|
| 16 people marked this as a favorite. |
Hello everyone! This is a brief summary of concepts and tricks used to create a build that I call the Hangover Cleric. Credit goes to the Shadowcraft Mage handbook for the format.
Introduction
Something that has nagged me for a while is that there are quite a lot of feats to improve or change channel energy, yet at its heart the ability simply doesn't do enough past the low levels to justify investing much in it. But then Ultimate Magic came along. The builds below use the Variant Channel ability from UC to create a cleric that is specialized in AOE crowd control and spell-casting from 1st level onwards.
The relevant variant channel portfolios are Rulership and Ale/Wine, and from those we will construct a cleric that can repeatedly daze and damage opponents, living or dead, in a 30ft area, as a move action, and still cast spells with a quickened and standard action. You know, like as a hobby.
Variant Channeling:
Ale/Wine: Heal—Creatures ignore the nauseated and sickened conditions, as well as ability damage and drain from poison, until the end of your next turn. This does not bring back to life creatures killed by Constitution damage. Harm—Creatures are nauseated for 1 round.
Rulership: Heal—Creatures gain a channel bonus on Diplomacy checks and to the DC of their language-dependent and charm effects until the end of your next turn. Harm—Creatures are dazed for 1 round.
The application of nausea and dazing
Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention. The only action such a character can take is a single move action per turn. A dazed creature can take no actions, but has no penalty to AC.Some points to remember about these abilities:
- This ability deals both half normal channel damage and an effect, and even a successful save still deals the half damage
- With selective channeling and improved channel, allies are unaffected while opponents with a weak or normal Will save are likely to fail often
- Quick Channel allows the character to channel energy as a move action at the cost of an extra usage; valuable at mid-high levels
- Versatile Channel allows the cleric to target both living and undead creatures with dazing (nauseate wouldn't work on undead), or to switch to Positive Energy channeling when he wants to gain the Heal effects of either ability
- Because Channel Energy requires a high charisma, the character will have excellent social skills with a little investment.
- Phylactery of Negative Channeling: This gives a quick and dirty 2d6 damage boost to Channel Energy
Selection of portfolios
Leadership: The Harm effect dazes opponents, which is a much better status effect than the nauseate from Ale/Wine. The Nobility domain is excellent, with good spells, decent buffs, and the Leadership feat for free at 8th level. The Heal effect (used with Versatile Channeler) is good for bard allies and diplomatic parties.
Some plausible deities (must be neutral for the cleric to qualify Versatile Channeler) are Abadar, Count Ranalc, and Nalinivati. Nalinivati also gains the Charm domain, which works well with Versatile Channeler and the Heal aspect of the channel, while the other two have the excellent Travel domain.
Ale/Wine:
There's nothing I enjoy more than the mental image of a dozen orcs feeling last week's bender come back with a vengeance in mid-battle. Ale/Wine is not tied to any specific domain, though Chaos, Liberation, Love, and Lust are all thematic choices. The Heal aspect (through Versatile Channeler) is excellent for negating ability damage in a pinch or curing allies from a Stinking Cloud. Quick Channel even allows you to un-nauseate yourself as a move action.
Unfortunately there's only one Pathfinder deity that elevates Ale/Wine and that's the amazing Cayden Cailean. Since this build really wants to channel negative energy, your options are to either:
A. Worship him and always rely on Versatile Channeler
B. See if the Separatist variant will allow you to attach Ale/Wine to some other appropriate deity such as Calistria or Besmara
C. See if you can venerate an ideal and use the variant channel (would probably require a houserule)
D. Play in a homebrew/different setting or ask the DM to add alcohol to the portfolio for some more deities.
Feats and traits:
There are quite a few feats that deal with Channel Energy, and the important trick is to strike a good balance between what will always prove useful and what hits the point of diminishing returns.
Traits:
Either Sacred Conduit (+1 DC to channel energy) or Exalted of the Society (+1 Channel Energy/day).
Feats:
Improved Channel: A 2-point bump in DC is critical to ensuring that opponents fail their saves
Selective Channeling: X=CHA allies aren't targeted by your ability
Versatile Channeler: Provides the versatility to use the Heal aspect of Channel Energy; and allows Rulership-types to Daze undead as well.
Quick Channel: Eventually cleric spells are awesome enough that they are as good or better than an AOE daze+damage effect. Have your cake and eat it too, 3+Cha/2 times per day.
Command Undead: Build a horde of shadows & crush the world beneath an ephemeral boot.
Extra Channel: Extra uses of your main gimmick never hurt.
Bestow Hope Versatile Channeler qualifies you for this feat, which is nice to have I suppose.
Quicken Spell: Allows you to cast two spells in a single round at +4 metamagic.
Shatter Resolve Terrific effect, terrible deity. Nice if you can adapt the feat to a homebrew deity or use Separatist to pick up the appropriate domain/portfolio with a permissive DM, I suppose.
Prestige and base class tips
The only real prestige class I would consider is the Holy Vindicator. You take a so-so feat and lose 2 caster levels for some moderately cool abilities and the chance to do Channel Energy as either a 30-ft cone or a 120 foot line. Going deeper in the PrC loses another CL for some cooler abilities, and your channel sickens and bleeds opponents.
On the base class
I assume cleric in this guide. However, oracles with the Life mystery can channel Positive Energy 1+CHA/day, which means you'd need to use Versatile Channel all the time to do the Harm effect at 2 levels lower. Not terrible, but not great either, even with the Cha focus for oracles.
Paladins, Anti-Paladins, and Inquisitors can all do this as well, but without the luxury of doing so from first level or useful standard actions to combine with quick channel.
Besides the obvious variant Channel Energy, clerics have quite a few options to vary things a bit.
Evangelist: Perform is nice with a Cha focused character, and the spontaneous spells synergize very well with the Rulership alternate channel's Heal ability. But you lose 3 levels of channel energy. Ouch.
Separatist: If there is a deity you want to follow and the DM house-rules this to qualify you to take a variant channel ability, then this is your way in.
On the Aggregate of What Has Come Before
Here's a few sample builds to illustrate the concept.
Sauerton the Red
Neutral Human Cleric of Abadar 20
Stats: Cha > Wis > Con > Others.
Extreme example (20PB): Str 7, Dex 7, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 16, Cha 20 [Hmn Stat boost to Cha]
More reasonable example (20 PB): Str 9, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 18
Channel negative energy, Sacred Conduit trait, Nobility and Travel domains
Feats:
1: Improved Channel
1: Selective Channeling [Human]
3: Versatile Channeler
5: Quick Channel
7: Command Undead
8: Leadership [Nobility domain]
9: Extra Channel
11: Quicken Spell
13: Improved Initiative
15: Extend Spell
17: Craft Wondrous Object
19: Bestow Hope
This is just a vanilla example with generic, typically useful feats. Assuming at least 3 stat boosts go into Charisma and a tome +5, the end result is a DC 32 Will save for Channel energy (7d6 with a phylactery of damage) and 14 uses/day.
Gorgus the Angry Drunk
Variant: Separatist (and a house-rule/rules interpretation that gaining the domain also adds the portfolio for that PC)
Stats: Cha > Wis > Con > Others.
Extreme example (20PB): Str 7, Dex 7, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 16, Cha 20 [Hmn Stat boost to Cha]
More reasonable example (20 PB): Str 9, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 7, Wis 15, Cha 18
Channel negative energy, variant channel (ale/wine), Sacred Conduit trait and a trait to gain Intimidate as a class skill, Lust and War domains (lust through Separatist)
Feats:
1: Improved Channel
1: Selective Channeling [Human]
1: Weapon Focus (Scythe) [War domain]
3: Shatter Resolve
5: Command Undead
7: Dazzling Display
9: Quick Channel
11: Quicken Spell
13: Spell Focus (Necromancy)
15: Undead Master
17: Improved Initiative
19: Extra Channel
This is just a nifty example that showcases the effects of fear-stacking. Channel Energy makes opponents within 30 feet shaken, and then Dazzling Display or a Fear-type spell on the following round intimidates them and sends them to frightened.
Last thoughts
Even if you've spent 4 feats on a single trick, remember that you're still a cleric. Unless you're an oracle of life or inquisitor or whatever. The point is, a cleric can still heal, remove status effects, buff allies, animate undead, summon monsters, take a few hits in melee, and buff yourself to be a melee monster. Don't let one cool trick keep you from taking advantage of the incredible range of abilities available.
Also, there are some other solid variant channel abilities that I didn't closely consider. I think Liberation's slow effect is good and it comes thematically attached to an excellent domain. The Madness channel's confusion effect is also very cool and Sivanah would be a cool goddess to build a character around.
Finally, for those interested in a guide that focuses on a healing-focused channeling cleric, there is
Abraham Spalding's Guide to the Holy Vindicator
Thoughts, advice, and comments are welcome :)
I've seen this build idea before on a different site. I used the dazing one to great effect.
|
Hi,
I'm thinking of playing one of these in pfs, and with horus and ra being neutral gods with rulership portfolio, daze will extend to both living and undead.
I dislike dumping stats, so thinking about the following array(standard assimar), racial mods added in:
Str 10, dex 10, con 14, int 12, wis 15, cha 18
Domains: sun, nobility
Feats:
Lv 1: scion of war
lv 3: selective channel
lv 5: versatile channel
traits: reactionary, sacred conduit
Somewhat. I will wear full plate without profeciency, since I won't be using my weapon.
The problem is I'm looking at the limited channel rounds of only 9 max unless I take extra channels.What am I supposed to do for the rest of the time since I won't have any caster
feats? I do not really wish to summon as it will tax my selective channel abilities.
My personal preference would be to find some control spells not targetting will, as my channels take care of locking down monsters with failed will saves, but is it even possible with stat array and lack of feats?
A friend of mine suggested evangelist, which would let me buff allies, and sync well with the
Rulership effect of heal for increased Dcs, but again, language dependent spells target will. It would probably be of more use to the arcane casters. Ill lose any kind of healing capability though.
Has anyone who has gone down this route before, found what productive things can be done in combat besides channeling?
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
You need to read up on PFS rules. It's nearly impossible to build a Hangover Cleric in PFS. Variant Channeling was not well play-tested. Most options are flat-out unavailable in PFS.
There are a few PFS-legal ways to do a Hangover Cleric:
1. Lawful Neutral Cleric serving the Lawful Evil arch-devil Dispater (yuck!) can get negative variant channeling (Rulership), for that awesome Daze effect.
2. Cleric of Abadar works. Abadar is Neutral, so versatile channeling is on the table. You can take negative Variant Channeling (Cities), which denies foes the 5' step. You may ask, "How does this help?". Well, if you and your allies use reach weapons (pretty common in PFS) your foes will provoke many more AoOs, for extra damage that scales with level much better than channel.
3. There are a few other negative options that are viable. You must worship pretty nasty deities, though: generally chaotic and evil. Lamashtu (yuck!) can possibly get you an insanity/confusion effect, as can some of the Dark Tapestry (e.g. Cthulhu) outer gods.
4. There's an obscure evil earth deity that can get you negative variant (Earth), for the 'difficult terrain' effect.
5. No neutral or evil Golarion deity has the Freedom portfolio, which is a real pity.
Good luck selecting out enough allies to be able to channel negative. My CHA 22 negative channeler sometimes had trouble with this in PFS, what with eidolons, familiars, and animal companions ...
As for what else your cleric can do, besides your main schtick, here's one option. Your cleric would need basic martial competence (STR 14 and Power Attack) to pull that off, which is just barely viable with a channeling build. Just substitute 'variant channel' for 'inspire courage' and it mostly applies.
|
|
New gods added:
From Mummy's Mask adventure path
Gods: the gods on page 65–75 are legal for play
Both Ra and Horus are LN, which opens to both positive and negative channeling. Both have Rulership portfolio.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B-Nr2iYnlyiSWGZDdElZNTBOcFU/edit?pli=1
Is neg channeling that harsh on Charisma requirements? Usually I thought cleric will go near the melees to blast as many people as possible with channel, while the casties stay at the back, so there is no need to have to exclude them? I rather not melee..