Alignment / Elemental Channeling

[SOLDIER-1st]

Ok, so normal (positive/negative) channeling allows you to hurt undead/living entities or heal living/undead. However, Alignment/Elemental channeling allow you to hurt or heal one specific type of outsider. Why the difference?

[The Crusader]

Living creatures are alive due to the presence of Positive Energy. Undead are created-empowered-animated in some way by Negative Energy.

Outsiders do not fall into either of those categories. The feat(s) fundamentally alter the form of the energy you create. You choose, at the time you gain the feat, which category of Outsider you will affect and how you will affect them.

[SOLDIER-1st]

Well done. You managed to reiterate exactly what I just said.

Why would channeling Evil hurt an Evil creature? It makes more sense to stick with the pattern already established. Channel Evil, for example, would then either hurt Good outsiders or heal Evil outsiders. Channel Fire would either hurt Water outsiders or heal Fire outsiders, etcetc.

Just curious why the feats didn't follow the pre-established pattern.

[Avildar]

It makes the feat choice more useful, after all you could just as easily argue that water/fire have aspects that also help nurture or heal as well as harm. Mostly it comes down to making it much more useful, however you could just as easily ask your GM on how they take it.
I think over all since it takes and alters your channel ability to affect something else, it would really come down to how you intend to use it. You are very unlikely to channel against good if you are a good cleric but there are examples in lore that demonstrate the divine essence of deities affecting their minions both for good and bad. I also think it would have been more confusing to have to actually spell out exactly the way you are thinking. In the end it really would come down to how you intend to play the character, and you should talk to your gamemaster about it. After all they might approve the intent behind you taking the feat in that manner, but that's up to them. I find it more useful as it's written.

I have ruled exactly how you have described before to keep a particular person thematically oriented. It would really come down to the cleric and the religion they are following I suppose. After all like I said, your particular theological outlooks could have shades of grey where they aren't just Fire only hurts or whatever. I guess you could also use it to create sort of policing groups within a particular religion to keep their members inline.

[shadowkras]

Juts house-rule it the way that makes sense to you.
The autors made those feats simple because otherwise they would have to re-explain how channeling works ("if you are a good cleric of a neutral deity...").