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Okay, the cleric's Channel Energy ability says:
A good cleric (or one who worships a good deity) channels positive energy and can choose to deal damage to undead creatures or to heal living creatures. An evil cleric (or one who worships an evil deity) channels negative energy and can choose to deal damage to living creatures or to heal undead creatures. A neutral cleric who worships a neutral deity (or one who is not devoted to a particular deity) must choose whether she channels positive or negative energy. Once this choice is made, it cannot be reversed. This decision also determines whether the cleric casts spontaneous cure or inflict spells (see spontaneous casting).
I believe, fairly obviously in context, "neutral" here means "neither good nor evil", which is the more-precise wording used in the Spontaneous Casting text. Which is to say, it means N, LN, or CN clerics of N, LN, or CN deities.
However, we then go to the Versatile Channeler feat, which says:
This feat only applies to necromancers, neutral clerics who worship neutral deities, or neutral clerics who do not worship a deity—characters who have the channel energy class ability and have to make a choice to channel positive or negative energy at 1st level. Clerics whose alignment or deity makes this choice for them cannot select this feat.
It seems logical to me it should be using the same interpretation of "neutral" as used above for the Channel Energy ability, since the feat specifically references "characters who have the channel energy class ability and have to make a choice to channel positive or negative energy at 1st level." But, the text more literally means an N cleric of an N deity, and that is the interpretation offered recently by James Jacobs.
So, I guess I'm asking for an official FAQ or errata or other clarification on the following two points:
1) In the cleric's Channel Energy ability, does the choice of energy to channel apply to a "cleric who is neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil", or to a "true neutral cleric who worships a true neutral deity"? (And if the latter, what sort of energy does an LN or CN cleric use?)
2) In the Versatile Channeler feat, is it intended that the feat be available to "clerics who are neither good nor evil and whose deity is neither good nor evil", or to be only available to "true neutral clerics who worship true neutral deities"?
Thank you.
It's neutral on the good/evil axis, law/chaos doesn't play into it.
It specifies that it means characters that have to choose at 1st levels, and those are LN, N, CN clerics.
For both the clerics ability and the feat