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If you are looking at the Twinned Channeling ability, you might need to look at it again:
Source
Champions of Balance pg. 30
Twinned Channeling: When channeling energy, the envoy of balance can simultaneously release waves of positive and negative energy. She chooses a category of creatures (either living or undead), and this conjoined energy BOTH heals and harms the affected creatures. Roll the amounts of damage healed and dealt separately. Treat the envoy of balance’s effective cleric level as 2 lower than normal for the amounts of damage and the DC to halve damage taken. The envoy of balance can choose whether to include herself in either or both the healing and harming effects. If she has an ability that allows her to exclude targets from her channeled energy, such as the Selective Channel feat, she can choose to exclude different targets from the healing effect than from the harming effect. An envoy of balance must possess the spiritual equilibrium endowment to choose this endowment.
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This ability really requires the Selective Channeling feat (and a strong Charisma) to actually be useful, and after getting a good enough Charisma and Wisdom for channeling and Spells, you typically won't have enough good stats left over for decent melee combat...
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It does increase your action economy substantially.
Looking at options, the DC of the will save will split your build options down the middle, either maxing it and losing melee efficiency or keeping it at its baseline and just using it in round 2 or 3.
Either way, look at the feat Perfect Style to gain a ki pool that can recharge channels with Tea of Transference, then the Replenish Ki spell to convert spells to ki to channels.
Variant channeling would also be a fun place to look for opportunities.
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I know I'd need Selective Channeling and strong charisma, Strong charisma is always needed for channeling and I never said anything about not needing Selective Channeling... I was just asking if it was possible.... Can go with a 14 strength and fill it up with buffs and/or magic items, And then pump the rest into charisma and wisdom...
It's doable-ish.
I'm not sure if it's going to be an improvement in your particular campaign, though. If you're already struggling to heal and prevent damage an Envoy of Balance isn't going to improve that much. The closest comparison is "what are you gaining vs. a pure cleric?" In order for the harm portion of your channels to be effective you need a very high Charisma for better DCs. That gets very expensive, very fast. If you were a pure cleric who only channeled to heal, all that a lower charisma costs you is number of channels. Dropping Charisma from +18 to +14 costs two channels but gets you a huge amount of point-buy to put elsewhere. More dex, more strength, more spells.
I did play a channel-focused Envoy of Balance in PFS. In order to keep my Charisma very high, my Wisdom was just high enough to cast my highest-level spells! Started with a Wisdom of 14 and was up to 16 at 11th level, and that was only thanks to an ioun stone boosting it by +2. Definitely couldn't cast attack spells effectively, and didn't have many spell slots.
If you want to concentrate on channeling, an oracle (likely spirit guide archetype; using Bonded Spirit to pick up a second set of channeling uses per day at 7th level) is probably a better choice than cleric. The oracle is still a better caster than warpriest and +3/4 BAB; it also allows you to focus even more on Cha, instead of splitting between Wis and Cha.
There is an archetype for the Cleric that does the Twinned Channeling trick already built into its progression: Stoic Caregiver. It locks you only getting to pick one domain. At 6th level, you get to channel both positive and negative energy, each at half-strength. If you pick the Death domain, and reach level 8, you could get healed by both of these bursts and exclude your allies from the harmful effects (via Selective Channel, of course). I'd recommend Pharasma as your deity, as it fits into her whole niche.
Once you are able to Three-Aspect Channel, an argument could be made that you now qualify for Versatile Channeler (or could have at level 1, since neither your alignment nor deity required you to pick your channel positive energy class feature), and you could pick up those four levels of Envoy of Balance. Having the ability to use one Channel Energy for two 1/2 strength channels, or two Channel Energies for two full strength channels might be useful.
Quick Channel and another source of Channel Energy will put out a decent amount of healing/damage if you can manage it.
you could just play a neutral cleric and pick up Versatile Channeler, it won't let you heal and damage at the same time, but you can heal and damage independently - plus, you're not limited to just a single creature type.
Which oracle mysteries have channel energy?
Only the Life Mystery provides access to Channel Positive Energy.
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Which oracle mysteries have channel energy?Only the Life Mystery provides access to Channel Positive Energy.
Hmmmmmm. If the GM ruled that Spirit Boost applied (channel is not a spell =-/ ) then there would be some synergy pumping the party full of temporary HP, but maxing the DC for channel even with an Oracle doesn't top the DC by more than 2 or 3 points than what an cleric could do but all the cool combat stuff is lost by choosing Oracle with that Mystery.
If the DM is butchering the front line regularly, moving a target off that front line (even when turtling a life oracle in there) would would eat up the extra healing.
Variant Channel starts at half damage as if the enemy saved, but selecting Protection portfolio gives the party a +3 to AC by lvl 10 with a chance of lowering enemy attacks by 3.
Add the Quick Channel feat combined with Vital Strike or Power Attack + Furious Focus and you have a decent chance to damage with a standard action attack, party is buffed and healed, enemies take damage, possibly miss more.
The key is having lots of channels, but a Ki Pool from Perfect Style can convert to channels and Replenish Ki spell and other channel feats keep your Ki Pool filled.
If you want a TON of Channel Energy ... Spirit Guide Oracle (Life Mystery + Restoration Spirit) with the Variant Multiclass Cleric would net you THREE pools of Channel Energy (two Channel Positive, one that could qualify you for Versatile Channeler).
Yeah, you'd be giving up five feats, but the domain (or inquisition if you choose to pick one instead) choice could be well worth it.
Cleric BAB 0.75; Saves 0.66, 0.33, 0.66;
Envoy of Balance PrC BAB 0.5; Saves 0.33, 0.33, 0.5;
seems like more cleric means better overall abilities and perhaps Envoy should be ignored.
A dip into Monk, Paladin, Ranger, or Fighter would be better.
When you are dealing with the Cleric spell list, the loss of +1 BAB and roughly +1 to your good save to get the four levels of Envoy, doesn't mean anything. Clerics don't really get any new 'abilities' beyond 8th level (their domain typically, and the reason why I tend to avoid playing them. I find them mechanically boring).
If you want a TON of Channel Energy ...There is a way to have substantially more, but it is a dark, dark secret.
Oh? Pray tell. One of the only other ways I know how to get a channel pool without introducing new classes (and thus reducing the overall effective level of the channel pool) is through the Adept Channel feat, and that's just two more channel uses a day.
It is forbidden as a shortcut to perfection. (Hint: A certain god would possibly strike a follower down for using this feat in this way.)
You've lost me. All I got out of that was that its a feat, and I couldn't readily find one on AoN that grants channeling aside from Adept Channel.
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I want to add to this how much consecrate could add to this build if you are largely up against undead.
Our Paladin hates undead and wants to obliterate them en masse, so (by GM permission) we now carry around cracked altar of Iomedae (an intact wouldn't work for my unwilling Oracle to consecrate it) in 1/16 scale. Their -2 to will saves and the +6 to the DC means that their failure rate doesn't depend on his Charisma modifier.
I want to add to this how much consecrate could add to this build if you are largely up against undead.
Our Paladin hates undead and wants to obliterate them en masse, so (by GM permission) we now carry around cracked altar of Iomedae (an intact wouldn't work for my unwilling Oracle to consecrate it) in 1/16 scale. Their -2 to will saves and the +6 to the DC means that their failure rate doesn't depend on his Charisma modifier.
Your GM is very permissive indeed if they are ignoring the rather heavily reinforced language of altars being permanent fixtures, both in context and explicitly detailed in the descriptions for such items. Wondrous Items - Altars
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Your GM is very permissive indeed if they are ignoring the rather heavily reinforced language of altars being permanent fixtures, both in context and explicitly detailed in the descriptions for such items. Wondrous Items - AltarsI want to add to this how much consecrate could add to this build if you are largely up against undead.
Our Paladin hates undead and wants to obliterate them en masse, so (by GM permission) we now carry around cracked altar of Iomedae (an intact wouldn't work for my unwilling Oracle to consecrate it) in 1/16 scale. Their -2 to will saves and the +6 to the DC means that their failure rate doesn't depend on his Charisma modifier.
I won him over that consecrate existed before altars were wondrous items. Also the context of "area contains an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture dedicated to your deity, pantheon, or aligned higher power". Asmodeus as an advocate, it does not directly specify a permanently fixed altar or give boundaries of what constitutes 'permanent'.
But yes, it was also permissive to our martial more options and leverage now that casters have taken the lead in damage. And I'm really hoping my Oracle's deity ends up being Asmodeus or legally adjacent.
Also the context of "area contains an altar, shrine, or other permanent fixture dedicated to your deity, pantheon, or aligned higher power". Asmodeus as an advocate, it does not directly specify a permanently fixed altar or give boundaries of what constitutes 'permanent'.
I would have enjoyed being present in that debate because of all the holes that I'd pick apart in that logic, but this isn't the rules forums and it is not my table, so I'm not going to get into the nitty gritty. Let's just say that the devil is in the details, and the sentence structure.
All said and done, if your group is having fun with it, all the better. Now, has the GM done something similar and had a necromancer carting around a desecrated shrine to empower his mobile army?