| MattyWhiskers |
As someone who played the Beta version and now has completely switched to Pathfinder, I was able to game play both ways with my cleric. In Beta, you were able to heal living AND harm undead, as well as the chance to turn undead within that 30 foot burst. While I agree the rule on Channeling Energy needed to be balanced, I was a bit confused about how channeling energy (Positive or Negative) could not have an inherent effect on a character of the opposite side (i.e. Positive damaging undead or Negative damaging living automatically). So, when the final Core rules came out, that change ended up making me question how energy (Positive or Negative) can have one effect or another as a choice rather than it being automatic with regards to living and undead creatures.
I do like the idea of there being a feat to heal AND harm at the same time, just like with what they did with Turn Undead in the final Core Rules. There would need to be a few guidelines included for a new Channel Energy feat (it would apply to either Positive or Negative Channelers of energy). First, I would say to make it fair or balanced, it should be a full round action instead of a standard action as it is now. Second, it should probably be at a higher level, like 9th (Caster or Character level, that is). Third, if the standard D6 progression would be deemed too high or powerful, maybe dropping it down to a D4 would be better (I think the D6 progression should stay, personally). All other prerequisites would still apply.