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Harry the Wizard and Michael the Paladin are fighting a demon on an isolated island. After a dramatic and bloody battle, Michael has fallen unconscious following a critical hit from a demon. On his turn, Harry defeats the demon with a magic missile spell, ending the encounter. Michael is currently suffering from the dying 2 condition. On his turn, Michael makes a recovery saving throw, and rolls a 14 versus a DC of 17. A failure. Michael now has the dying 3 condition. Harry is untrained in medicine and has run out of healing potions. Desperate to save his friend's life, Harry punches Michael in the face.

Getting Knocked Out

When you're reduced to 0 Hit Points, you get knocked out. When this happens, you are subject to the following effects:

You fall unconscious (gaining the unconscious condition).

You immediately move your initiative to directly *before* the creature or effect that reduced you to 0 HP

If the attack was lethal, you gain the dying 1 condition. If you already had the dying condition, instead increase your dying condition by 1. If the attack was a critical hit, you gain the dying 2 condition (or increase your dying condition by 2).

If the attack was nonlethal, you do not gain the dying condition or increase your dying condition, and you return to 1 hit point (though your remain unconscious).

Taking Damage while Unconscious

If you take damage while you're already unconscious, apply the same effects as if you had been knocked out by that damage. If the recovery save DC for the new damage is higher than your current recovery save DC, start using the higher DC.

Michael is now unconscious at 1 HP with no risk of increasing his dying condition from further recovery saves.

True, but that does seem to fly in the face of feat design. The only feats in the game that can be taken before they can be used are metamagic feats. Abilities that use a modification of character level as a baseline usually note having a minimum of 1.

In all honesty, I see two ways that this feat could be taken. One is that it should say "2 levels lower than normal (minimum 1)". The alternative is that the feat should have Channel Energy 2d6 as a prerequisite.

The second question I'm more on the fence about. I could see both sides to that one. On the one hand, it says that it lets you qualify for both feats and abilities that have Positive/Negative channel as a prerequisite. Spontaneous conversion is the only ability I've ever seen with that as a prerequisite.

On the other hand, if that was indeed the intent, you'd think the feat would have been a bit more clear about it.

Prerequisites: Channel energy class feature, necromancer or neutrally aligned cleric (see below).

Benefit: You may make a choice whenever you use your channel energy class feature.

If you normally channel positive energy, you may choose to channel negative energy as if your effective cleric level were 2 levels lower than normal.

If you normally channel negative energy, you may choose to channel positive energy as if your effective cleric level were 2 levels lower than normal.

Having this feat means you qualify for feats and abilities that have "channel positive energy" or "channel negative energy" as a prerequisite (for example, you qualify for the Command Undead feat and the Turn Undead feat).

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The Versatile Channeling feat allows you to channel both positive and negative energy as a cleric, albeit one is at an effective cleric level of -2. This raises two interesting questions for me.

Firstly, there's nothing in the prerequisites that prevents a cleric from taking this feat at level 1. If I have a normally positive-energy cleric who takes this feat at first level, can he channel negative energy as a first level cleric, or can he simply not take advantage of the feat until level 3?

Secondly, the ability says you qualify for feats and abilities that have "Channel Positive Energy" or "Channel Negative Energy" as a prerequisite. Does that include the cleric's spontaneous casting? The Cleric's Channel Energy says that it's what dictates which set the cleric can convert spells into. If so, would the same positive-energy cleric convert inflict spells at CL -2?

Thanks in advance.