Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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This means that your when 1st level cleric channels energy to heal, he/she rolls 1d6, and everyone within 30 ft of the cleric heals that amount. And I mean EVERYONE living, good guy and bad guy alike. It's a sort of mass heal.
The bit about not exceeding your max HP just means that any healing beyond your max is not gained as temporary HP.
Owner - D20 Hobbies
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1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on).
cleric is level 1, and there are 6 living characters within the range
It is 1d6 per person. Roll 1d6, get a 5, heal everyone in range 5 INCLUDING living enemies.
It isn't that big of a deal, the healing is always minor. I have a 14th Cleric in a Weds night game that heals up to 66 (11d6) each turn using several items and feats to maximize the healing. It still doesn't heal enough to keep someone from dying even if done every round.
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As has been said, you roll one dice and give it to every living creature in the area. Unless they take selective channeling they do not get to differentiate who gets the healing.
Its mainly a stop gap and gives the ability at lower levels to actually cast spells, rather than spend them all on cure light wounds.
At mid to high levels its a nice topper when you don't want to waste a big heal, otherwise it will rarely see use in battle unless undead are present.
Then its actually a pretty nice thing to have in a pinch if you don't have a lot of damaging spells.
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Yes. The Paizo crew does answer rules questions in the forums. That's what makes this a great forum and a great company!
However, I can give you a pretty positive second-hand official confirmation: I played as Kyra in Jason's playtest of "Crypt of the Everflame" with the PFRPG rules. I used channel energy...a lot. And that's how channel positive energy works.
One roll, apply the result as healing to ALL living targets within 30 feet.
OR
One roll, apply the result as damage to ALL undead targets within 30 feet.
One or the other, you choose before you channel.
Now, if you get the Feat "Selective Channeling", you are able to exclude some living targets from receiving that healing. It is very effective when party members are being....difficult. You just remind them that you DO have selective channeling, and it doesn't have to be bad guys....
;-)
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Owner - D20 Hobbies
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Has this been clarified in any official way? I ask because if you go by the letter of the rules as they are printed do not agree with your answers.
I'd be interested in anything in the rules that hints at any other interpretation than "everyone gets healed" that is the official way.
Has this been clarified in any official way? I ask because if you go by the letter of the rules as they are printed do not agree with your answers.
Not picking on you or anything but how so? It makes it clear everyone within range gains the healing. And you never split the number of dice in any spell up unless the spell says so. If your fireball does 6d6 damage to everyone in 30 feet you roll 6d6 and everyone gets that number. You do not roll it each time, nor do you divide it among those hit
Like I said not picking but I am confused on how your reading it
Though I find it difficult taht someone thinks that the healing is divided, there is an "official" answer: the cleric preview shows clearly how this ability is intended to work:
"When Kyra uses this ability she much choose to heal living creatures or to harm undead creatures (in the Beta rules, she could do both simultaneously). If she chooses to heal, all living creatures in the area are healed the listed amount (4d6 in this case)."
http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/2009/june
Has this been clarified in any official way? I ask because if you go by the letter of the rules as they are printed do not agree with your answers.
Not picking on you or anything but how so? It makes it clear everyone within range gains the healing. And you never split the number of dice in any spell up unless the spell says so. If your fireball does 6d6 damage to everyone in 30 feet you roll 6d6 and everyone gets that number. You do not roll it each time, nor do you divide it among those hit
Like I said not picking but I am confused on how your reading it
To be fair Russell said this
"I had theorized (and hoped) that they were intended to work as you say, but since it was just addressed in the erata, I will need something officially sanctioned by the developers to appease my DM."It seems his DM has the problem
It's an incredible stretch to go from "The amount healed is 1d6" to "The amount healed is 1d6 divided by the number of people being healed".
The exact words in the book are "The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on)."
If it said "The amount of damage dealt or healed [per character witin the effect] is equal to 1d6..." then yes it would be obvious, but it doesn't. Instead it says that the amount healed is 1d6.
Even more clear would be to say Roll 1d6 (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on) and heal that much for each character within the effect.
It is nice to know that the intent was to heal that much per character, but to interpret the books actual words in that way is a significant assumption.
The developers should seriously consider adding this to their erata.
I thank you all for you help and look forward to playing Pathfinder.
I think the assumption is that historically what you assumed has never happened. Think Fireball xd6 to all in the area of effect.
The description in the combat section says:When you channel positive energy, you unleash a wave
of positive energy in a 30-foot burst. All undead in this
radius take 1d6 points of positive energy damage plus
1d6 points of positive energy damage for every two cleric
levels you have attained beyond 1st (1d6 at 1st level, 2d6
at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on) and must flee from you (as
if frightened) for 1d4 rounds + your Charisma modifier.
Undead in this radius are allowed a Will save that negates
the frightened condition and results in half damage. The
DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 your cleric level + your
Charisma modifier. Undead who take damage greater
than their hit points crumble to dust and are destroyed
by the power of your deity. If a fleeing undead is subject
to channeled negative energy, it is not controlled, but
does receive a new saving throw to dispel the flee effect.
Living creatures within the area are healed a like
amount by this wave of positive energy. You can choose
whether or not to include yourself in this effect. Hit
points gained above a living creature’s total are lost.
So it does state it in the rules.
.
.
.
.
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int amountToHeal = (rand() % 6) + 1;
for (int i=0; i<numTargetsInRange; i++)
{
targets[i].heal(amountToHeal);
}
cout << "Amount healed by channel energy: " << amountToHeal;
------
In other words, the amount healed is still 1-6. You're conflating healing and total healing. Total healing is never mentioned and is uncapped. If the wording of the ability was "The total amount healed is 1d6 ..." you'd be right.
It's an incredible stretch to go from "The amount healed is 1d6" to "The amount healed is 1d6 divided by the number of people being healed".
Hypothetical situation where this might happen:
I use a channeled energy for 1d6.
I roll a 4. There are 3 allies within 30 ft.
We know the actual amount healed is 16, not 4. However, the text states:
Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures of one type (either undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric. The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on).
One interpretation of that text would be that the *total* amount of healing produced by the ability is 4 since "the amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage . . ." If the total healed is 4, the only way to heal all targets and not exceed the *total* amount of healing made would be to divide the healing among the targets. Thus, each target would get 1 hit point.
One way to word this to prevent confusion is:
Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures of one type (either undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric. The amount of damage dealt or healed per creature is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on).
The ability is an AoE. An AoE has never been divided among allies or enemies in 3.5 so how can it be thought that it does so now?
A fireball spell generates a searing explosion of flame that detonates with a low roar and deals 1d6 points of fire damage per caster level (maximum 10d6) to within the area. Unattended objects also take this damage. The explosion creates almost no pressure.
Channeling energy causes a burst that affects of one type (either undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric. The amount of damage dealt or healed is equal to 1d6 points of damage plus 1d6 points of damage for every two cleric levels beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on). Creatures that take damage from channeled energy receive a Will save to halve the damage.
The language is not exactly the same, but its close enough that either fireball divides damage or the channel energy does not divide its numbers.
I don't see the argument here.
Here this might help.
Under Channel Energy there is the following: "Channeling energy causes a burst that affects all creatures of one type (either undead or living) in a 30-foot radius centered on the cleric."
Notice the that it is a burst effect? So what does bursts do? Well under magic it is defined as follows:
"Burst, Emanation, or Spread: Most spells that affect an area function as a burst, an emanation, or a spread. In each case, you select the spell's point of origin and measure its effect from that point.
A burst spell affects whatever it catches in its area, including creatures that you can't see. It can't affect creatures with total cover from its point of origin (in other words, its effects don't extend around corners). The default shape for a burst effect is a sphere, but some burst spells are specifically described as cone-shaped. A burst's area defines how far from the point of origin the spell's effect extends."
Note the line that say ta burst spell affect whatever it catches in it's area.
If I offended man it was not the intent. I was one of the first to post, but you see unless a spell or spell like ability says to divide you never ,ever divide.
A bust hits everyone with the same amount of damage, you roll once everyone gets that amount. It works that way with every burst I can think of. Some of us, ok most of us are just confused as to how you or your DM in this case got the ideal it was divided as you never divide a burst unless it states so. I know you keep showing the quote but we are just not seeing where it says divide. It may be a case of some of us have played so long and we just know what it means
Now let me say welcome, some of us sound condescending but really don't mean to. Have you been given cookies yet??
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Wayfinder, PaizoCon Founder
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Welcome, Russell. Sorry it slid into a debate on semantics, but people get passionate here...albeit sometimes about the weirdest things. ;-)
I'll see if I can get Lilith to drop off some virtual cookies here, and calm the crowd a bit.
And....this here is a prime example of how we all need to be mindful that we have new players in our midst. No, they don't know the rules as well as some of you...hence, that is why they post in the "Rules Questions" section! Please remember that, especially from someone brand new to our community.
Just....geez, come on guys! This is the Paizo messageboards for Gorum's sake! Let's show 'em why this is the BEST forum around!
(OK. Putting down the pom-poms now)
Oh, and Russell...if you want to get really fired up, visit the "Smite Evil is EVIL" thread. ;D
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Russel, welcome to the boards. What you are to find is that once a question is answered, the casuals still like to debate the smallest things about abilities and get into the minutiae. We usually try to stick to the topic at hand, and so it often makes threads where the question was answered into more of a design theory discussion. Not that that's a bad thing, but thread jacks to discuss the topic are VERY common once a thread has gone through its life cycle.
Ok man the reason no one at paizo has comment is well...it's clear how it works, iF the community gives the answer they tend to not bother with it as it is understood how it works. Channel is an area of effect and area of effect always deal the amount to everyone in the area unless it says it does not. Sleep stats it has a HD limit, so is a clearly worded exception to AOE.
As to why a cleric would want to not be effected by his channel, well channel can harm as well 6d6 damage is something you do not want effecting you.
Just to point out it works like this in pathfinder organized play so it is the official way it works. That is about as official as ya can get on somethings.
As I stated above I am not attacking you, as I have done the same thing on some rules, however when everyone else points out how it works then I had to except my reading was incorrect.
And welcome to the boards man.Hands out rum
Creative Director
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Channel energy does not divide its healing up among its targets any more than fireballs divide up the total damage among its victims.
When you generate a number by rolling a bunch of d6s when you use Channel Energy, that number is applied as healing to everyone in the area of the effect.
Effects that divide their damage/healing evenly among all targets are INCREDIBLY rare. I can't think of any, off the top of my head, that work that way in Pathfinder. Needless to say, if an effect DOES do this, it'll be specifically spelled out in the rules, since the baseline assumption is that area effects affect everyone in the area equally—no division needed.
Can a undead cleric of a good god channel positive energy? Maybe that is why the cleric would exclude himself.
or maybe the positive channeling cleric feels he should heal his own wounds naturally.
*shrugs* (in responce to the " why would a cleric exclude himself of healing" )
greg
How would you have run it if the number of people in the radius exceeded the amount healed? Assuming a 4 character party, a level one cleric would need to roll a 4 (or a three if he's excluding himself) for any healing to happen at all. More than six people and no healing would have been possible.
Can a undead cleric of a good god channel positive energy? Maybe that is why the cleric would exclude himself.
or maybe the positive channeling cleric feels he should heal his own wounds naturally.
*shrugs* (in responce to the " why would a cleric exclude himself of healing" )
That's there so you can avoid killing yourself when you channel negative energy.