Hello All,
I am working on making a Human Herald Caller cleric (LN) w/ a focus on Variant Negative Energy Channeling (Rulership variant) of Ra. Domain will be Nobility with the Leadership subdomain. Once I cover the basics I need for Channeling I would like to begin focusing on the summoning aspect of the Herald Caller; however, I just want to make sure I fully understand the specifics in the Herald Caller archetype.
To begin with, the basic build will be:
Str 10 (Thought about dropping this to a 9 so I can bump Int up to 12)
Dex 10
Con 12
Int 11
Wis 15
Cha 16 +2 = 18
I also plan on taking a 1 level dip into Lore Oracle at 2nd level to shore up my defenses (Cha to AC and Ref saves). I realize that will take away some of my casting power and knock 1 off the overall DC for my Channel Negative Energy, but I feel its worth it.
Ideally my feats will look like this...
1st - Selective Channeling
1st - Scion of War (Cha to Initiative)
3rd - Improved Channel
5th - Augment Summoning (From Herald Caller)
5th - Extra Revelation (Lore Keeper) - To give some boost to noncombat effectiveness.
7th - Summon Neutral Monster
9th - Versatile Summon Monster (Is this worth the feat???)
9th - Superior Summoning (From Herald Caller)
11th - ???
I've never really played a character like this before so I'm not even sure if Initiative is all that important. If not, then I'll just drop Scion of War off completely which would bump all the above feats down to an earlier level. Are there important Channeling focused feats that I'm missing or could benefit from more than some of the above feats?
Obvious, Summon Monster spells are not worth the investment in early levels, hence my delayed focus on them. Once I hit 5th level (4 Herald Caller/1 Oracle) I'll be able to get 4 rounds of out my summons. Now, here's where I'd like to get some clarification...
The Herald Caller has a very specific list of creatures that can be summoned (A herald caller can use summon monster spells only to summon creatures particularly appropriate to her deity. This includes all creatures listed as summon monster options for priests of her deity (see Expanded Summoning for Priests on page 30), creatures whose alignment matches at least one aspect of her deity’s alignment, and creatures of an elemental subtype that matches a domain granted by the deity (if any).) Ra is not covered under the Expanded Summoning for Priests so that part is a little rough, but manageable.
Given that my PC (and his deity) are both Lawful Neutral then it is my understand that my Summon Monster list would be limited to anything tagged with an "*" (due to them gaining my alignment of LN), Fire Elements (due to Ra's Fire Domain), and then anything with a Lawful portion alignment (LG, LN, or LE) and then a straight up Neutral alignment (which is only covered under the Summon Neutral Monster feat). Is this correct?
Also, in regards to the Sacred Summons feat my understand is that it would not function at all for Ra, because there is no 'Neutral' subtype. Is that correct?
*EDIT*
One of my Traits will be Sacred Conduit.
Channeling:
Quick Channel is really helpful. Not so much for the damage, but forcing a second round of saves vs the rider effect of your channel. I don't remember what they are right now, but there are some channel items (beyond the phylactery of negative channeling) that may help you out here. I'd look at the channel ray feat. It isn't the best feat, but it increases the DC by 2 which is nice when you are going against a single enemy. You could do this as a move action with quick channel AND cast a spell. Again, not super optimized, but a neat thing to be able to do.
Summoning:
An extend rod alleviates a lot of the duration problems of summoning. While expensive for lower levels, once you can get decent duration without the rod, you'll be using it for other spells anyways. I agree with your interpretation of the limitations of what you can summon due to the Herald Caller archetype.
Sacred summons requires you to summon a creature with an alignment subtype that EXACTLY matches your aura. As far as I understand it, you would be radiating a lawful aura. The neutral component doesn't have an aura component. Looking at the summon monster list, there isn't a single creature with the just the lawful alignment subtype :(
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I have a herald caller of my own and I have found that having a deity with two alignment components and SOMETHING on the expanded list makes the limitations really easy to deal with.
Somehow I missed the Phylactery! Thanks for bringing that one to light. When I did a Search on archivesofnethys with key "Channel Energy" it did not bring that one up for some odd reason. So, thanks again! Extend Rod is a good call, I'll add that to my wish list!
I do like Quick Channel, that will have to find its way onto my list somewhere... Channel Ray is an option I'll keep in the back of my mind for now. Definitely a good 'boss' option to have.
Glad I had the same understanding on Herald Caller specifics and which monsters would be available. Now I just need to go through the lists and figure out which ones I like the most!
What is your thought on the Versatile Summon Monster feat? Is it good to have those extra template options? Or is there enough versatility on the Summon Monster list already?
That is a really nifty feat! The biggest downside to the Herald Caller is the potential loss of elemental options (primarily the air/earth elementals). This pretty much negates that loss WHICH IS AWESOME. To boot, the Herald Caller can communicate with any of it's summoned creatures as though it shared a language, which makes it a pretty powerful option.
On a normal summoner I wouldn't waste my time with this feat, but on a Herald Caller without access to air/earth elementals, I think it is worth trying to fit in. Now I have to see if there is space in my build for it...
Sadly it doesn't allow access to new elementals. It only grants you the ability to choose two new templates to add to the list of available templates you can apply to monsters that would normally have Celestial or Fiendish templates applied. Unless I'm missing something.
You don't get expanded elemental access, but if I am reading/interpreting this correctly, you basically turn animals into elemental equivalents. With the aerial template, things get a perfect fly speed. With the chthonic template, things get a burrow speed.
IME, elementals are used for two things: utility and niche combat situations.
Utility: Need something retrieved? Want to know what is over there? Giant gorge between you and something you need? Want to know what is on the other side of that stone wall? Air/Earth elementals are there for you. Versatile summoning is actually situationally better since you could use a lower level summon spell do get the same benefits.
Combat situations: Caster crushing you from far away? Combat in a tunnel system? Flying foes harassing you? Desperately trying to run away from an Ankheg? Air/Earth elementals are there for you. Perhaps not the best combat summons, but their unique move speeds allow them to do things you may not otherwise be able to do.
I can think of at least 2 scenarios for each elemental in PFS that were the MVP because of their movement types.
OH! You are absolutely right, Gummy! I completely missed that portion... Okay, this will definitely remain on the list then. I'm very glad you pointed that out, I had missed the movement modes they gained.
What's your thought on Scion of War? Is having a high initiative bonus all that important for a Channeling/Summoning based PC?
Generally, I am of the opinion that initiative is something you go whole hog into or you just leave it alone. Anecdotally, I have only seen high initiative bonuses matter. People with meh bonuses seem to be just as likely to go first as they are to go last. I do think that I suffer from confirmation bias on this though, so take this with a bucket of salt.
That said, your build does benefit largely form going first. Channelling tends to like initial enemy groupings, while combat summoning has benefits both ways (early on you can block charge lanes, prevent flanking, etc., later on you can summon into flanking, seal exits, etc.). I would say it is worth keeping the feat, but if you have something more pressing to take, consider chopping it.
I don't know that the oracle dip is really worth it, but you seem pretty sold on that. My concern is the loss in spell progression is delaying your summons and preventing you from casting 6th level spells in PFS. Not the end of the world, but IMO that is the biggest negative to a level dip for you. You are correct that not having crap for AC and Reflex Saves is good, I just want to make sure you are looking at the big picture for your build. I find that this comes down to personal preference more than anything else.