After many years of being the lone DM, I'm finally getting to run a PC again in an upcoming campaign. I've decided to build a necromancer cleric, but here is the rub: The campaign is set in Ustalav (not Carrion Crown AP however, which I DM'd for this group previously) and we have a haunt happy DM. Given the propensity for haunts in Ustalav, especially with such a DM, would it be worth it to take Versatile Channeler to mitigate them as needed via positive energy, or should I just rely on using cure wands and spells instead and focus solely on necromancer oriented feats? The flexibility of VC sounds nice, but I'm afraid the -2 may end up making it irrelevant in many situations.
The -2 is a hit, but it really just means that your DC is a touch lower & you channel 1d6 less positive energy than you do negative, so it's not exactly worthless when you consider that it is still area effect DMG vs undead, and a party heal to boot.
Plus, while you can only control dbl your HD of undead via the Command Undead feat & negative energy, you can use the positive energy with Life Lure to fascinate all undead that fail their saves or Turn Undead to manipulate them. Combine this with Hide From Undead and your effective controllable swarm size increases decently.
If you want even more undead, tho, try taking the Empyrial sorcerer wildblooded bloodline via Eldritch Heritage & Imp EH. You get another source of channeling which can be expanded upon with Extra Channel and Command Undead (assuming you can take neg energy) for another source of minions, generally considered stackable on these forums as the sources of channeling are different.
And remember that the spell Command Undead lasts 1 day/lvl (unlike the 1 rnd/lvl spell Control Undead), and is only a lvl 2 spell. At upper lvls you can easily budget using 1/2 your spell slots each day just to cast this spell, giving you extra undead equal to (1/2 your 2nd lvl spell slots) x (your caster lvl). & this is straight #s of undead, NOT HD!
& don't forget the benefits of the Undead Master feat.
The -2 is a hit, but it really just means that your DC is a touch lower & you channel 1d6 less positive energy than you do negative, so it's not exactly worthless when you consider that it is still area effect DMG vs undead, and a party heal to boot.
Plus, while you can only control dbl your HD of undead via the Command Undead feat & negative energy, you can use the positive energy with Life Lure to fascinate all undead that fail their saves or Turn Undead to manipulate them. Combine this with Hide From Undead and your effective controllable swarm size increases decently.
If you want even more undead, tho, try taking the Empyrial sorcerer wildblooded bloodline via Eldritch Heritage & Imp EH. You get another source of channeling which can be expanded upon with Extra Channel and Command Undead (assuming you can take neg energy) for another source of minions, generally considered stackable on these forums as the sources of channeling are different.
And remember that the spell Command Undead lasts 1 day/lvl (unlike the 1 rnd/lvl spell Control Undead), and is only a lvl 2 spell. At upper lvls you can easily budget using 1/2 your spell slots each day just to cast this spell, giving you extra undead equal to (1/2 your 2nd lvl spell slots) x (your caster lvl). & this is straight #s of undead, NOT HD!
& don't forget the benefits of the Undead Master feat.
Thank you for the tips, it's been a LONG time since I've done anything other than DM. I'm working on an idea for a Changeling Necromancer cleric of Shyka for an upcoming Ustalav campaign. I'll post the build here for review when I have a draft ready.