Hello! I want to play a form of battle cleric of evil god, with channel smite and other. I choosed the drow worshiper of Dagon and it's archetype from advanced races book and, maybe, a Holy Vindicator prestige class. But I now have a lot of questions, please, help me :)
1) How does it's alternative channel energy works? Does it harm only good and lawfull creatures? How does it work on other creatures? Only on chaotic evil and only after 9th level? What about taking Elemental Channel or Alignment Channel?
2) Do domain powers grow up with the Holy Vindicator prestige class?
3) WHY Vindicator gets Channel Smite only on 5th level (!!!), and what if I take it earlier? For a clerik it's like an 11th level...
4) Is there some wondorous items, that can grant more swift actions for round? (For domain power of Demon subdomain and channel smite)
Thanks a lot!
I'm not familiar with most of the abilities you've mentioned to be able to comment without looking up the abilities and rules, but I can tell you that number 4 is a no.
There isn't a way to gain additional swift actions within the rules, and it is intentionally does as a balancing mechanism for classes that have lots of swift or immediate action abilities. Usually such abilities can be very powerful, and allowing multiple abilities to happen in the same round makes a character much more powerful than they would otherwise be.
Also, number 3 isn't really a rules question.
Level 5 of Holy Vindicator is when they get the bonus feat Channel Smite. Personally, I recommend you don't take the Prestiege class, and instead you can pick up the Channel Smite feat with any feat you gain from leveling as a cleric. It only has the requirement of having the channel energy class feature, which clerics get at level 1.
Number 2, no. Levels of Holy Vindicator do not advance your domain powers. However, you should still get the Domain Spells and Spell Slots at the appropriate levels I think, but I may be wrong on that.
Number 1, I believe you are asking about Variant Channeling? If so I will refer you to this thread where I address the profound issues with that particular subsystem.
About #3: I just WANT to take this prestige class. BUT... It most other Prestige Classes when you get a bonus feat, they write that if you have it you can ... (something). But there is no such option here, and channel smite he gets too late. So i want to know, maybe there is some fix for it.
About #2: Thanks! :)
About #1: No, I am talking about special class ability of Demonic Apostle, about channeling demonic energy.
Well, if you're GM will allow you to use retraining rules or if they're just kind, you could either ask them to allow you to select another feat that would have been valid to select at the time you selected Channel Smite.
With retraining you can retrain the old channel smite feat into anything else you qualify for, for a price. I believe retraining is valid in PFS, so you can actually acomplish it.
However, I must still ask: Is there something specific to Holy Vindicator you want? If not, then it's not really a good idea to take it. Prestiege classes in Pathfinder are usually weaker options, as is multiclassing. Compared to 3.5 where you had to multiclass to make optimal characters, multiclassing and taking Prestiege classes usually makes your character worse from an optimazation standpoint.
It is not about optimization. Vindicator's stigmata sounds fun and intresting for the concept of character, and channel shield is good + heavy armor prof. and full BAB. Why not?
A just don't understand: does the demonic energy harm LIVING creatures, or only LAWFULL and GOOD? And how does it interract with neutral and other creatures?
The ability says it all:
Demonic Channel (Su): At 1st level, a demonic apostle can channel demonic energy to damage creatures of lawful and good alignment, or, at higher levels, bolster the abilities of chaotic evil allies.
Channeling this energy causes a 30-foot-radius burst centered on the cleric. Creatures within the burst that are lawful or good take 1d6 points of damage, plus 1d6 points of damage for every two levels the cleric possesses beyond 1st (2d6 at 3rd, 3d6 at 5th, and so on). Creatures that take damage from the channeled demonic energy receive a Fortitude save to halve the damage. The DC of this save is equal to 10 + 1/2 the demonic apostle's level + the demonic apostle's Charisma modifier. Lawful good creatures take a –2 penalty on this saving throw. At 5th level, chaotic evil allies within the burst are affected as if targeted by a rage spell with a duration of 1 round. At 9th level, lawful or good enemies are also sickened for 1d6 rounds if they fail their saving throw against the demonic channel. Channeling demonic energy is a standard action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. This ability replaces channel energy.
So, firstly you lose the normal channel ability.
After that, the ability tells you how it functions. It functions only against lawful or good creatures, and lawful good creatuers have a penalty to the save. It does not affect any creature that is not lawful or good. So, NN, CN, NE, and CE are all compltely unaffected.
Also, per this FAQ:
Archetype: If an archetype replaces a class ability with a more specific version of that ability (or one that works similarly to the replaced ability), does the archetype's ability count as the original ability for the purpose of rules that improve the original ability?
It depends on how the archetype's ability is worded. If the archetype ability says it works like the standard ability, it counts as that ability. If the archetype's ability requires you to make a specific choice for the standard ability, it counts as that ability. Otherwise, the archetype ability doesn't count as the standard ability. (It doesn't matter if the archetype's ability name is different than the standard class ability it is replacing; it is the description and game mechanics of the archetype ability that matter.)
Example: The dragoon (fighter) archetype (Ultimate Combat) has an ability called "spear training," which requires the dragoon to select "spears" as his weapon training group, and refers to his weapon training bonus (even though this bonus follows a slightly different progression than standard weapon training). Therefore, this ability counts as weapon training for abilities that improve weapon training, such as gloves of dueling (Advanced Player's Guide), which increase the wearer's weapon training bonus.
Example: The archer (fighter) archetype gets several abilities (such as "expert archer") which replace weapon training and do not otherwise refer to the weapon training ability. Therefore, this ability does not count as weapon training for abilities that improve weapon training (such as gloves of dueling). This is the case even for the "expert archer," ability which has a bonus that improves every 4 fighter levels, exactly like weapon training.
You may or may not actually qualify for the feat Channel Smite, as you technically no longer have the Channel Energy ability. You should discuss the issue with your GM.