The Channeler of Divine [Base Class] (PEACH)

[Khantalas]

Channeler

"You would obey the commands of a cleric in place of mine? What do they know of the divine? They would only wield their powers, while I, the blessed of the Entropy, am divine." -Wylair of the Chaosborn

A channeler is the ultimate agent of the divine, a mortal who can channel Harmony and Entropy through his body and soul. Considered by most people the most blessed followers of the divine, a channeler's greatest weapon is the fundemental energies of creation, which he may wield to protect and empower his allies or weaken his enemies. He doesn't possess the spells of a cleric, but who needs them when one has what a channeler has?

***

Game Mechanics

Alignment: Any, although there are few channelers that are not either lawful or chaotic.

Hit Die: d8.

Channeler
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|Channel Energy, Divine Feat

2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+0

|

+3

|Divine Grace, Divine Feat

3rd|

+2

|

+1

|

+1

|

+3

|

4th|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|Extra Turning

5th|

+3

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|

6th|

+4

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Divine Feat

7th|

+5

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|

8th|

+6/+1

|

+2

|

+2

|

+6

|Extra Turning

9th|

+6/+1

|

+3

|

+3

|

+6

|

10th|

+7/+1

|

+3

|

+3

|

+7

|Divine Feat

11th|

+8/+2

|

+3

|

+3

|

+7

|

12th|

+9/+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+8

|Extra Turning

13th|

+9/+4

|

+4

|

+4

|

+8

|

14th|

+10/+5

|

+4

|

+4

|

+9

|Divine Feat

15th|

+11/+6/+1

|

+5

|

+5

|

+9

|

16th|

+12/+7/+2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+10

|Extra Turning

17th|

+12/+7/+2

|

+5

|

+5

|

+10

|

18th|

+13/+8/+3

|

+6

|

+6

|

+11

|Divine Feat

19th|

+14/+9/+4

|

+6

|

+6

|

+11

|

20th|

+15/+10/+5

|

+6

|

+6

|

+12

|Extra Turning, Divine Apothesis[/table]

Class Skills
The channeler's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Profession (Wis) and Sense Motive (Wis).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int Modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int Modifier.

Class Features
All of the following are the class features of the channeler.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Channelers are proficient with all simple weapons, plus a martial weapon of their choice. Channelers are proficient with light and medium armor, but not with shields.

Aura (Ex): A channeler has a particularly powerful aura corresponding to their divine's alignment, regardless of whether they share the same alignment or not. (Note: This class feature is setting-specific. In other settings, use the cleric class feature with the same name.)

Channel Energy (Su): A channeler can channel negative and positive energy. This class feature works like the "Turn or Rebuke Undead" cleric class feature (PHB pg. 33), with a few exceptions.
A channeler can channel both negative and positive energy, regardless of alignment. In addition, he doesn't have to choose which one to channel, he can do both.
A channeler also doesn't need to have a holy (or unholy) symbol to channel energy, although any items that affect turning or rebuking undead also affects channel energy.
A channeler may attempt to channel energy a number of times per day equal to 3 + his Charisma Modifier. A channeler with 5 or more ranks in either Knowledge (religion) or Knowledge (the planes) gets a +2 bonus on turning checks against undead. These bonuses do not stack.

Divine Feat: At 1st level, a channeler gets a bonus divine feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The channeler gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every four channeler levels thereafter (6th, 10th, 14th and 18th). A channeler must still meet all prerequisites for a bonus divine feat.

Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a channeler gains a bonus equal to his Charisma bonus (if any) on all saving throws.

Extra Turning: At 4th level and every fourth level thereafter (8th, 12th, 16th and 20th), a channeler gets Extra Turning as a bonus feat.

Divine Apothesis: At 20th level, a channeler truly embraces the divine energy he wields. He is forevermore treated as an outsider with the native subtype rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the channeler’s creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the channeler gets damage reduction 10/cold iron (if the channeler's divine is Entropy) or silver (if the channeler's divine is Harmony). In other settings, a channeler may choose which of these materials can overcome his damage reduction.

***

I believe it is not quite balanced, although I do not know whether it's under- or overpowered. Any thoughts? Comments?

No, I'm serious. I expect criticism.

[Khantalas]

No one? Won't someone help this poor guy with his homebrew class?

EDIT: Really, no one?

[Shadowblade89]

It seems to me to be a bit underpowered. While It can certainly take full advantaeg of all those divine feats, my players would probably just choose the spellcasting of the cleric.

[Khantalas]

So, what can I add except for spellcasting?

I've added two things, Divine Grace and Divine Apothesis, to the original concept, but it still looks underpowered.

Maybe I can increase the Hit Die to d8, and give them two good saves.

[Yakk]

I suppose there are dozens of ways to use "channel negative" and "channel positive" using Divine Feats from random suppliments.

Instead of getting "Extra Turning" every 4 levels (which adds 4 turning attempts), why not just grant 1 extra "turning attempt" on every level?

Delay Divine Grace to L 3 (to reduce the splashness of the class).

Next, the idea of "turning into something" at L 20 is cute. But might you be tempted to have it "built up to"?

Some other thoughts for abilities to add to the class as they gain levels:

1> Start the damage reduction earlier?
2> Some kind of "detect negative/positive energy" abilities.
3> Some spell-like abilities (Bless/Curse like) per day.
4> Maybe some summon-divine-monster abilities? (open a portal and summon aid)
5> Maybe some fast healing (heals 2 3 5 10x faster)? (the divine energy mends her wounds)
6> Cha modifier as a Shield bonus?
7> "Considered to have Diplomacy equal to his level when dealing with cobelievers"... or other kind of Diplomacy bonus within the sect.

You want to have one special ability every level. Possibly the +1 turn attempt per level might be enough... But practically, turning is a secondary ability for every class that has it, it wasn't balanced to be as powerful as spell casting.

So you have "room" to grant the divine channeler extra abilities.

L 1: Channel Energy, Feat
L 2: Divine Feat
L 3: Grace (Cha bonus to saves)
L 4: Natural healing I
L 5: Aura of Shielding I
L 6: Divine Feat
L 7: Detect negative/positive energy (10' per level) passive
L 8: Natural Healing II
L 9: Blessings I
L 10: Divine Feat
L 11: Grace II
L 12: Natural Healing III
L 13: Immune to Poison/Desease/Level drain
L 14: Feat
L 15: Blessings II
L 16: Natural Healing IV
L 17: Aura of Shielding II
L 18: Feat
L 19: Grace III
L 20: 10/metal DR, outsider

Channel Energy: The channeler can channel both positive and negative energy, as the cleric "turn undead" ability.

The channeler can channel 3 + charisma modifier + channeler level times per day.

Insert blurb about multi-classing with a cleric.

Natural Healing I through IV: The player, and those within 10' per level, heal 2x, 3x, 5x and 10x faster (I though IV). In addition, at rank II scars fade in a week, at rank III everyone gets a +5 divine bonus to resist the effects of desease, and at rank IV limbs regrow over a week.

This does not apply to regeneration effects, but does stack with resting.

Grace I through III: At Rank I, the channeler gains a divine bonus to saves equal to her charisma. At Rank II, the bonus is increased by 2. At Rank III, every friendly person within 20' gains the bonus.

Aura of Shielding I and II: At Rank I, the Channeler gains her Charisma bonus as a Shield bonus to AC. At Rank II, this bonus is increased by +4. The Aura of Shielding can be turned on or off on the Channelers turn as a free action, but requires no concentration to keep up. It emits a faint shimmering glow (5' radius light), giving a -4 circumstance penalty to hide checks, and is obviously magical in nature.

Note that the above does not stack with shields.

Blessings I and II: The channeler can gains, as a spell-like ability, the abilty to cast Circle of Protection: * 1/day, Bless 1/day, and Curse 1/day. At rank II, the Channeler can cast them 3/day. These spells are treated as if they where cast by a Cleric of the same level as the Channeler level. For the purpose of resists, the Channelers charisma is used.

...

How is that for a progression --

[cokefiend]

I can't really comment on balance, but what strikes me as the obvious flaw with this class as an alternative to the cleric (that's what I'm assuming it's for) is a lack of healing, except for the one divine feat which provides fast healing for a few rounds.
I do love the flavour though, it seems a lot more like what I've always expected from a cleric.

[MandibleBones]

What about giving the class access to Greater Turning / Rebuking a number of times per day as a class ability?

And I second the motion for the d8 hit die - especially if you're having them become an outsider, it makes sense for the hit dice to match, at least to me.

[knightsaline]

at 20th level, the chara gains samage reduction to whatever they want? i can think of a few ways to end up having DR10/--, just make the DR overcoming material something obscure (the blade that does not exist, tarrasque claws/teeth,pandemonic silver, the music of electricity, the list goes on and on). and the no healing thing. if you want to make a cleric replacement, you need the ability to heal others at the drop of a helm. make it so you can spend some channel energy to cast a cure/inflict wounds spell

[Khantalas]

Actually, this is not a cleric replacement. It is just a class that's crucial to the flavor of the setting, And I think there was a divine feat that let you heal others. And the DR is not against anything you want. You just pick either cold iron or silver, and have DR 10 that can be overcome by weapons made of that metal. Since in my setting, cold iron and silver are both rare (indeed, silver pieces replace platinum pieces, pushing them one step down) because of their inherent connection to the divines. In another setting, it may be weaker, but doesn't Favored Soul already have such a damage reduction?

Since you do turn into an outsider, it might also be fitting to make all saves good saves. What do you think?

And, what's greater rebuking?

[Balesirion]

As greater turning involves destroying every undead you would normally turn, I would imagine greater rebuking woulk involve commanding every undead you would normally rebuke.

[knightsaline]

oops, i should have said that DR thing was about other settings( the OP did say that). if the channeler of divine was put into another setting, you could feasibly do the trick i said ( making the DR only be overcome by a sword that never existed or a dagger made of dreams made solid)

[Khantalas]

Of course, that will be reading too much into it. Clearly, that "which of the two materials" means either cold iron or silver.