Tortured Crusader Paladin class features

[Timescar226]

Hello there!
I had a question in regards to the Tortured Paladin's class feature Alone in the Dark. It reads:

Faced with endless foes, a tortured crusader can’t ask others to confront the same horrors she does. She can’t use her lay on hands ability to heal others or to channel energy, though starting at 4th level, she can convert two uses of lay on hands into an additional use of smite evil. Her aura of courage, aura of resolve, aura of faith, and aura of righteousness affect only her, not her allies. When she selects a divine bond, it must be with a weapon, not a mount.

This ability alters lay on hands, channel energy, divine bond, aura of courage, aura of resolve, aura of faith, and aura of righteousness.

The problem I'm running into is I want to use the feat Guided Hand which reads:

Your deity blesses any strike you make with that deity’s favored weapon.

Prerequisite: Channel energy class feature, Channel Smite, proficiency with your deity’s favored weapon.

Benefit: With your deity’s favored weapon, you can use your Wisdom modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier on attack rolls.

Alone in the Dark states She can't use her lay on hands ability... to channel energy. Then at the bottom it states it alters channel energy, not replaces like in other archetype class features.

TLDR:
Can I use Guided Hand with the Tortured Crusader Paladin?

[JamesMan]

RAW you still have channel energy, as the ability doesn't replace it and AFAIK theres nothing to indicate the author intended otherwise given the class' leaning toward wisdom.

So yes, a tortured crusader still has channel energy to meet prerequisites etc.

[Diego Rossi]

There is no relation between Channel energy and Wisdom. The DC and number of uses are based on charisma.

The archetype says "This ability alters ..." so RAW the Paladin maintain Channel energy, even if he can't use it.

But I think it was done simply to shorten the description. An ability that doesn't do anything to me will count as removed.

[JamesMan]

RAW is the best you've got here, but if you're the player wanting to take guided hand consult your DM in case they don't want you to be able to.

Advice:

The channel smite feat will be useless to you, so two feats for what is probably only a small bonus to attack rolls isn't going to be fantastic. Guided hand does nothing for damage rolls and If wisdom is going to be your best attribute you're probably going to need at least passable strength or dexterity anyway depending on your armor, so you might as well prioritize other feats and invest slightly more into strength or dexterity.

[Mysterious Stranger]

Tortured Crusader uses Wisdom instead of CHA for spell and Lay on Hands. The problem with Guided Hand is that Tortured Crusader does not have enough WIS based class abilities to make it worthwhile to have a higher WIS than STR. The only thing WIS is useful for on a Tortured Crusader is spells and Lay on Hands. Neither of these abilities are strong enough to make it worthwhile to bump WIS in favor of STR.

While RAW it does not say that a Tortured Crusaders loses channel energy they actually do. I for one would not allow this in a game.

Guided hand requires Channel Smite which is a horrible feat for a paladin. Why are you giving up two lay on hands, for a onetime bonus to damage that uses up the channel energy even if it misses. The target also gets a will save for half damage, and most undead have good will saves. Since a tortured crusader cannot channel energy it is useless to you.

You will not gain any benefit from channel smite so you are spending two feats to gain your WIS bonus to hit. You still use STR for damage so it is really not worth it. If you have a higher WIS than your STR swap them.

[AwesomenessDog]

To be fair, the paladin doesn't have divine grace anymore, so they would warrant boosting their will save, but it shouldn't need to be that high even for that.

[Mysterious Stranger]

They don’t have divine grace, but they still have good Will saves. I am not saying to ignore wisdom, just that it should not be the characters highest stat. One common mistake that a lot of people playing paladins make is to prioritize CHA above all else. A paladin is still a martial class and its highest stat should usually be its primary attack stat, not CHA, or in the case of a tortured crusader WIS. For a standard paladin I can see it being the second highest stat. The tortured crusader has even less incentive to prioritize WIS. A tortured crusaders WIS should be his third stat. The primary attack stat should be first, followed by CON, then WIS.

When a paladin prioritizes their CHA (or WIS for a tortured crusader) they are much weaker than when they prioritize their attack stat. For a normal paladin it results in having less chance to hit and dealing less damage when not using smite evil. When they are using smite evil they end up with the same chance to hit as a STR based paladin and doing less damage. If your build is focusing on out of combat activities I could see it, but for any combat focused build it does not make sense.