Hello,
This first came up for me in the following thread in ENWorld:
http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=225589
I don't know if something similar has been suggested for Pathfinder in the previous Alphas' rules threads.
The basic idea is to allow Protection from Energy and Resist Energy to apply to positive and negative energy in addition to acid, cold, electricity, fire and sonic. So in addition to channeling for example, it might apply to cure or inflict spells.
The basic idea that came up when my roommate (a fellow DM) and myself were discussing Pathfinder channeling and the idea that it actually gives clerics who channel negative energy but don't particularly have anything to do with the undead, a fairly large club to use against PCs with no obvious counter or protection.
In addition, it seems like it would offer a few other neat tricks and twists. For example; a necromancer casting one of these spells on some lower level undead. I find a party's first reaction to undead is a turning attempt, so even if the undead flee, they aren't dusted, and the party may assume any opposition is more powerful than it seems. Kind of a nice fake-out, I thought.
In any case, we have recently converted both our campaigns to Pathfinder in hopes of participating in the playtesting feedback. We intend to try out this rule, but as the PCs in one party are 1st level, and in the other they are 4th (with only a 2/2 Fighter/Cleric), it might not come up for a while.
If anyone else feels like giving this a try, I'd love to hear to results. :)
