And just in case no one has any idea what everyone is talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ADgCeYJMN4

I would say that Into The Darkness was probably before Bestiary 2?

If so, go with the Bestiary 2 ruling.

Otherwise, I think you would go with the "specific trumps general" ruling, and general Serpentfolk would use "effects" and when playing "Into The Darkness" you would use "magic".

Waking them would have made a story much more fun to tell. :)

Well yes, it would. And probably will, as they have to pass back by it on the way back. :)

I might start worrying if In Harm's Way gets involved, though, since he can then redirect all attacks to himself. Between that and paladin self-healing, it could get a little rougher.

Actually, I have no issue with In Harm's Way. That just allows him to suck up all the damage. That is easy to deal with. Deal more damage than he can take. Right now, if he isn't using that, all the damage is spread out over the party, which more or less, allows them to live. Doing it all to one guy would kill him quickly, so he would have to be more careful.

He usually is getting smacked around pretty bad as well. So, actually, I don't think he wants any more damage. :)

So fellow GMs...

In my game, a player has a Level 4 Paladin/Tier 2 Mythic and just got 5th level. He already has Combat Reflexes and Mythic Combat Reflexes and is looking at Bodyguard for his 5th level feat.

Combat Reflexes: Extra Attacks of Opportunity (limited to Dex bonus).
Mythic Combat Reflexes: Unlimited number of Attacks of Opportunity (but same basic rules apply - one attack per round per target).

Bodyguard: Use an Attack of Opportunity to perform an Aid Another (for +2 AC) when an adjacent Ally is attacked.

Obviously Bodyguard was written before the Mythic book came out, because Bodyguard puts 0 limits on it. So technically you could do this every attack, from every enemy, every round until you run out of Attacks of Opportunity each round, but with Mythic Combat Reflexes that never happens.

One one hand, it seems way cheesy and doesn't seem right (basically giving a +2 AC to an ally forever against melee attacks). But on the other hand, he must be adjacent to the ally and threatening the attacker, and make his AC 10 check, so maybe it isn't such a big deal.

What do you think? Would you be cool with it (and why) or would you reject this plan (and why)?

I want to help my friend to build his luchador.

Well, I think taking Dodge, Mobility, and Spring Attack are probably a given? Plus Improved Unarmed Strike and Improved Grapple?

Jack up your Acrobatics and maybe even pick up Skill Focus (if you take Half-Elf, you get that for free).

I recently had a team come across a few Minotaurs who were sleeping and unarmed. The party coup de graced a couple of them and combined on the last unarmed one.

I gave them CR - 1 XP for the encounter, simply because the sleeping wasn't caused by the party (different if they were put to sleep by Deep Slumber or something) and because they didn't have their large great axes.

My rational for this was that the large great axe is built into a standard minotaur's CR, so a disarmed, disadvantaged foe should be worth less (again, unless the PCs are the cause of the disarming or disadvantage or strategize to attack when they are at a disadvantage).

In your case, full XP probably should have been awarded, because you overcame (tricked) a fully alert and aware creature.

However, the GM can award whatever he wants for encounters...so you could always just ask him how he would rule things. Even bring up the goblin situation and ask about it.

If that was my game, I would have awarded 0 immediately, because I would have the wolf return to camp, and start making perception/survival rolls to track you back. If it made it back then you would defeat it in combat and got the XP OR it would have lost the train and you would have got the XP.

All,

Here was the final poem I went with for my game:

The Twin Colossus await
Right-ahead straight
Travel ones by ones
Move slow, steer true
North, Oxor burns red
South, Drohz chills blue
Each one brings foul and death
Heed this verse or draw last breath

The party ran across it, and was able to navigate without waking them. Although the players were very curious to see if they could take the Hydras.

They are six, level 4 characters with 2 mythic Tiers. So their APL comes out to 6. Each of the Hyrdas is a CR 8, so that make the two of them a CR 10. It would have been really rough.

What I did for the "odds" of waking them was started out with a DC5 stealth check. If they walked right down the middle, that is what they had to do. If they strayed from the middle, or tried to sneak around the statues, the DC went up depending on how far away from center they were and/or how far they tried to travel. When they got to the end of the path, they had to make their roll. If someone else was on the path at the same time, they had to add the previous person's check to their own (so if two people walked down the middle right after each other, the first would be a DC 5, the second would be DC 10).

The Paladin of the group, with his armor check penalty, has a Stealth of -4. So he actually rolled a 2 on his check, but then used on of his Mythic Surge abilites and brought it to a 6.

Thanks again everyone. The poem did its job. It made them curious, warned them of danger, and gave them the safe path all at the same time.

What's the craziest stuff your players have tried to get you to allow?

Monkey Grip. It was a feat in one of the splat books that allowed you to wield weapons larger than normal or use a two-handed weapon one handed. It was always used so someone could cheese a dual-wielding Greatswords or Great Axes. Ugh.

Not really super-crazy, but it comes up EVERY FREAKING GAME FOR EVERY FREAKING CHARACTER...

You can do this without even multiclassing by taking the Versatile Channeler feat.

Well, actually I couldn't. I started as a wizard. :)

Okay, so I know OP didn't say which deity his character follows...

I didn't say which one, but I did say it was a Neutral deity. But in specific, it is "Nethys".

I really like the flavor of the character you've created, Windquake.

Thanks.

I mean, it seemed legal to me, I was just making sure I wasn't missing something.

So I made a True Neutral Wizard who is specializing in the Necromancy School. As part of that, you gain some Channel Energy shots per day to use the Command Undead feat.
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-schools/paizo--- arcane-schools/classic-arcane-schools/necromancy

Although it doesn't say so in the "Power Over Undead" description, we are assuming this is a negative energy channel of some kind. No where does it say that you have to be evil to be a Necromancer (which is a prejudice I, as a player am always fighting against), but the bonus feat says you have to channel negative energy...

After a few levels of the party getting our butts kicked, I decided to multi-class into Cleric to help heal. As I am a Neutral character and worship a Neutral deity, I get to pick. As my goal was to heal the party, I selected to channel positive energy.

So now I have both Positive Energy Channels AND Negative Energy Channels?

I didn't realize the conundrum until after we were already well into our next adventure, so I didn't do it on purpose or trying to game-break.

Basically I am using the Power Over Undead to take control of any undead we are fighting and forcing them to fight the other undead. Once the fight is over, we kill it too. Similar, I would think to how an Enchanter would using Charms and such. So, the GM is pretty cool with it, so it isn't causing a conflict, but what does everyone think?

How?

See the climax of "Shaolin Soccer" for how.

***Spoilers***

Team Evil fires a brutal shot at the last remaining goalie and rather than catching or smacking the ball away, the goalie (Mui) starts spinning her hands around the ball, causing it to circle around her. She changes the direction of the ball almost passively, than actively.

Link: Ending Scene

Be inventive on how mystical things work, because it can make the game more unique.

This is my favorite board post ever.

It is possible to hold a weapon without wielding it. If I'd like a character to be able to switch to a different weapon while already having drawn it (say, to fall back to swinging a shield after having been disarmed), what type of action is it to switch to wielding that merely-held weapon? My best guess it that it's a free/non-action, but I can't find any RAW on the topic.

You won't find anything in RAW about this, but I would assume that Pathfinder assumes that Held=Wield.

After all, in reality, holding a sword by the hilt and wielding a sword is the name mechanically. The only difference would be the intent. You wield a weapon when you are practicing or fighting or expecting a fight. You hold a weapon when you aren't, but it is still in your hand.

So, I would say they are more or less the same thing.

Windquake wrote:

Dustyboy wrote:

There is a Racial Heritage feat for humans, allowing one to count as an additional humanoid race. You can probably tag this on to the character (selecting either human, half-orc, or half-elf for base abilities then use the feat to fill in the blanks for heritage).

Oh right. I forgot about that one. I didn't have a book to check that out.

I think you are introducing an unneeded complication.

Making people hate two-handed weapons or reach weapons doesn't help the game at all and penalizing someone trying to be quiet while holding a sword doesn't make much sense.

What you could do is say that if there is a smaller area (or they have to "squeeze"), the weapon has to be sheathed or suffer a generic -2. I suppose, like StabbittyDoom was saying, they specifically say they are climbing or swimming with a greatsword in their hands...

As for reach weapons threatening 5ft, I do allow that, with the non-proficiency penalty of -4 to hit, unless they have the Improvised Weapon feat.

That line makes Detonate weird. haha.

It does. I had an alchemist that got a ring of energy resistance (fire), specifically, so he could explode himself. :)

The question I have is somewhere along the line of "could a half-Orc breed with a half-elf" by raw? And if so what would they produce?

Keep it simple.

Idea 1:
In the case of half-X plus half-Y, just pick mother or father, and use that line. So in your case, let's just pick mother, a half-orc mother and a half-elf father produces a half-orc.

Idea 2:
You could just use math/majority. Half-Orc is 50% Human/50% Orc. Half-elf is 50% human/50% elf. Their child would be 25% Orc/25% Elf/50% Human...so the result is close enough to human to be a human.

Either way, maybe come up with a "Multi-racial" Trait, which gives them a small bonus to disguise or languages or something like that, so you still pay homage to the lineage.

Does anyone know of any viable third options that are different than these two or more than likely take them into account?

The reason I'm asking is I was thinking a combo of the two might allow players to integrate more of their back story into this process. It would put some randomness into the equation but also allow them the stability of a point buy.

Any thoughts on any fun variants?

What I do is have everyone roll one set of stats (4d6, drop the lowest) as does the GM. Then the group decides which set of stats to use. All players then use that stat set for their characters, ordering them as they see fit.

That way, you still get the fun of dice rolling, with 5 or 6 rollers, you are bound to get at least one decent set of stats. Then to keep everything balanced, everyone uses the same stats.

Here is one:

The Twin Colossi wait ahead,
turn north they're hot, turn south they're cold,
Oxor who burns, Drohz who chills,
By ones and ones, move slow, steer true,
and heed this verse, or soon be dead,
For each one of both breaths death and kills.

That ain't bad! :)

With those odds they still stand a good chance of awakening them, even if the follow the rules.

Yeah, I am still going to tweak it a bit. I realized for 1 or 2 characters it may work, but more than that and you are right.

OK, how about this one, for a mounted PC:

"I ready an action to do X (attack, channel to harm, etc) when I arrive in that square. I end my turn. Now it's my mount's turn. My mount moves to that square, triggering my readied action, then keeps moving."

That seems to overcome both (100% valid) objections.

Sorry, that won't work either. Mounts that are under your control move on your initiative (p202, Core, under "Mounts In Combat"). So if you wanted to release control of your mount, it might be possible, that that means your mount could move wherever it wanted and probably would attempt to avoid combat.

The real way to do that is to ready the action, which would be both moving and casting, wait until the target is in range or in the square you want, trigger your action, move, and cast your spell.

Basically, the characters will come upon a dangerous thing and there will be an inscription that describes the "rules". I need something poetic to work in all the rules. I have tried myself, but I suck, so I am turning to you all for help.

Here is the story:
The characters will come upon "The Twin Colossus", which are two statues of Hydra...or is Hydras...whatever. One is a Pyro-Hydra, the other a Cyro-Hydra. They are basically guardians of a long forgotten path. They come to life when someone travels the area, unless someone follows the specific instructions.

Here is the information that I wish to have included:
-On the north side of the path is the Pyro-Hydra, named Oxor.
-On the south side of the path is the Cryo-Hydra, named Drohz.
-Together they are "The Twin Colossus".
-If the characters stray from the path, they will awaken (100%).
-If they stay on the path, and travel one by one, they have a better chance (basically 5% per 5' square and they have to travel about 50' on at a time).

So I need a poem or something that explains all of that.

Can you help?

He thinks adventure is like a box of chocholates, you never know what you're gonna get.

Mr. Gump, may have had a INT of 5 or 6, but WIS was probably up around 15 or 16.

Screw it, let's stat out Mr. Gump.

STR: 12 (Gump keeps himself in decent shape with regular exercise)
DEX: 16 (Gump is an expert at hand-eye coordination (ping-pong))
CON: 16 (Gump is healthy, and doesn't tire easily)
INT: 6 (Gump is far below average)
WIS: 15 (Gump always has a bit of advice that is just right)
CHA: 16 (Gump is extremely friendly and likable and inspires others)

Skills: Profession (sailor), Profession (shrimper)

Feats: Run (did you expect anything less)

:)

So I was checking out this new Extract and the question came up...does it still do standard bomb damage?

I initially thought no, because it would be unbalanced to have a cage that has no save, no spell resistance and a touch attack.

But then I thought, it never says to forgo the damage, as some other spells and effects do, and you can only have one cage active at one time.

So basically this reduces the bombs to a "one and done" attack for the combat.

Thoughts?

(1) But what does it mean to embody those concepts?

She would literally be the epitome of those concepts almost to a fault (this of course assumes you don't play your deities like the Greek Gods who were more messed up than humans).

(2) How did she come to embody those concepts?

I have always played my gods (I don't use the book gods; I feel it gives me more freedom for my world) as if some were completely alien beings and the others were "born" to them or bestowed god-power as a reward for being that epitome of something or being entertaining to the alien gods.

(3) How can someone who doesn't follow Iomedae, or even who specifically rebukes Iomedae, still be honorable or act with Justice? Do the deities have a monopoly on the virtues they embody? And if not, what's the point?

I would assume it is one of those "I don't believe in God, but He believes in me" situations. All aspects are available everyone. Otherwise the god would limit their influence in the world and would cut themselves out of potential power. Every god gives a bit of the aspect to all the beings in the world in hopes to sway them to them. Even those that are on the "wrong" path. In addition, in my game I have minor deities that share in some of those influences, so no single god has full domain over anything (more of a balance thing).

(4) Does a deity become more powerful simply be people worshiping that deity? For example, does Iomedae become more powerful the more followers she gains?

I think this really depends on how you want to run your game. I have played it either way, depending on the plot, and I have changed it over the decades I have been playing. My guess is somewhat, worshiping has to affect gods or again "what's the point?". However, my gods will never die or weaken to the point of being vulnerable to mortals due to lack of worshipers. Plus, this way you can a deity that no one worships "come back" and reek havoc.

(5) Relatedly, does anytime a person is honorable in the world, whether or not they worship Iomedae, make iomedae more powerful since they are contributing to "honor"?

I would say just the opposite (see #3 above). Think of it like Reddit. Someone being honorable gives Iomedae a karma point, but it really doesn't mean much in the "real world", just bragging rights mainly. It is Iomedae's influence that helps that person be honorable.

(6) If someone were to slay Iomedae, what would happen? Would they literally rip control over those domain and those virtues from Iomedae and grab control of them? What if a dishonorable person with no valor slayed her?

I think again, this depends on how you want to run your game and how your plot fixes in. My games, when a god dies, someone else takes their place, but it is really pointless, because when they choose to accept that position, they are filled with those virtues and for all intents and purposes become that former god. Just with slight modifications to appearance and personality. But again, that is just my game.

(7) If she died, and no one took control of those virtues/domains, would honor/justice/etc. still exist in this world?

Again, it may depend on your game. In my game, someone would take over, or possibly forced to take over, or other deities would fill in. But of course people could still make use of those traits, in fact, I would say that the person who exhibited those traits most would be asked (or forced) to become that deity.

(8) have i been smoking too much pot?

Perhaps, but I don't think that is such a bad thing. :)

Yes. Do it. An invisible Cleric or an invisible summoning wizard can be a hell of a help to a party (or a fantastic enemy).

BTW, I LOVE playing heal/aura bots. Clerics rock.

Yep. Makes undead pretty scary to come pouring out of a hole in the ceiling and not care.

You can also use that to your advantage for planning an encounter. Create a situation where everyone in the area is getting hit by non-lethal damage (extreme heat or cold for example), but the undead just don't care.

That is an interesting question, although I think you might be taking the monster description too literally.

As an Outsider, the Genies are "at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some plane". (Bestiary, p309) Also, it doesn't list any specific resistances (for which actually I can find none that do).

Under examples of the Bleeding Attack ability (Core, p68) and the Bleed spell (Core, p249), both say the target must be a living creature. However, the Bleeding condition (Core, p565), Bleeding Critical (Core, p118), and Wounding weapon ability (p472) don't list such a condition. Interestingly enough, the Wounding weapon ability specifically says that creatures immune to critical hits are immune to the bleed damage (but it does say "from this weapon").

Given all of that, I would say that Janni are living creatures, and ARE subject to bleeding. However, that doesn't mean they bleed liquid blood. They may bleed vapor, mist, or clouds, that make them impossible to track by blood. That is a GM call.

Cool thanks everyone.

Dood, it does kind of say that. My question was more about what happens when my halfling ends up Medium size? Becuase he was already doing damage equivilent to medium. But, I get it now.

If it would have said something like, the claws do damage as if you were one size larger, there would have been no question.

Apologies, I searched the forums and didn't find this information anywhere.

So, when you drink the Feral Mutagen, it gives you a specific damage listing (it isn't based on size). However, the damage it gives, seems to be based on the next highest size.

So, I have a halfling (small size) alchemist. When I got the Feral Mutagen, I get claws and a bite. I will just focus on the claws for this example. The claws do 1d4, even though according to The Bestiary (p302) small claws do 1d3. Effectively, doing damage as a medium creature, but it isn't stated.

Later I got into the Master Chymist, and picked up the Furious Mutagen (APG p269), which says it increases damage "by one die step". It doesn't specifically say what that means, but I took it to mean like a size increase, so the claws would now do 1d6.

Now I have an alchemist of small size doing damage equal to large sized clawed creature, but no where does it explicitly say that.

So, if I get the benefits of Strong Jaw (APG 247), it says that natural attacks do "damage as if the creature were two sizes larger". Well, I am small, so that would make the damage as if I were large, which is 1d6, plus the Furious Mutagen, pushing it to 1d8.

Logically, the damage I am doing is already medium, with furious mutagen, up to large, and strong jaw would bump it up to gargantuan (meaning 2d6 claw damage).

What is going on?

I created a custom feat called Spell Obfuscation which allows a caster to mix the somatic and verbal components into everyday language and gestures. So you can talk to someone, and using that feat, make normal conversation and gestures and cast the spell.

It added +1 to the level of the spell, and required a Bluff check by the caster, opposed by the Sense Motive of those around. Those that made the perception knew something was going on, but only those with Spellcraft could attempt to figure it out.

Would that work for you?

I don't mean to cut on your work, but couldn't you basically just take the Tarrasque and give him a Breath Weapon?

Seems fairly Godzilla like already...

That is what I figured (for the Improved Crit).

Thank you all.

I am sure this has been covered before somewhere, but I am unable to find it.

I have an Alchemist, who has the Feral Mutagen...
So it says he gains 2 claw attacks and a bite attack. So I have a few questions:

1) Would the 2 claws be at the highest bonus and the bite at -5 (unless I take the Multi-attack feat)?
2) Since my attacks are Natural attacks at that point, if I take Weapon Focus, is the type "Natural" or would it be "Claw" or "Bite"?
3) If I pick up Improved Critical, again would it apply to "Natural" or a specific attack, such as "Claw"?

Thanks!

A dream.

I am so stealing this idea. :)

It is awesome!

Just make a party of shadow dancers and congratulations you have won pathfinder.

...and how much experience is that worth? All of it.

During an adventure a ring that needed to be recovered was being worn as a crown by a tiny woodland fey, who declared himself king of his glade after he found it and put it on his head.

Love it. That is great. You need to tell the player to get over himself.

(Speaking of magic rings: The party I am in recently fought a giant who was wearing a magic ring. As we were looting, the party made jokes about my halfling using the ring as a belt.)

The Attack of Opportunity assumes you have a weapon in hand that threatens (or have some kind of unarmed strike/claw/bite/etc).

So if you have a wizard that is holding a dagger, and casts a spell, and then someone runs by you, you can take your attack of opportunity, most definitely!

Thanks everyone.

I suppose keeping me straight on what has happened in each game will be the tough part.

I have ran the same plot for two different groups, but they were both active in the same timeline, approaching it from two different directions. It was kind of interesting.

But, given what everyone else has said, I will probably NOT do this.

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Remove Curse?

Doesn't make the item "un-cursed." Remove Curse only removes the curse from the creature, and allows the creature to "escape" the hold the cursed item has on them.

Correct. Same thing with Break Enchantment.

I agree with Dork that a Limited Wish (or greater) could alter a cursed item to remove the curse completely.

I just gotta ask... did you watch the "Mythbusters" episode on the flying guillotine? It sure sounds like what you are describing here.

I did. Master of the Flying Guillotine is one of my favs (when it comes to cheesy old school kung-fu movies).

To the OP. The range is far too long, unless that is it's full range. Otherwise, you can throw up to 5 range increments, meaning up to 200 feet! The Mythbusters showed that the maximum effective range would be about 15 feet. So, I propose altering the range increment to 10' or make it 20' and allow only 2 range increments, due to it's weight.

But that is a big IF. Given what everybody else is saying, it is still unbalancing.

Perhaps make the mechanics more like a net that grapples, but with a pin, then it does it's thing. That way you have to hit with the thing, establish a grapple, then attempt a pin with it, then inflict the guillotine property.

So, I have a new plot I am going to try running in a few months. But, I have 3 different possible groups (college friends, work friends, family). There is little mingling between the groups.

Has anyone tried to run the same story/plot with multiple groups, one after another?

What were the pitfalls you ran into?

Can a vampire have its coffin inside a golem?

we ran ravenloft and my party destroyed him in 5 rounds so i had him return in a giant robot golem. what is every body's reading on vampires resting after their bodes have been destroyed.

do they have to rest in a coffin in a basement somewhere or can they rest in a golem that is programmed to defend /attack the party of adventures? along as there is earth form there burial ground right? and vampire experts out there want to chime in.

I think that is a fantastic idea. It means the party has to defeat Strahd, then defeat the coffin golem, and then finish off Strahd.

Of course, my group would say it was BS. :)

Depends, but mostly yes.

Greater Magic Fang has two options. One is to hit a particular natural weapon, with a larger bonus. The other is to hit all natural attacks with a +1.

If option 2 was selected, then yes, you would keep it, because you are the creature, even when you are in human form, bird form, dino form, or bear form. And you would always get the +1 on all natural attacks, no matter what form you were in.

If option 1 was selected (and claw was you choice), then the spell would basically suspend until you had a claw attack again, because the target is not the attack itself but you. At least until someone dispels your awesome glowing death paw!

BTW: If you did select the first option for Greater Magic Fang, like Magic Fang, it only affects ONE (singular) natural attack, not attack type. So for your claws (plural), you would have to have it cast two times.

I have some questions about blocking weapons:

The blocking description says you gain the shield bonus while fighting defensively. Any reason why you shouldn't also gain the shield bonus while taking full defense?

If fighting defensively and making multiple attacks, does each attack have to be made with the blocking weapon in order to gain the shield bonus (ex. can a monk mix in some unarmed strikes)?

Personally I would give the bonus there as well, but I have no rule references to back that up.

On your second point, I would say no. The "penalty" only applies to that weapon, not all attacks (like Combat Expertise). Since someone with Two-weapon fighting could attack with both weapons and still gain the bonus, there is no reason to assume that someone, like a monk, could punch someone a couple time, then swing the weapon...again though, nothing really to back that up.

I would be careful though. That last part could lead to a lot of abuse.
Imagine a Monk with 4 attacks. He attacks with the first 3 at his best bonus (with Flurry, of course) and then with his last attack, that sucks anyway, takes a penalty and misses (but still gets the bonus AC).

You could house rule it that the first attack MUST be made with the weapon...

What i originally wanted to know was should i be looking for another table, but i guess the answer is clear (or not so clear). I dont care if anybody responds, sometimes its just better to get it out, and not at...

I would say yes...and if you are in the Indianapolis area, let me know. I could use a good reliable player.

Since at least two of my players read the messageboards, I'd rather not say exactly, in the hope they don't put two and two together, but it's an ability that can be activated as a free action. I'm inclined to say no, but I haven't been able to find a rule that specifically says no. And yes, I'm the GM, and can invoke Rule Zero, but I'd rather not do so and find out I was wrong.

No. They can't. Free Actions are taken on your turn only.

There is a type of action that can happen outside of your turn and they are called "Immediate Actions".

Thanks for the advice.

The problem I'm facing is that my fellow players believe that all "healing" clerics MUST have Selective Channeling and that Channeling is a must to heal in combat. But I'm not sure that's true...

One of my best Clerics instead of focusing on Selective Channeling, used the Healing Domain power (to increase Cure spells by 50%), took the feats, Dodge, Mobility, and Combat Expertise, and would run around the enemy to get to wounded characters, counting on the AC to keep him alive. Another reason to NOT get Heavy Armor. Mithral Chain is your friend! Also check out the spell Shield Other. Halves the damage your friend takes, you take the other half (which is easier to heal with Cure Lights.

Previous posters pointed out that at 10th level, the 5d6 averages out to about 17 points. Well a Cure Moderate Wounds with the Healing domain power would be (2d8+10)*1.5, which averages out to 28 points. Much better, especially when the damage is focused on just a few targets. Heck, at 10th level you get some fantastic returns for your Cure Spells:
Cure Light: 9 - 19
Cure Moderate: 18 - 39
Cure Serious: 19 - 51
Cure Critical: 21 - 63
Mass Cure Light: 16 - 27

You are correct, you need to build your character to survive. Only use that Channel if you HAVE to. Also, maybe see about Channeling Feats that allow you to do other things outside of healing.

Is Channeling a MUST? No. But the rest of your party needs to be shown that it is not.