[3.5] The Channeler, an angelic invoker [Base Class]

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 03:15 PM

The Channeler

Lenora Armitage, a channeler

“Don’t fear, friend. I am a servant of the light; I’m here to help you in these dark times.”
-Lenora Armitage, to the survivors of the massacre of Miller’s Reach.

There are many who would follow the ways of the gods and their servants. Some follow for love of their god, some follow for fear, and some follow for power through faith. Channelers are men and women who have entered into a pact of sorts with angels for divine powers. These powers come in the form of divine transformation within the being of the channeler as well as holy invocations that utilize divine magic. While unorthodox to many, channelers see themselves as angels incarnate upon the world and strive to meet the perfection of their holy patron.

Adventures: Channelers adventure to promote the causes of their patron angel as well as the goals of their deity. Many have entered these pacts for personal reasons, some for justice against a horrible wrong that has been done to them and their loved ones, and some because angelic patrons are more easily understood than inscrutable gods.

Characteristics: What sets channelers apart from others is that they seem to radiate an inner light and goodness that almost is tangible to those around them. They tend to have flawless features, almost eerily so, and perfect skin and hair. Those closest to their angelic patron begin to display beautiful wings and halos of light.

Alignment: Channelers are always good in some form or fashion, in regards to their morality, but in regards to following law or chaos they are divided, and some elect not to choose at all. There is a hushed rumor that some fallen angels and devils have taken up the training of dark channelers, men and women devoted to evil and wielding hellish powers, but most disregard them as particularly vile warlocks or channelers.

Religion: Strangely, some channelers do not worship deities in any sense, instead venerating their angelic patron. While tolerated, the angel attempts to direct his vessel towards the worship of his divine master. Other channelers tend to follow gods of light, healing, justice and heroism.

Background: Some channelers arise in areas where old ways are followed, where a tradition of one or more channelers arise as a village wisdom and protector. Others come to be from studying forgotten lore in temple libraries where the art has been lost amongst the majority of peoples. Then there are those who the angels choose specifically to be their heralds amongst the mortals and offer great power in exchange for the mortal’s service and friendship.

Races: Humankind is most likely to take up the role of the channeler, followed hotly by elves, Halflings, and gnomes. Half-breeds such as half-elves and half-orcs rarely become channelers as the mixed blood members of this class are considerably rarer, perhaps due to impure bloodlines. Aasimar naturally take up this path, often forming a pact with their angelic ancestor. Dwarves are rarely members of this class as well, and not for lack of lore to do so; many dwarves do not find themselves taking to the sky and thus keep their feet firmly planted to the ground beneath them.

Other Classes: Channelers get on well with paladins as they have very similar purposes and abilities, and oftentimes bards and fighters are fast friends as well. Clerics occasionally have friction due to the idea of gaining powers in this method is heretical to most faiths, but most can overlook it. Warlocks and channelers, understandably, do not get on well with each other as being their diametric opposition, while celestial-blooded sorcerers and favored souls feel that the channeler is different take on their own type of power and welcome them warmly as cousins.

Role: Channelers fulfill the role of a melee fighter well, due to their celestial light abilities and invocations, but they cannot stand as long as the more martial classes. They are also well suited to the role of healer in a pinch, and often find themselves in the role of party face. Their invocations provide many additional uses for party support, but will not find themselves as useful in those roles as a full caster. Their unlimited spell power with their invocations, however, does provide them with longevity that full casters don’t enjoy.

GAME RULE INFORMATION:
Abilities: Wisdom is important due to its factoring into invocation saving throw DCs. Strength and Constitution provide additional survivability in combat, and Dexterity helps for the purposes of using celestial light in battle.
Starting Age: As sorcerer.
Starting Gold: As cleric.

Hit Die: d8
Skills: Channelers have access to the following skills: Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (the Planes) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier.

The Channeler

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Invocations
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Aura of good, detect evil, celestial light +1d6	2
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Healing light	3
3rd	+2	+1	+1	+3	Celestial light +2d6	4
4th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Angelic aspect	5
5th	+3	+1	+1	+4	Celestial light +3d6	6
6th	+4	+2	+2	+5	Invocations (least or lesser)	7
7th	+5	+2	+2	+5	Celestial light +4d6	8
8th	+6	+2	+2	+6	Imbue item	9
9th	+6	+3	+3	+6	Angelic aspect, celestial light +5d6	10
10th	+7	+3	+3	+7	Aspect of the Deva	11
11th	+8	+3	+3	+7	Celestial light +6d6, invocations (least, lesser, or greater)	12
12th	+9	+4	+4	+8	Consecrated presence	13
13th	+9	+4	+4	+8	Celestial light +7d6	14
14th	+10	+4	+4	+9	Angelic aspect	15
15th	+11	+5	+5	+9	Celestial light +8d6	16
16th	+12	+5	+5	+10	Invocations (least, lesser, greater, or holy)	17
17th	+12	+5	+5	+10	Celestial light +9d6	18
18th	+13	+6	+6	+11	Aspect of the Planetar	19
19th	+14	+6	+6	+11	Angelic aspect, celestial light +10d6	20
20th	+15	+6	+6	+12	Angelic ascendancy	22

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

Weapon and Armor proficiencies: Channelers are proficient in the use of all simple and martial weapons, as well as the use of light and medium armor and shields.

Invocations (Sp): A channeler does not prepare or cast spells as other wielders of arcane or divine magic do. Instead, he possesses a repertoire of attacks, defenses, and abilities known as divine invocations that require him to focus the holy energy that suffuses his soul. An channeler can use any invocation he knows at will, with the following qualifications:

An channeler's invocations are spell-like abilities; using an invocation therefore a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity. An invocation can be disrupted, just as a spell can be ruined during casting. A channeler is entitled to a Concentration check to successfully use an invocation if he is hit by an attack while invoking, just as a spellcaster would be. A channeler can choose to use an invocation defensively by making a successful Concentration check, to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity. A channeler's invocations are subject to spell resistance unless an invocation's description specifically states otherwise. A channeler's caster level with his invocation is equal to his channeler level.

The save DC for an invocation (if it allows a save) is 10 + equivalent spell level + the channeler's Wisdom modifier. Since spell-like abilities are not actually spells, a channeler cannot benefit from the Spell Focus feat. He can, however, benefit from the Ability Focus feat, as well as from feats that emulate metamagic effects for spell-like abilities, such as Quicken Spell-Like Abilities and Empower Spell-Like Ability.

The four grades of invocations, in order of their relative power, are least, lesser, greater, and holy. A channeler begins with knowledge of two invocations, which must be of the lowest grade (least). As a channeler gains levels, he learns new invocations, as summarized on the class progression table and described below. A list of available invocations can be found following the class description, and a complete description of each invocation can be found at the end of this document.

Every four levels when a channeler learns a new invocation, he can also replace an invocation he already knows with another invocation of the same grade or of a lower grade. At 6th level, a channeler can replace a least invocation he knows with a different least invocation (in addition to learning a new invocation, which could be either least or lesser). At 11th level, a channeler can replace a least or lesser invocation he knows with another invocation of the same ore a lower grade (in addition to learning a new invocation, which could be least, lesser, or greater). At 16th level, a channeler can replace a least, lesser, or greater invocation he knows with another invocation of the same or a lower grade (in addition to learn a new invocation, which could be least, lesser, greater, or holy). At 20th level, he can trade out any one invocation he has for any other invocation of an equal or lesser grade.

Finally, unlike other spell-like abilities, channeler invocations are divine in nature and not subject to arcane spell failure chance. Channelers can qualify for some prestige classes usually intended for spellcasters, provided that the prestige class in question requires a caster level requirement, as opposed to a specific level of spells capable of being cast by the character.

Aura of Good (Su): The channeler gains an aura of good as a cleric with a strength equal to his channeler level, plus any additional levels in classes that also grant an aura of good.

Detect Evil (Sp): The channeler’s innate connection with his celestial patron grants him the ability to see through an angel’s eyes, allowing him to detect evil at will as a caster of their class level.

Celestial Light (Su): The channeler’s connection with his angelic patron manifests in his ability to generate a celestial light and halo about his person, using its light to smite his foes. The channeler may summon this holy energy to his hands at a moment’s notice, allowing him to channel this power through a touch or through an unarmed strike. Alternately, the character may project this light in a ray of divine light as a ranged touch attack. Used as a ray, the character may make iterative attacks if using it as a full attack. The character must make a touch attack (if unarmed) or a melee attack (if using an unarmed strike) to use this ability and it can be added to any touch or unarmed melee attack the character makes as part of that action, including all attacks on a full attack action. Celestial light may not be combined with any other special ability (such as martial maneuvers) unless specifically mentioned (such as halo shape and halo essence invocations). Celestial light inflicts 1d6 points of good-aligned energy damage at 1st level, and it increases by 1d6 points of damage every odd level (to a maximum of +10d6 at 19th level). Celestial light inflicts full damage on evil, half damage against neutral creatures, and no damage when used on good-aligned creatures, as its energy is neither positive nor negative energy in its source; it is raw divine power. When used as a touch attack or as a ranged touch attack, celestial light scores a critical threat on a natural 20 and inflicts x2 damage on a confirmed critical. When channeled through a weapon (through use of certain halo shape invocations), weapon damage is multiplied as normal, but celestial light damage is never multiplied. This is a supernatural ability and is not subject to spell resistance.

Healing Light (Su): With the angelic grace gifted to him, the channeler is capable of healing the wounds of those injured with a touch. With the power of angels within his soul, the character is capable of placing his hands on a subject and restoring a number of hit points by rolling his celestial light dice and restoring an equal amount of health to a target creature over the course of one minute (the channeler must maintain contact for one full minute before hit points are restored). Some invocations may alter this abilities use, see holy invocations below.

Angelic Aspect: The channeler, through constant spiritual interaction with his angelic patron, begins to find his physical form changing to reflect that of his heavenly mentor. The character gains traits from the following list:

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Imbue Item (Su): A channeler of 8th level or higher can use his divine power to create magic items, even if he does not know the spells required to make an item (although he must know the appropriate item creation feat). He can substitute a Spellcraft check (DC 15 + spell level for divine spells or 25 + spell level for arcane spells) in place of a required spell he doesn’t know or cannot cast. If the check succeeds, the channeler can create the item as if he had cast the required spell. If it fails, he cannot complete the item. He cannot retry this Spellcraft check for that spell for one week.

Aspect of the Deva: At 10th level, the channeler sprouts a pair of beautiful, white feathered wings from his shoulders. He gains a fly speed equal to his movement speed with good maneuverability. His features begin to shift as this point as well, becoming more comely than a normal mortal’s face, and often times the channeler will begin to display other signs of celestial bearing such as golden eyes or flawless skin. This celestial boon grants the character a +2 circumstance bonus to Diplomacy checks with good creatures and a +2 circumstance bonus to Intimidate checks against evil creatures, as well as a +2 bonus to his Charisma score.

Consecrated Presence (Su): Upon reaching 12th level, the channeler’s holy power flows constantly from his form in waves, causing his very presence to purify the area. The character radiates a 30ft radius zone that mimics the effects of the consecrate spell.

Aspect of the Planetar: Reaching 18th level, the channeler has become a paragon of his kind as he nears the perfection of form of his angelic patron. He grows a second set of beautiful wings upon his back and his flight speed increases to twice his land speed. The channeler’s body becomes hardier as well, gaining a +2 racial bonus to Constitution, a +4 racial bonus to resist poison and magical disease, and complete immunity to mundane disease.

Angelic Ascendancy: At 20th level, the channeler’s form undergoes one last fantastic transformation. The seed of rebirth has finally grown into full bloom within the soul of the channeler and he becomes as his patron, an angel. The character gains the outsider type (with the augmented, good, and extraplanar subtypes with his new home plane being that of his angelic patron’s home). He gains damage reduction 10/magic, his natural armor improves by +1, he gains a +2 racial bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Wisdom. He is treated as if he possessed the angel subtype for purposes of spells, items, and effects.

PLAYING A CHANNELER

The old saying ‘Is it better to rule in Hell or serve in Heaven?’ isn’t a question at all; service in Heaven brings one close to divinity.

To play a channeler is to find your niche and expand upon it, and that can largely be done by filling in the gaps in your party through the selection of invocations, aspects, and feats. These choices allow you to fill in roles as a healer, a front-line combatant, a ranged combatant, or as party support and party face. You can use your powers from above as a powerful champion, or as a peaceful healer.

As an exemplar of what mortals can strive to become in the service of good, your path is set as hero to those who would be in service to good and a scourge to those who would flock to evil’s banner. Some of your kind may gather in to groups within churches or in secret societies when your path is considered heretical; this can happen when gods become jealous of their servants getting more worship than they themselves are receiving from mortals. Some religions actively train channelers, and some towns and villages have a position of honor where one among them takes up the role of a channeler to be the people’s protector and spiritual leader.

Your invocations and your aspects will help determine what sort of channeler you will eventually become. These selections will define your role as you advance in level and will determine what sort of focus you will have within your party.
Combat: Common combat modes for the channeler often involve copious and gratuitous use of your celestial light ability or luminous blade invocation combined with halo essence and halo shape invocations, or channeling the use of this ability through melee attacks. Many invocations aren't well suited for direct combat effectiveness; it is up to you to determine the exact use of these abilities in a heated battle. Ranged combat is a standard method for the channeler of a less martial bend; they can excel at it through the right choices of invocation and feat selection.
Advancement: The channeler benefits most from staying single classed, or by making small dip into classes that accent its native abilities, most especially from classes that will improve upon casting advancement. Additionally, prestige classes specially designed to work in tandem with the channeler, such as the Knights Caeli and the Angelic paragon take the abilities of the channeler and build in a more specialized direction.
Resources: Depending on your choices in background, the channeler may have a church to draw upon or he may have the resources of an entire order of channelers. Alternately, he may have the resources of a normal mundane person, or a single teacher.

CHANNELERS IN THE WORLD
“We was in dire straits we was, that was when she came to us’n healed the sick an’ hurt folk we had’n she stayed long ‘nough to see us through the winter to make sure we lived. If not for her, then we’d all’ve died after that black-hearted fiend slaughtered over ‘alf of us!”
-a grateful peasant recalling the winter after massacre of Miller’s Reach

Channelers are often perceived as being angels made flesh, and that’s not far from the truth. Though they are bound by their very soul to the spirit of their celestial patron, their wills are their own, and while their missions may have them travel the world, they do so because this is the path that they have chosen through this life. A channeler's only motives are the mastery of their heavenly arts through whatever means they discover on their own.
Daily Life: The routine of a channeler varies, but most begin their day with meditation and communion with their angelic patron and seek answers for their questions. Some do charity work to aid the poor and destitute or work in clinics to aid the sick and injured, and some serve as community priests and protectors. The rest of their non-adventuring time is spent in study and practice of their techniques, both martial and mystical. Some spend their time in devotion; others study histories and treatises on the exploits of angels and heroes to discover the true purpose of their calling and their potential role in the Heavens above.
Notables: The channeler known as Lenora Armitage is a folk hero amongst the people of the land, traveling kingdom to kingdom while helping any who cross her path. Skilled martially, her abilities as a healer and mercy-bringer far exceed her warrior exploits. The powerful channeler known as Hand of Raziel has abandoned his mortal name in favor of his title to show his dedication to his celestial lord. An implacable foe, Hand of Raziel was said to be responsible for the slaying of no less than three balors single handedly on one hellish battlefield, and is said to reside in the heavens at his master’s side.
Organizations: Channelers have several organizations should they choose to throw lot in with others of their kind. The Knights Caeli are a respected group of heavenly warriors who utilize martial talents in conjunction with their holy invocations to fight the forces of evil. The Seekers of the Fallen are a group of gifted arcanists who have learned to blend their talents as mages with their invocations to be the demon hunters of heaven. A group of druids who have learned to channel the power of angels exist in remote areas where purity of nature still remains, known as the Aelvalie, who imbue nature with the power of heaven in its defense. Those who seek to blend their holy invocations with divine magic should seek out the Hooded Apostles, a group of pious angel-worshipers who known as powerful exorcists.

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FEATS

Extra Invocation [General]
You have prayed and remained steadfast, and your angelic patron has seen fit to gift you with another holy art.
Prerequisites: Ability to use lesser invocations, Spellcraft 5 ranks.
Benefit: You learn another invocation of any level of you're capable of using.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat you must choose a different invocation.

Invoke Word of Power [Metamagic]
Your skill and power allow you to bypass some of your invocational processes and use power words to accomplish your magic.
Prerequisites: Ability to use lesser invocations, Spellcraft 5 ranks.
Benefit: You are capable of bypassing the casting times and requirements for your invocations, boiling them down to swift action invocations that only require a vocal and material component. The invocation to be turned into a power word must have a casting time of 1 standard action or faster. Possession of this feat gives you the ability to turn any one invocation that you're capable of casting into a swift action power word 3/day.
Special: This feat may be taken multiple times for additional uses, each additional time taken granting an additional 2 uses of this feat per day.

Knight of Angels [General]
You’ve learned to blend some of your talents as a channeler with your abilities as a paladin.
Prerequisites: Lay on hands, celestial light +2d6.
Benefit: Your levels in paladin are counted as channeler levels in regard to your caster level for using invocations and you may combine your paladin level and your channeler level to determine your lay on hands ability.

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 03:34 PM

CHANNELER INVOCATIONS
Channelers choose the invocations they learn as they gain levels, much like favored souls choose which spells to learn. However, a channeler’s divine repertoire is even more limited than that of a favored soul, and his invocations are spell-like abilities, not spells.

In addition to its grade (least, lesser, greater, or holy), every divine invocation has a spell level equivalent, which is used in the calculation of save DC’s and for other purposes. A least invocation has a level equivalent of a 1st or 2nd level spell; a lesser 3rd or 4th, greater 5th or 6th, and holy are equivalent to up to 9th level. The level equivalent for each invocation is given in its description below. Some invocations are so potent that the channeler must wait before drawing upon that particular magic again, with a cool down period of 1d4 rounds before that invocation can be called upon again.

A channeler can dismiss any currently ongoing invocation as a free action. A character may only benefit from a single aura invocation at a time.

Invocations and Celestial Light: Celestial light is not an invocation, but some invocations provide a channeler with the ability to modify this. Additionally, celestial light is not a spell-like ability, unlike an invocation, so by using an invocation to augment celestial light's killing capacity, the invocation changes the ability into a spell-like ability (necessitating spell resistance checks or caster level checks when applicable). By adding halo essence and halo shape invocations to the channeler’s celestial power, the ability’s level is modified by the total spell levels added to the celestial light attempt. For example, if Hand of Raziel wanted to combine frozen halo with the solar arrow invocation, his celestial light would become an frozen solar arrow, a 4th level effect, inflicting cold damage at range that dazzles an opponent. An effect can never go above 9th level.

Halo Essence Invocations – Halo essence invocations are invocations that modify the damage of the channeler's celestial light ability and offer additional abilities to augment their holy touch. Halo essence invocations can be added to a use of celestial lighting as a free action, and only one halo essence invocation can be applied per round. Any use of a halo essence invocation affects all uses of celestial light until the channeler's next turn. Many halo essence invocations have side effects that have saving throws; the DC is based on the halo essence invocation alone. If the character uses a halo essence invocation with a halo shape invocation, he combines the levels of the invocations to determine the DC by adding together the levels of invocations together (to a maximum of 9). The saving throw DC formula for is as follows: 10 + Invocation Level + Wisdom modifier.
Least

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Lesser

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Greater

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Holy

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Halo Shape Invocations – Halo shape invocations change the delivery method of the celestial light ability of the channeler. These invocations change the range on the channeler's celestial light from a touch or channeled weapon strike into a ranged weapon of some variety. The invocations below state their effects, action required to use them, as well as their level, the DC to save against a halo shaped celestial light is 10 + level of the invocation + the channeler's Wisdom modifier.If the character uses a halo essence invocation with a halo shape invocation, he combines the levels of the invocations to determine the DC by adding together the levels of invocations together (to a maximum of 9). The saving throw DC formula for is as follows: 10 + Invocation Level + Wisdom modifier.
Least

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Lesser

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Greater

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Holy

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Divine Invocations – Divine invocations are the more utilitarian abilities of the channeler, allowing him to call upon light, fire, life, storm, and wing to aid him in his endeavors as the result of his understanding. Unless stated otherwise, all of the following invocations require a standard action to use. Caster level for these invocations is equal to the character’s channeler level. Saving throw DC’s are 10 + the invocation’s level + the character’s Wisdom modifier. Unless otherwise mentioned, all spells come from the Player’s Handbook; PHB2 = Player’s Handbook 2, CDiv = Complete Divine, SpC = Spell Compendium. Invocations marked with the (Aura) tag only allow for one aura at a time to be in use at a time, and invocations marked with a (Summon) tag only allow for one summon to be in use per four caster levels the character possesses. Summoned items, such as the Horn of Heaven, may not be sold or in any way given away as they vanish after leaving the channeler's hand for more than three rounds. Invocations marked with a (Hymnal) tag are invocations that may not be hastened in anyway, and only one may be in effect at time as the channeler is singing, which also prevents him from using any other divine invocations while he is singing (he may still use halo essence or halo shaping invocations as normal with his celestial light). When the channeler ceases to sing his hymnal, the effect immediately ends and any hit points gained from an increase in Constitution score (if any) are immediately lost (which may cause an ally to go below 0 hit points). Any new summons after that point replaces the earliest summons and releases those creatures back to whence they came.
Least

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Lesser

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Greater

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Holy

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ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 03:37 PM

Epic Channeler

Hand of Raziel, an epic channeler

"I was born of mortal parentage, but my destiny lies within the heavens as one of its servants, and through my Lord Raziel, I have become one of the Heavenly Host; be wise to remember that, mortal" – Hand of Raziel, speaking to an enemy general.

Imbued with the very godstuff that forms the beings of solars, an epic channeler is a force of supernatue, an agent of Heaven, and vessel for the might of his patron angel.
Hit Die: d8
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Intelligence modifier
Invocations: The epic channeler's caster level is equal to his class level. He does not learn additional new invocations.
Celestial light: The epic channeler's celestial light damage continues to increase by 1d6 additional damage at every odd-level after 20th level.
Natural Armor: At every fourth level starting at 22nd level, the epic channeler's natural armor bonus from Angelic Ascendancy increases by +1.
Energy Resistance: At every fourth level starting at 23rd level, an energy type of epic channeler's choice from Angelic Ascendancy improves by 5.
Bonus Feats: The epic channeler gains a bonus feat every three levels higher than 20th level.

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 03:38 PM

Reserved for alternate class features, such as the potential of a dark channeler.

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 03:39 PM

Okay, this is a lengthy project, as it is a base class with nearly a hundred invocations to it. Please PEACH and examine it for any spelling/grammar/copypasta/weirdness/salamanders you may find hidden within it.

Thank you and enjoy!
-X

Tacitus · 04-24-2011, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Halo Bolt (4th) – As a standard action, the character may well necrotic energies into his hand and fire it in a 90-ft line of divine energy.

Typo on Necrotic? Sacred, maybe?

Quote:

Benediction of the Celestial Host (1st) – Grant an ally at close range (25ft + 5ft/2 CL) a reroll on a saving throw with a +4 bonus. (3 round cool down)

Unless this is an immediate action, it'll only affect ongoing effects. Doing so grants an additional save, not a reroll.

Quote:

Martyrdom (2nd) – By placing his hands upon an ally, he may willingly take upon himself any and all negative status effects the character is currently suffering and suffer them himself in their place (effects such as paralysis, stunning, dazing, sleep, fear, poison, disease, etc).

How does this interact with any immunities the Channeler may have?

Quote:

Hand of Negation (7th)

Italicized instead of Bolded

Quote:

Solar Bow (8th)

I'd suggest instead allowing the bow to change strength ratings to match the wielder, as a ray of enfeeblement turns that really nice bow into a fairly subpar choice over celestial light. Though, the Slaying Arrow bit is nice. Really nice.

Hyudra · 04-24-2011, 05:44 PM

Oof. I'm currently 75% done my own stab at a divine caster that uses invocations, and you post this. Let's see...

Impressions:

Aura of good & Detect Evil: Ok, they're staples.
Celestial Light: So at level 17, you're outputting a likely 27d6 damage as ranged touch attacks? You don't list a range, though. It's somewhat better than Eldritch Blast, where it counts, but it's a little too similar, IMHO.
Healing Light: The issue I take with this is that it's a little too effective as out-of-combat healing (So you're going into every encounter with your party at full health) and a little weak for in-combat healing.
Turn Undead: Turn undead suffers from bad scaling. By this, I refer to the fact that by late levels, it's never going to be worth it, unless you pump it to extremes. Not quite so bad as truenaming, but it's bad. Having Turn Undead at a -4, this is going to crop up, probably, around 8th-10th level. Consider revising how the ability works, removing the 'as a cleric with -4 levels' or some other tack to make it more viable later on.
Angelic Aspect:
- Cassian Memory: Kinda meh. You don't really strive for int, and the no-retroactive skill increases doesn't help. Give it a small bonus like +skill points to spend on knowledge skills?
- Dazing Blow: It suffers in that it's an ability that doesn't really flow with the rest of the chassis. Not a lot of synergy, I mean. Consider making this an invocation and giving it a slight boost?
- Divine Durability: Is alright. +1 to fort saves, a bit of extra hitpoints.
- Harmonious Presence: Is ok. Not fantastic, but ok. 'Presence' doesn't really jibe with Wisdom, and makes me think Charisma.
- Heavenly Skin: The name sounds like something I'd hear in a soap commercial. The bonus isn't that great (by high levels, AC falls off in value, and you can get natural armor bonuses elsewhere).
- Nimbus of Light: Pretty lame. Doesn't do much compared to some of the others.
- Shield of Wings: 'shield bonus' is awkward and doesn't really fit here. Same argument as the natural armor bonus, above.
- Strength of the Heaven: Probably want an 's' at the end of Heaven. Not a great bonus, since you'll probably be using invocations and your celestial light in combat.
- List sources for the bonus feats?
- Overall, I'd say Extra Invocation, Ability Focus, Improved Initiative, Divine Durabiltiy and Harmonious Presence are the ones I'd go for right off the bat. The ones I probably wouldn't take are Nimbus of Light, Shield of Wings, Heavenly Skin, Strength of the Heaven, Cassian Memory and Dazing Blow.
Imbue Item: A bit derivative, but is good to have there.
Aspect of the Deva: I'd remove 'bird' from 'beautiful, white feathered bird wings' from that first sentence.
Consecrated Presence: Pretty cool. Perhaps note a bonus effect if the Channeler is in possession of a holy relic relevant to their deity? Stress that it can't be used to shut off another god's powers?
Angelic Ascendancy: The damage reduction and natural armor bonus aren't going to be useful in the least, given that practically everything can penetrate DR/magic at 20th level and to-hit bonuses are almost inevitably going to be high enough that enemies will hit you on a roll of a 2+ anyways.
And the flip side of Angelic Ascendancy is that you're really inconvenienced if you die, because your outsider type makes resurrection kind of a pain (requiring a wish, limited wish, miracle or true resurrection).
Feats:
- Invoke Word of Power is so good as to break moderate-powered games. I strongly recommend that you not tamper with the Action Economy. That road leads to madness.
Halo Invocations:
- Your DCs are kind of mussed up, descriptionwise. Could use a touch of rewording.
- Beam of Fatigue - you say 'frightens and fear effect', but you're talking about fatigue. Very confusing.
- Frozen/Flaming Halo - it's kind of unspecific, the 'dealing half fire damage' bit.
- You need a duration on Frozen halo.
- And Dazzling kind of sucks. It's underwhelming.
- Sinwrought Judgement: Don't know I like this. If your opponent is amoral enough to not care (like, an archdevil), or has never committed a sin, what happens? Seems inappropriate for it to work universally, and would rub me the wrong way, a bit, were I a DM.
- Heavenly Crush: Up to 4 rounds of daze on a touch attack + save is... rather potent. What's the justification, here?
- Incinerating Halo: Two halo invocations in a row that inflict dazing. Kind of redundant.
- Luminous Brilliance: "Celestial light attack wastes and ages a target away" - wording is funny. Very underwhelming compared to the dazing invocations in the list of Lesser Halo Invocations.
- Heavenly Lightning: I consider the contrast between this and Luminous Brilliance to be a good demonstration of the contrast in power level between different invocations on the same lists. Stun is really good. Blind is ok, but at 11th level, not necessarily a gamewinner. Deafen even less so.
- I do see what you're doing, by having damage types that are less easily resisted being coupled with less powerful conditions, but you took it a bit too far. ½ sonic damage & a crappy condition vs. ½ lightning damage and a devastating condition... it's not much of a choice/dilemma, IMHO.
- I note you list your Halo invocations as Least-lesser-greater-holy, but on the table it's least-lesser-greater-dark.
- Salt Curse Halo: Turning them into salt? I don't get it.
- Conflagration Halo: Ok. This is certainly what I'd expect from a high level halo invocation.
- My concern for Conflagration Halo and Essence Smiting Halo is that the 'save for half ability score damage/negative levels' is a bit too heavy handed. Like, you're guaranteed, practically, ability score damage or negative levels.
Halo Shape Invocations:
- Heavenly Arc: Care Bear Stare! What if you aren't dealing damage? Like, if I'm using the weird pillar of salt?
- Luminous Blade: Hrm. I get the impression this could be made rather potent. Picture someone with the Dazing Blow Angelic Aspect, Strength of the Heaven Angelic Aspect, Heavenly Crush Lesser Halo Invocation and the Luminous Blade Least Halo Shape Invocation. The Str bonus makes up for your lack of BAB, and assuming you're 8th level (high enough to get an iterative attack) you're forcing any enemy hit to save or be dazed for 1d4 rounds, and any enemy hit twice to save or be dazed for 1 round. That's on top of dealing +5d6 damage on each hit alongside your weapon damage. Now picture someone dual wielding. That's... not inconsiderable. Is this kind of interaction intended?
- Grasp the Sinful: Doesn't really feel like a lesser halo shape as much as a least halo essence.
- Halo Bolt: Necrotic energies? Like... necromantic energies? Or energies of tissue death? Either way, it jibes with the class flavor and would better fit a Dark Channeler.
- Smiting Halo: I like this one.
Divine Invocations:
- Angelic Acumen: Is fine. A little similar to the warlock one though.
- Aura of Wrath: One more thing to tack bonuses onto our Luminous Blade combo, noted above.
- Benediction of the Celestial Host: Needs either a duration (assuming it's precast) or an action type (immediate?). Very very powerful. Maybe make it a Lesser/Greater?
- Blessed Raiment's: Remove the apostrophe?
- "Golden Goblet of Rise-Mokér" - the name is a bit of a mouthful.
- Horn of the Heaven: Kind of subpar in many ways when you could have your Celestial Light with an essence/shape invocation instead, with more or less comparable effect. Consider giving it a bonus effect?
- Hymn of Celestial Aid: Out of curiosity, what's the range for someone's voice to be heard? Might be worth clarifying.
- Martyrdom: Good.
- Prayer of Calling: Imagine, for a moment, a 6th level PC expecting battle. He summons a celestial giant bee five times in a row. Confront the enemy. Suspicious corridor? Send out summons to scout. Obvious trap? Summon a celestial giant beetle to walk right into it. Hard to cross pit? Fill it up with the bodies of your summons. I'm just saying... summons in limitless supply can pose issues.
- Prayer of Hope: A little unspecific.

More later. Gotta go eat.

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacitus

Typo on Necrotic? Sacred, maybe?

Unless this is an immediate action, it'll only affect ongoing effects. Doing so grants an additional save, not a reroll.

How does this interact with any immunities the Channeler may have?

Italicized instead of Bolded

I'd suggest instead allowing the bow to change strength ratings to match the wielder, as a ray of enfeeblement turns that really nice bow into a fairly subpar choice over celestial light. Though, the Slaying Arrow bit is nice. Really nice.

Fixed, altered and fixed, it doesn't as it bypasses them (so I clarified that), fixed, and fixed. Thank you very much! Not bad, I think, for a first try when it comes to mistakes.

What do you think of the fluff/flavor of the class? Additionally, what do you think of the organizations presented as those are teasers for the prestige classes I have planned for it.

-X

Omeganaut · 04-24-2011, 07:52 PM

I just want to point out one important detail. I don't see a hit die for the base class. That is all

Tacitus · 04-24-2011, 08:08 PM

Or skills, for that matter.

I'm not too strong on in depth review of homebrew. I mostly just skimmed it for anything that jumped out at me. As for the organizations? To me it just looks like the makings of a few dual progression PrCs. *shrug* Not too strong on fluff, myself. Sorry. >.<

Though, it does occur to me that the invocations that let you summon a weapon might could do with at least a little bit of scaling, and a clause that says selling them is impossible in some manner.

With the Hymns, does it require an action to continue singing? If so, can this be used in conjunction with methods Bards use to extend their Bardic Music past the moment they stop singing (harmonizing weapon, I think)?

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyudra

Oof. I'm currently 75% done my own stab at a divine caster that uses invocations, and you post this. Let's see...

Impressions:

Aura of good & Detect Evil: Ok, they're staples.
Celestial Light: So at level 17, you're outputting a likely 27d6 damage as ranged touch attacks? You don't list a range, though. It's somewhat better than Eldritch Blast, where it counts, but it's a little too similar, IMHO.

Where are you getting 27d6 points of damage? At level 17 your celestial light is 9d6 points of damage. I'm using the same table format for celestial light as warlock does for eldritch blast.

Quote:

Healing Light: The issue I take with this is that it's a little too effective as out-of-combat healing (So you're going into every encounter with your party at full health) and a little weak for in-combat healing.

It's supposed to be difficult to heal unlimitedly in combat, that's why if you want to be a good in combat healer you take the invocations that allow you to do so better.

Quote:

Turn Undead: Turn undead suffers from bad scaling. By this, I refer to the fact that by late levels, it's never going to be worth it, unless you pump it to extremes. Not quite so bad as truenaming, but it's bad. Having Turn Undead at a -4, this is going to crop up, probably, around 8th-10th level. Consider revising how the ability works, removing the 'as a cleric with -4 levels' or some other tack to make it more viable later on.

You're forgetting that Divine feats exist, and turn undead loses strength around 8-10th level except against mooks anyway. Additionally, there are feats that help make up this loss of turning power if you so choose to take them.

Quote:

Angelic Aspect:

Cassian Memory: Kinda meh. You don't really strive for int, and the no-retroactive skill increases doesn't help. Give it a small bonus like +skill points to spend on knowledge skills?
Dazing Blow: It suffers in that it's an ability that doesn't really flow with the rest of the chassis. Not a lot of synergy, I mean. Consider making this an invocation and giving it a slight boost?
Divine Durability: Is alright. +1 to fort saves, a bit of extra hitpoints.
Harmonious Presence: Is ok. Not fantastic, but ok. 'Presence' doesn't really jibe with Wisdom, and makes me think Charisma.
Heavenly Skin: The name sounds like something I'd hear in a soap commercial. The bonus isn't that great (by high levels, AC falls off in value, and you can get natural armor bonuses elsewhere).
Nimbus of Light: Pretty lame. Doesn't do much compared to some of the others.
Shield of Wings: 'shield bonus' is awkward and doesn't really fit here. Same argument as the natural armor bonus, above.
Strength of the Heaven: Probably want an 's' at the end of Heaven. Not a great bonus, since you'll probably be using invocations and your celestial light in combat.
List sources for the bonus feats?
Overall, I'd say Extra Invocation, Ability Focus, Improved Initiative, Divine Durabiltiy and Harmonious Presence are the ones I'd go for right off the bat. The ones I probably wouldn't take are Nimbus of Light, Shield of Wings, Heavenly Skin, Strength of the Heaven, Cassian Memory and Dazing Blow.

These bonuses are not intended to be world breakingly strong. They're small bonuses that improve the character in minor ways, that's why the class gets something every level. Small, static increases make the class more fun and shows a raising grade of power as the character advances. But thank you for the typo issues. Additionally, angelic aspects and invocations help fill in the gaps for what it seems that you've missed in your reading of this class; it turns you into an Angel (type and all) through aspects, class features, and invocations and roughly on par between an astral deva and a planetar.

Quote:

Imbue Item: A bit derivative, but is good to have there.

Aspect of the Deva: I'd remove 'bird' from 'beautiful, white feathered bird wings' from that first sentence.

Consecrated Presence: Pretty cool. Perhaps note a bonus effect if the Channeler is in possession of a holy relic relevant to their deity? Stress that it can't be used to shut off another god's powers?

But it does, that's the point of consecrate. It doesn't cause enemy divine spellcasters from casting their spells, it just removes the bonuses they get from casting in an unholy area. That's all.

Quote:

Angelic Ascendancy: The damage reduction and natural armor bonus aren't going to be useful in the least, given that practically everything can penetrate DR/magic at 20th level and to-hit bonuses are almost inevitably going to be high enough that enemies will hit you on a roll of a 2+ anyways.

And the flip side of Angelic Ascendancy is that you're really inconvenienced if you die, because your outsider type makes resurrection kind of a pain (requiring a wish, limited wish, miracle or true resurrection).

Spell Compendium, page 175, the spell is called "Revive Outsider". Level 6 cleric spell.

Quote:

Feats:

Invoke Word of Power is so good as to break moderate-powered games. I strongly recommend that you not tamper with the Action Economy. That road leads to madness.

Yup, and that's the point. A full caster can easily cast 2 spells a round, 3 if it's a wizard with a familiar with which he has imbued with some spellcasting ability. That's not hard at all. If a channeler wants to get 2 invocations off in a round, which are decidedly weaker than traditional spellcasting, I don't see a reason to stop him.

Quote:

Halo Invocations:

Your DCs are kind of mussed up, description wise. Could use a touch of rewording.
Beam of Fatigue - you say 'frightens and fear effect', but you're talking about fatigue. Very confusing.

Seemed fine to me, but I guess some people want the math directly before them. Fixed that, and fixed the copy/pasta.

Quote:

Frozen/Flaming Halo - it's kind of unspecific, the 'dealing half fire damage' bit.

You need a duration on Frozen halo.

And Dazzling kind of sucks. It's underwhelming.

Its the same as with warlock invocations, but I'll clarify it. Dazzling is decent when you're levels 1-3, and set a duration on frozen halo.

Quote:

Sinwrought Judgement: Don't know I like this. If your opponent is amoral enough to not care (like, an archdevil), or has never committed a sin, what happens? Seems inappropriate for it to work universally, and would rub me the wrong way, a bit, were I a DM.

Well it wouldn't work on an innocent anyway, read celestial light, and on an archdevil? The idea is that it makes them care. I'll specify that it's a mind affecting ability.

Quote:

Heavenly Crush: Up to 4 rounds of daze on a touch attack + save is... rather potent. What's the justification, here?

Because there are spells that do that too?

Quote:

Incinerating Halo: Two halo invocations in a row that inflict dazing. Kind of redundant.

Differing damage types?

Quote:

Luminous Brilliance: "Celestial light attack wastes and ages a target away" - wording is funny. Very underwhelming compared to the dazing invocations in the list of Lesser Halo Invocations.

It blinds the foe; that's significant. Also, that's the wording for Beam of Ruin.

Quote:

Heavenly Lightning: I consider the contrast between this and Luminous Brilliance to be a good demonstration of the contrast in power level between different invocations on the same lists. Stun is really good. Blind is ok, but at 11th level, not necessarily a gamewinner. Deafen even less so.

I do see what you're doing, by having damage types that are less easily resisted being coupled with less powerful conditions, but you took it a bit too far. ½ sonic damage & a crappy condition vs. ½ lightning damage and a devastating condition... it's not much of a choice/dilemma, IMHO.

Explain this more; sonic and deafen (which nerfs spellcasters) or lightning (more resisted) and stunned (which if you're immune to lightning, you're immune to this effect.

Quote:

I note you list your Halo invocations as Least-lesser-greater-holy, but on the table it's least-lesser-greater-dark.

Salt Curse Halo: Turning them into salt? I don't get it.

Not too familiar with the story of Lot and his wife fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah are you? Lot's wife turned to salt for looking back at the destruction of those two cities.

Quote:

Conflagration Halo: Ok. This is certainly what I'd expect from a high level halo invocation.

My concern for Conflagration Halo and Essence Smiting Halo is that the 'save for half ability score damage/negative levels' is a bit too heavy handed. Like, you're guaranteed, practically, ability score damage or negative levels.

Well, look at wizard and cleric or psion abilities that are rays; often times they still affect if they hit as they're ranged touch, the target's AC is their saving throw effectively. This is actually weaker.

Quote:

Halo Shape Invocations:

Heavenly Arc: Care Bear Stare! What if you aren't dealing damage? Like, if I'm using the weird pillar of salt?

Still does celestial light damage.

Quote:

Luminous Blade: Hrm. I get the impression this could be made rather potent. Picture someone with the Dazing Blow Angelic Aspect, Strength of the Heaven Angelic Aspect, Heavenly Crush Lesser Halo Invocation and the Luminous Blade Least Halo Shape Invocation. The Str bonus makes up for your lack of BAB, and assuming you're 8th level (high enough to get an iterative attack) you're forcing any enemy hit to save or be dazed for 1d4 rounds, and any enemy hit twice to save or be dazed for 1 round. That's on top of dealing +5d6 damage on each hit alongside your weapon damage. Now picture someone dual wielding. That's... not inconsiderable. Is this kind of interaction intended?

So you hit really hard and can potentially harm a target for essence shenanigans once per round. The interaction is intended; the idea is that they do a lot of damage, same engine as the warlock was intended to run with. Also keep in mind that while using it as Luminous Blade, it's a spell-like ability and that celestial light attack + shape + essence is subject to spell resistance. I don't see what the problem is for a class with moderate attack bonus to have a handful of dice. Barbarians, fighters, and especially martial adepts run this way just fine. This class is balanced in the upper three tiers.

Quote:

Grasp the Sinful: Doesn't really feel like a lesser halo shape as much as a least halo essence.

Halo Bolt: Necrotic energies? Like... necromantic energies? Or energies of tissue death? Either way, it jibes with the class flavor and would better fit a Dark Channeler.

Smiting Halo: I like this one.

It doesn't alter the damage in anyway, so shape, not essence. Copypasta. And finally

[

Quote:

*]Divine Invocations:

Angelic Acumen: Is fine. A little similar to the warlock one though.
Aura of Wrath: One more thing to tack bonuses onto our Luminous Blade combo, noted above.
Benediction of the Celestial Host: Needs either a duration (assuming it's precast) or an action type (immediate?). Very very powerful. Maybe make it a Lesser/Greater?
Blessed Raiment's: Remove the apostrophe?
"Golden Goblet of Rise-Mokér" - the name is a bit of a mouthful.

Meh, meh, I completely disagree due to the cleric spell resurgence which is a level 1 spell exists, done, and say Mordenkeinen(sp?) three times fast.

Quote:

Horn of the Heaven: Kind of subpar in many ways when you could have your Celestial Light with an essence/shape invocation instead, with more or less comparable effect. Consider giving it a bonus effect?

It does more damage than celestial light, so it has a cool down at lower level, and its straight sonic damage so it bypasses most DR and hardness. It's good for siege damage against doors and gates.

Quote:

Hymn of Celestial Aid: Out of curiosity, what's the range for someone's voice to be heard? Might be worth clarifying.

Ask the Bard and whatever he answers, let me know. They don't have a range either.

Quote:

Martyrdom: Good.

Prayer of Calling: Imagine, for a moment, a 6th level PC expecting battle. He summons a celestial giant bee five times in a row. Confront the enemy. Suspicious corridor? Send out summons to scout. Obvious trap? Summon a celestial giant beetle to walk right into it. Hard to cross pit? Fill it up with the bodies of your summons. I'm just saying... summons in limitless supply can pose issues.

Prayer of Hope: A little unspecific.

That's two, right?

, please reread the section on summoning; you can only have one of a single type of summoning going at a time, and you're limited to how many summons you can have active at a time. There is a hard limit. How is that unspecific? You can use this invocation to use either spell with this invocation.

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omeganaut

I just want to point out one important detail. I don't see a hit die for the base class. That is all

Missed it in the copy paste from the doc file.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacitus

Or skills, for that matter.

I'm not too strong on in depth review of homebrew. I mostly just skimmed it for anything that jumped out at me. As for the organizations? To me it just looks like the makings of a few dual progression PrCs. *shrug* Not too strong on fluff, myself. Sorry. >.<

Though, it does occur to me that the invocations that let you summon a weapon might could do with at least a little bit of scaling, and a clause that says selling them is impossible in some manner.

With the Hymns, does it require an action to continue singing? If so, can this be used in conjunction with methods Bards use to extend their Bardic Music past the moment they stop singing (harmonizing weapon, I think)?

Sell an angel's weapon and see how well that goes for you.

Hymns require a standard action to start, but as long as you're singing its a free action to keep doing so. They don't have a set limit as hymns are invocations, so they keep singing regardless and have unlimited use of their hymns. Once they stop singing, the effect of the hymn ends.

-X

Hyudra · 04-24-2011, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErrantX

Where are you getting 27d6 points of damage? At level 17 your celestial light is 9d6 points of damage. I'm using the same table format for celestial light as warlock does for eldritch blast.

Ah, but you can make iterative attacks with it. At that level you've got enough BAB to have 3 rays in a given turn.

Quote:

It's supposed to be difficult to heal unlimitedly in combat, that's why if you want to be a good in combat healer you take the invocations that allow you to do so better.

Well, most will tell you that healing in combat generally needs to be really effective to outweigh the alternate option of taking an enemy down sooner (and thus having him hit you less).

Quote:

Not too familiar with the story of Lot and his wife fleeing Sodom and Gomorrah are you? Lot's wife turned to salt for looking back at the destruction of those two cities.

Ah. No. I generally figured D&D relevant background for D&D relevant mechanics. Bringing real world religion into it is a bit bizarre.

In any event, doesn't sound like you've got much use/interest for/in my feedback, so I wish you luck & hope your players have fun with your Channeler. Good work overall.

Ziegander · 04-24-2011, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErrantX

Where are you getting 27d6 points of damage? At level 17 your celestial light is 9d6 points of damage. I'm using the same table format for celestial light as warlock does for eldritch blast.

I assume he's accounting for the full attack routine.

Quote:

Because there are spells that do that too?

Not a great justification when it makes your Lesser invocations actually more useful or outright more powerful than your Greater invocations. Dazing a foe is leagues away more powerful than blinding or deafening a foe. Also, while Stun is ever so slightly stronger than Daze, several foes are immune to Stun, while almost nothing in the game is immune to Daze.

Quote:

Differing damage types?

I thought it was pretty redundant myself. Why is fire dazing people anyway? Why do you need two invocations of the same grade, of the same type, both dazing a foe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErrantX

Sell an angel's weapon and see how well that goes for you.

It's always a bad idea to justify abuseable mechanics with DM-subjective fluff.

Overall, if you're looking for feedback, a lot of your responses to readers' concerns seem quite hostile in my opinion. There's a lot to like about this class, but I stand in agreement with several of the issues brought up that you more or less dismissed out of hand.

Hyudra · 04-24-2011, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziegander

Overall, if you're looking for feedback, a lot of your responses to readers' concerns seem quite hostile in my opinion. There's a lot to like about this class, but I stand in agreement with several of the issues brought up that you more or less dismissed out of hand.

This. Not to sound confrontational, but some people need to recognize that PEACH is a two way street.

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 10:52 PM

Then you're taking my comments as being hostile, such is not my intent. Occaisionally sarcastic maybe, but certainly not hostile. Most of my question responses are with helpless shrugs intended. Text is a medium that does not convey tone.

Additionally, it's one thing to say something isn't good, is strange, doesn't work, etc, but it's quite another to not add anything in response as well. Part of the critique process is not just to tell the author what's wrong or right, it's also what could be done better and suggestions. An endless string of disheartening comments isn't helpful; suggestions to make things better are just as important to the critique process. I know I suck, I don't need to be told that, that's why I'm asking you all to help me be better

-X

Ziegander · 04-24-2011, 11:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErrantX

Text is a medium that does not convey tone.

Perhaps you don't read literature...

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziegander

Perhaps you don't read literature...

I read a lot, actually, I'm just not a people person

-X

ErrantX · 04-24-2011, 11:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyudra

Ah, but you can make iterative attacks with it. At that level you've got enough BAB to have 3 rays in a given turn.

On average, assuming all three attacks hit, that's 27 points of damage per hit, that's 81 points of damage. A front line fighter can easily swing that, that's why it looks more intimidating by number dice, but it does boil down quite a bit. Sure, you may spike high, but you may spike lower as well. I see your concern though. I have playtested this sort of thing before with the ebon initiate class, as it has a similar mechanic and power curve, and I haven't seen it be too problematic.

Quote:

Well, most will tell you that healing in combat generally needs to be really effective to outweigh the alternate option of taking an enemy down sooner (and thus having him hit you less).

Each tier of invocation has an ability to buff up your ability to use Healing Touch, as a standard, a move, an all allies in range heal, and a swift action heal. Plus Regenerate at top tier. What would you suggest that would improve this or fix this?

Quote:

Ah. No. I generally figured D&D relevant background for D&D relevant mechanics. Bringing real world religion into it is a bit bizarre.

It wasn't intended to be something like that, my thoughts were both of that story and a video game called Requiem: Avenging Angel where you get an ability to turn your enemies in salt. It's also been done in a dozen other sort of sci-fi, fantasy, and horror things before, so I felt it deserved inclusion. Also, I thought it was cool

Quote:

In any event, doesn't sound like you've got much use/interest for/in my feedback, so I wish you luck & hope your players have fun with your Channeler. Good work overall.

It was not my intent to run you off man, and I apologize if I came off that way. Negative feedback is still good, I just wish I could have gotten some suggestions with it as well.

-X

ErrantX · 04-25-2011, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ziegander

Not a great justification when it makes your Lesser invocations actually more useful or outright more powerful than your Greater invocations. Dazing a foe is leagues away more powerful than blinding or deafening a foe. Also, while Stun is ever so slightly stronger than Daze, several foes are immune to Stun, while almost nothing in the game is immune to Daze.

Which is funny, as I think Stun was intended to be stronger than daze. Perhaps I will reverse that then.

Quote:

I thought it was pretty redundant myself. Why is fire dazing people anyway? Why do you need two invocations of the same grade, of the same type, both dazing a foe?

From pain, that's why it's dazing you. Overwhelming burning agony. Suggestion for what I should do in its place?

Quote:

It's always a bad idea to justify abuseable mechanics with DM-subjective fluff.

I was being sarcastic and I guess that was missed, apologies

. I changed it so the weapon disappears after a few moments of leaving the channeler's hand.

-X

Lix Lorn · 04-25-2011, 12:55 PM

Couple of things with the Angelic Aspects...
First, everyone will take +Wisdom, cause it's a casting stat.
Also, why no love for Dexterity and Charisma?
And you can, as written, take Shield of Wings before you have any wings.

I assume the damage from Flaming Halo and Frozen Halo can hurt good opponents?
And can Sinwrought Judgement affect them?

ErrantX · 04-25-2011, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lix Lorn

Couple of things with the Angelic Aspects...
First, everyone will take +Wisdom, cause it's a casting stat.
Also, why no love for Dexterity and Charisma?
And you can, as written, take Shield of Wings before you have any wings.

I assume the damage from Flaming Halo and Frozen Halo can hurt good opponents?
And can Sinwrought Judgement affect them?

That's a reasonable assumption. Dex and Charisma don't get representation for a reason, and that reason is that buffs from Angelic Aspect, Wings of the Deva, Aspect of the Planetar, and Angelic Ascendancy all conform to the stat buffs you get for being a Half-Celestial.

Oops on shield of wings

Yes, though it would put your alignment into jeopardy if you did it a lot. Sinwrought I need to fix, it seems to have obvious flaws. Perhaps I will make it a non-lethal damage invocation

Thanks for the comment Lix, much appreciated

-X

Tacitus · 04-25-2011, 09:01 PM

With the angelic aspects, you could probably combine Heavenly Skin and Nimbus of Light. Make it more of a blinding beauty sort of thing. Able to create an area of light that scales according to your level, a minor NA boost, and maybe half that NA boost as a penalty on attack rolls. There, I'd now seriously think about that one before the dazing blow. Or hell, have the heavenly beauty with light and skin, and then an upgraded form of it that gives the penalty to attacks and an Awe/Menace aura.

ErrantX · 04-25-2011, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tacitus

With the angelic aspects, you could probably combine Heavenly Skin and Nimbus of Light. Make it more of a blinding beauty sort of thing. Able to create an area of light that scales according to your level, a minor NA boost, and maybe half that NA boost as a penalty on attack rolls. There, I'd now seriously think about that one before the dazing blow. Or hell, have the heavenly beauty with light and skin, and then an upgraded form of it that gives the penalty to attacks and an Awe/Menace aura.

Some good ideas there.

I decided to drop Dazing Blow, and I added in an aspect for both Charisma and Dex. I combined Natural Armor and Nimbus of Light as well, but I didn't boost the light to do something special as there is already a daylight invocation.

-X

Denomar · 08-30-2011, 12:04 PM

Some spelling mistakes really:

Speak the Holy Word is missing a couple words in its description.

Turn Undead is learned at level 4, but if the effective cleric turning level is Channeler -4 than you can't actually use it until level 5. I'm assuming that you wanted it to be the equivalent of a Paladin, and they operate at Paladin level -3. Is that what you intended?

ErrantX · 08-30-2011, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denomar

Some spelling mistakes really:

Speak the Holy Word is missing a couple words in its description.

Turn Undead is learned at level 4, but if the effective cleric turning level is Channeler -4 than you can't actually use it until level 5. I'm assuming that you wanted it to be the equivalent of a Paladin, and they operate at Paladin level -3. Is that what you intended?

Hey, thank you for checking out the class and for the catches on mechanical goofs on my part. Yes, I wanted it turning not unlike a paladin. What do you think of it? It seems this one wasn't a terrible popular class here.

-X

mrcarter11 · 08-30-2011, 09:40 PM

People enjoy *evil* stuff. This class is the beacon of light.. I'm not saying anything is wrong with such, but I do believe that might help explain the lack of response with this class. I've only played it twice, verses Ebon, which I think I've played ever form of including every PrC for it. Also note, Ebon got PrC love, this class hasn't.

ErrantX · 08-30-2011, 10:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrcarter11

People enjoy *evil* stuff. This class is the beacon of light.. I'm not saying anything is wrong with such, but I do believe that might help explain the lack of response with this class. I've only played it twice, verses Ebon, which I think I've played ever form of including every PrC for it. Also note, Ebon got PrC love, this class hasn't.

Hehe, there are 4 half done prestige classes for it on my computer, just didn't think it was well liked so I never finished them!

I guess I oughta finish em up and get em posted. Heck, I've got several things I could probably post tonight....

-X

mrcarter11 · 08-30-2011, 10:22 PM

Well, perhaps that will garner more attention.. Also is there any chance of a PrC that combines the two.. I'd love that.. Or one that combines either of them with the Traveler..

ErrantX · 08-30-2011, 10:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrcarter11

Well, perhaps that will garner more attention.. Also is there any chance of a PrC that combines the two.. I'd love that.. Or one that combines either of them with the Traveler..

Hehe, there is one of those on the horizon, just not sure on the execution of it yet. As far as Traveler? No, I don't particularly see it happening. As far as Traveler does go though, I am completely revamping the project and I've gotten 3 prestige classes written for it as well.

-X