain 1 extra Channel per day.
Traits:
- Cleansing Light: Religion trait, Sarenrae only. When dealing damage to Undead, reroll all dice that fall on a 1 until they are no longer a 1.
- Envoy of Healing: Religion trait, Sarenrae only. Whenever you heal someone, reroll all dice that fall on a 1 until they are no longer a 1.
- Exalted of the Society: Faith trait. Channel one more time per day.
- Flames of Hell: Religion trait, Archdevils only. Add 1 to the DC of your Channel Energy.
- Sacred Conduit: Faith trait. Add 1 to the DC of your Channel Energy.
- Student of Faith: Campaign trait. Add 1 to the DC of your Channel Energy.
Cleric FCB:
- Aasimar: +1/2 on dealing damage with Positive Channeling.
- Fetchling: +1/2 on dealing damage with Negative Channeling.
- Gnome: +1/2 on healing, only applies to animals, fey and plants.
- Half-Elf: +1/3 on damage or healing with channeling.
- Kobold: +1 damage versus creatures denied their Dex.
- Wayang: +1/2 damage when channeling (only damage, not healing).
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There is also Quick Channel. Spend two uses to channel as a move action. This can let you pump out 250% normal channel healing if you channel surge too.
Also Cleansing Light/Envoy of Healing say you must take the new result. So if you reroll and get another 1, you still have a 1. Still a nice way to get better healing.
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There is also Quick Channel. Spend two uses to channel as a move action. This can let you pump out 250% normal channel healing if you channel surge too.
Also Cleansing Light/Envoy of Healing say you must take the new result. So if you reroll and get another 1, you still have a 1. Still a nice way to get better healing.
I can't believe I forgot mentioning that one... I mean, it is a staple of any channel build.
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what are all the ways one can improve channel energy weather it be die size, amount of die, flat number boost and most importantly range(must not be a favored class bonus)
phylactery of positive/negative energy is already noted
VMC Cav Order of the stars. You will greatly increase the Dice once Calling kicks in. Not to mention give a teamwork feat to hand out and getting you Challenge 1 time a day.
In addition, the cavalier adds 1/2 his cavalier level to any levels of paladin or cleric he might possess for the purposes of determining the effects of channel energy or lay on hands.
My 2cp about channel energy:
It is nice up to level 9 and becomes obsolete later. I can heal 250+ with all my channels per day, but only 35 on average at a given moment. When comparing that to the damage flying around or the hitpoints of undead, it is not much.
So I am pretty sure that you cannot make a channel build that is not inferior to everything else you could do with those feats. But I would like to see what you can come up with :)
Btw, channel surge is a fullround action, so you cannot quick channel when using it.
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My 2cp about channel energy:
It is nice up to level 9 and becomes obsolete later. I can heal 250+ with all my channels per day, but only 35 on average at a given moment. When comparing that to the damage flying around or the hitpoints of undead, it is not much.
So I am pretty sure that you cannot make a channel build that is not inferior to everything else you could do with those feats. But I would like to see what you can come up with :)Btw, channel surge is a fullround action, so you cannot quick channel when using it.
I have to say that my experience does not agree with this. I don't think channel ever ceases to be useful.
The biggest enemies in the last book of the AP are undead, and the cleric's channel was responsible for a good part of the damage. Sun domain helped a lot, of course, since high level undead tend to have high channel resistance. This was level 17, if I remmeber correctly. No extra feats even invested in it beyond selective channel.
My 2cp about channel energy:
It is nice up to level 9 and becomes obsolete later. I can heal 250+ with all my channels per day, but only 35 on average at a given moment. When comparing that to the damage flying around or the hitpoints of undead, it is not much.
So I am pretty sure that you cannot make a channel build that is not inferior to everything else you could do with those feats. But I would like to see what you can come up with :)Btw, channel surge is a fullround action, so you cannot quick channel when using it.
My experience agrees with this. Usually, you need other abilities to shore up the difference. Life Link, SHield other, mitigation, ext.
The only channel builds that break things up is the Hang over builds for 30ft AoE stun locking to keep party members from taking as much damage.
My experience agrees with this. Usually, you need other abilities to shore up the difference. Life Link, SHield other, mitigation, ext.The only channel builds that break things up is the Hang over builds for 30ft AoE stun locking to keep party members from taking as much damage.
What type of build is that? Never seen/heard of it before.
What type of build is that? Never seen/heard of it before.
My experience agrees with this. Usually, you need other abilities to shore up the difference. Life Link, SHield other, mitigation, ext.The only channel builds that break things up is the Hang over builds for 30ft AoE stun locking to keep party members from taking as much damage.
Variant channeling: rulership w/negative energy. It's a dazelock rather than stunlock, but whatever.
well given the options posted above and my build ill have about 19d6 per channel at level 10 with a life oracle x/paladin 2/vitalist 1 and reroll all 1ns on the roll which averages to 76 healed per target and any over healing to one target i can redirect to another person that needs the healing meaning if all but one party member is full hp the one that is damaged will heal 608 health(8 people in the party) and that's not including the characters ability to double all positive energy healing done to themselves grant it this requires the group to stay fairly close together with the channel range being super small
edit forgot to mention they are also vmc cavalier
Hmm, Vitalist? As in Dreamscarred Press, third party? Most people will discount that as a valid build because of the material. Though I am curious as to where you are getting 19d6 healing at 10th level.
At most, you should have (discounting vitalist) 8 oracle levels and 2 paladin. Paladin offers no channeling until level 4, and even then doesn't stack with Oracle channeling. So, that's (4d6) from Oracle, +5 levels from Cavalier (Order of the Star), for effective 13th level Oracle channeling (7d6). A Phylactery of positive channeling can push this to 9d6.
Where are you getting the extra 10d6?
I'm looking at making a channel focused character myself, I'm curious where you got the +3 from fcb from - I can't find a race that gives that?
I like the VMC Cavalier part though, that one was new to me.
She's probably using the +1/2 level to revelation favored class bonus for the Oracle, which was errata-ed to +1/6 level. She mentioned it in another thread.
only for some races some of the weaker races were left alone
Hmm? Are you looking at the most recent copy of the book/errata or are you going off of the 2d0pfsrd.com web page? If it is the later, it hasn't been fully updated to reflect the rules (which were changed a while ago). Ifrits and Sylphs get +1/6 effective level for a revelation just like every other race that can boost it.
Archives of Nethys or the Offical SRD are better places to go to make sure you are using the most up to date rules.
Archives of Nethys or the Offical SRD are better places to go to make sure you are using the most up to date rules.
Uh, Archives is the most accurate, but I'm not sure about most up to date lately. They've got a few posts discussing why they're so far behind, IIRC. I've gotten to where I don't trust d20pfsrd. They've put in so much crap it's hard to tell what's Paizo and what's 3rd party, plus all the broken links and terrible framing.
Is it a link from the main page? Not 3rd party. :)
Uh, Archives is the most accurate, but I'm not sure about most up to date lately. They've got a few posts discussing why they're so far behind, IIRC. I've gotten to where I don't trust d20pfsrd. They've put in so much crap it's hard to tell what's Paizo and what's 3rd party, plus all the broken links and terrible framing.
Well, if you are using the OGL stuff, Archives is the best one to use, though I find d20pfsrd easier to search (provided you are proficient with Google, lol), and the bottom of each entry gives the source book, so it is easy to check if 3rd party or not.
I use Herolab for most of my character generation. Our gaming group is large enough that keeping up with new material isn't very difficult, or expensive, provided everyone chips in.
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{. . . list . . .}More Feats:
- Channeling Variance: Lets you Variant Channel if you normally Standard Channel, or vice versa -- 1 rank of this feat gets you 3 times per day; 2 ranks of this feat gets you as many times as you have Channels for.
- Versatile Channeler: Channel the opposite type of energy from what you normally channel as if you were 2 levels lower.
Prestige Classes:
- Envoy of Balance: Enter the prestige class with Versatile Channeler (see above), and then as soon as you can, pick the Endowments Spiritual Equilibrium (Versatile Channeler no longer imposes a level penalty for channeling the opposite type of energy, and your prestige class levels now stack with your Channeling class levels) and then Twinned Channeling (channel both Negative and Positive Energy simultaneously as if you were 2 levels lower, and if you have a target exclusion ability such as Selective Channel, it works on both independently.
This list emphasises the general terribleness of channeling IMO...especially for neg channelers its very underpowered.
The feat and ability score investment is just too much.
To make it useful and worthy of being a prime class feature it should either key off WIS or the cleric should get bonus channel feats (2,4,6,8 ??)
To make it useful and worthy of being a prime class feature it should either key off WIS or the cleric should get bonus channel feats (2,4,6,8 ??)
But, channel energy is not a Prime class ability. Its more like a tertiary class ability since its not tied to his casting stat. Domains and their powers, as well as their spell casting ability are their Prime class features.
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At most, you should have (discounting vitalist) 8 oracle levels and 2 paladin. Paladin offers no channeling until level 4, and even then doesn't stack with Oracle channeling. So, that's (4d6) from Oracle, +5 levels from Cavalier (Order of the Star), for effective 13th level Oracle channeling (7d6). A Phylactery of positive channeling can push this to 9d6.Where are you getting the extra 10d6?
not understanding he +5 levels of Cavalier. could someone explain please?
Uh, Archives is the most accurate, but I'm not sure about most up to date lately. They've got a few posts discussing why they're so far behind, IIRC. I've gotten to where I don't trust d20pfsrd. They've put in so much crap it's hard to tell what's Paizo and what's 3rd party, plus all the broken links and terrible framing.Well, if you are using the OGL stuff, Archives is the best one to use, though I find d20pfsrd easier to search (provided you are proficient with Google, lol), and the bottom of each entry gives the source book, so it is easy to check if 3rd party or not.
Yup.
I use Herolab for most of my character generation. Our gaming group is large enough that keeping up with new material isn't very difficult, or expensive, provided everyone chips in.
I'm spoiled that way, too.
not understanding he +5 levels of Cavalier. could someone explain please?
Variant muticlass.
But, channel energy is not a Prime class ability. Its more like a tertiary class ability since its not tied to his casting stat. Domains and their powers, as well as their spell casting ability are their Prime class features.
Not really.... i'm not counting 'spells' as a class feature.
In terms of this debate, clerics get domains, channeling and spont cures/harms.
If channeling was so great, how come I've seen so many cleric players dump it completely?? Even pos channelers Ive seen keep their CHA around the 10-12 mark...
Wands of CLW really do make channeling mostly redundant, once players get to 5th/6th level and have some cash floating around.
I also regularly see clerics spont all their remaining spell slots at the end of the day to get eveyone back to full health.
But, channel energy is not a Prime class ability. Its more like a tertiary class ability since its not tied to his casting stat. Domains and their powers, as well as their spell casting ability are their Prime class features.Not really.... i'm not counting 'spells' as a class feature.
In terms of this debate, clerics get domains, channeling and spont cures/harms.
If channeling was so great, how come I've seen so many cleric players dump it completely?? Even pos channelers Ive seen keep their CHA around the 10-12 mark...
Wands of CLW really do make channeling mostly redundant, once players get to 5th/6th level and have some cash floating around.
I also regularly see clerics spont all their remaining spell slots at the end of the day to get eveyone back to full health.
Some people can not let go of the Classic idea of a healer like World of Warcraft. Reactive healing for d6s is not sustainable when a fireball at level 10 Does 10d6 and you channel heals for 5d6. There is a reason Oracles do reactive healing better and even then reactive healing is still a sloppy way to play. Being Proactive is the way to survive longer and waste fewer resources. When your characters are all surviving longer you get to live out the story, people can develop deeper characters, and people create more cherished memories of the characters because you're not rerolling as often.
Just my 2cps but I have to agree with Doc Roc's assessment of the better support players just throwing to the wayside channeling on clerics. You have better things to do with your standard actions.
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The game is too complex to ignore the utility of a serious healer.
No one is saying avoid healing. We are saying it should not be your main focus to stand ready to heal and waste action economy on it when you can end the threat causing damage as opposed to wasting more turns and resources on healing every single hit.
I have been in MANY games where people play dedicated healers. They do nothing but Buff round 1 and stand ready to lick wounds and apply band aids. This is what the more advanced community tends to dislike about the term "Healer".
Here is a scenario:
Life Shaman #1 @ Level 3 (The Dedicated healer)
Round 1: Bless, Move, and End turn.
Round 2: Move, Cure light wounds to fix the 10 points the Fighter, End turn
Round 3: Cure again because he took more damage from the 2nd guy on him. still 2 enemies up.
Round 4: Chasing fighter who is trying to chase down targets to kill and taking his licks back as he goes.
Round 5: Fight might be over, might not be over. How many attacks were allowed to continue to be thrown at the fighter?
Life Shaman #2 @ Level 3 (The Support)
Round 1: Bless, Move, and End turn.
Round 2: Move, Slumber, (one of two targets drops)
Round 3: Looks at the condition of Fighter...1 enemy left. Slumber enemy and fighter/team are in no danger anymore. Pulls out wand and cures that 10 points the fighter took.
The difference is staggering because the Fighter took less damage and the group wasted fewer resources to accomplish the same goal of combat victory.
Both are capable of healing..but 1 strictly is a healer and the other brings more to the table.
That is the difference between Reactive healing and Proactive Supporting. This is just 1 example as there are countless other ways to contribute.
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A channel focused build does not need to be only a healer, though. A cleric has three things they can do:
A. spells
B. channel energy
C. damage with a weapon
In general, unless you have really high point buy, you can be good at two of these, and only OK at a third. I think any choice of two can make a valid character. If you're going to channel positive energy as one of your priorities, you should probably take the sun domain so that you are better able to harm undead. I should emphasize here that I'm not worrying about what's best, because I don't care about what's numerically best. I just care about making a viable character who can contribute, and one I like the concept of.
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Not really.... i'm not counting 'spells' as a class feature.
In terms of this debate, clerics get domains, channeling and spont cures/harms.
If you want to ignore spells as a class feature, one of the biggest draws of the class and a reason it is one of the most powerful classes, then we are operating on different levels of definitions and have no common ground in order to debate.
If anyone has noticed there has been a real surge in channel focussed cleric archetypes in the last 18 months or so...
The reason why they are still poor is that the root cause of channeling's poorness still remains:
1) Need for ability score investment
2) Need for feat investment
3) Past a certain level (5th) its just not worth the standard action
Think about it...
Eg - 9th level neg channeler with 16 CHA and Selective Channel (a bare minimum score and feat investment)
Why on earth would I launch a 5D6 channel (save for half DC 17.... pretty doable for that level) when I could just whip out any number of 4th/5th level spells that would stand more chance of succeeding and be more effective?? Even if they fail the save you're still only doing 17.5 HP damage.... peanuts at 9th.
Channeling is just dead space for clerics. And so a significant chunk of the class's design space is effectively wasted.
Its very existence combined with this fact is a big reason why clerics are pretty much the most boring class in town..... certainly the most boring casters.
Unfortunately the powers that be are oblivious to this and continue to release new channeling options without addressing the core problem. Like to trying to build a house on sand.......
In case no one mentioned it, getting the death and sun domains allows you to use a conductive weapon to channel smite any target.
Eg - 9th level neg channeler with 16 CHA and Selective Channel (a bare minimum score and feat investment)
Why on earth would I launch a 5D6 channel (save for half DC 17.... pretty doable for that level) when I could just whip out any number of 4th/5th level spells that would stand more chance of succeeding and be more effective?? Even if they fail the save you're still only doing 17.5 HP damage.... peanuts at 9th.
Depends on what kind of creatures you are fighting at 9th level, on a consistent basis. If you are fighting a single CR monster with a pretty good will save, yes, you have better options to use than channel energy. If you are fighting a bunch of lower level mobs on your way to the boss fight, or the boss fight is a few CR's above you because of the additional of a few mooks that you can pummel with channel, it becomes a different story.
Channel energy, as I said before, is not a primary ability of the cleric and takes a lot of effort to make it viable as a primary tactic. The cleric should be resorting to using his Domain abilities or his spells as his primary go-to method to solving encounters, or even his martial ability if he was built for that. Channeling is to be saved for moment where it is more beneficial to hit the most mooks/allies with the damage/healing where a single spell or domain power wouldn't be as effective.
ShroudedInLight had a good point. Smiting your foes with channel energy, directing all that extra #d6 damage into one enemy is a good tactic. It might not be the most efficient use of channel energy, but it doesn't make channel energy suck just because another class can do that same trick a little (or a lot) better.
I don't find clerics boring. That comes down to personal taste.