Sorry, I see there are lots of threads out there on this one but they also seem to have some conflicting opinions.
a 5th level LN cleric channels positive energy and takes the Protection variant channeling. I think the first 2 are easy.......
1- "once this choice is made it cannot be altered". Meaning he doesn't choose between 'regular' or 'variant' each time he channels, he gets the Protection variant every time and that's it?
2- "Heal: creatures get channel bonus to AC". So he channels, heals everyone in radius 5d6 * 0.5, and they also get a +2 AC bonus.
3- "Harm: creatures get penalty to AC". This is where the other threads conflict a bit. This cleric gets to channel positive energy to harm undead so any zombies in the area take 5d6 * 0.5 damage and get a -2 AC penalty, that's easy enough....but what about using it on orcs? Positive energy won't hurt them so they don't take the damage, but does the positive energy heal them or anything? I assume no since that channel vs the zombies wouldn't affect PCs in the mix but since the variant is hitting the orcs with the variant ability Im not so sure.......
thanks as always to the collective braintrust!
1) Yes. If you choose to variant channel you can't channel normally whenever you like.
2) At level 5, you normally channel for 3d6. With variant channeling, you should heal for 50% (of 3d6) and provide a bonus of +2 AC until the end of your next turn.
3) Same thing as #2 except you do damage and you deliver a penalty instead.
When using positive or negative energy in a round, you must decide if you're using to heal/harm living creatures or undead. So you could use negative energy to heal undead or hurt living creatures, but not both at the same time. Positive energy heals orcs (they're living), you would need the feat Selective Channelling to prevent them from being healed or buffed.
a 5th level LN cleric channels positive energy and takes the Protection variant channeling.
1- "once this choice is made it cannot be altered". Meaning he doesn't choose between 'regular' or 'variant' each time he channels, he gets the Protection variant every time and that's it?
2- "Heal: creatures get channel bonus to AC". So he channels, heals everyone in radius 5d6 * 0.5, and they also get a +2 AC bonus.
3- "Harm: creatures get penalty to AC". This is where the other threads conflict a bit.
As Jason mentioned, if you channeled to heal (3d6*0.5 + AC Bonus), orcs will be affected w/out Selective Channeling.
If you took Alignment Channel or Elemental Channel, you could instead heal OR harm outsiders of the selected alignment or elemental subtype, granting a bonus/penalty to AC. No other creatures would be affected when you use your channel in this way.
oops, sorry about that dice typo......
thanks for the quick responses!