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View Full Version : Is there anything special about Channel Divinity?



Notafish
2024-05-06, 05:51 PM
Channel Divinity is, I think, one of the rare cross-class features, along with spell slots. It doesn't come up much, but I'm pretty sure using a Paladin Channel Divinity uses up your ability to activate a different CD gained from cleric levels until you rest.

Other than that, I'm not sure what -if anything -distinguishes CD from other magical effects. Does an anti magic field stop Channel Divinity, or is it sufficiently deity-based to overpower it, for example?

I'm curious about this mainly for homebrew purposes - it looks like there is a seed of something in the feature to distinguish divine and arcane power sources for magic, but I am not sure how much that space has been explored...

Unoriginal
2024-05-06, 06:29 PM
Other than that, I'm not sure what -if anything -distinguishes CD from other magical effects. Does an anti magic field stop Channel Divinity, or is it sufficiently deity-based to overpower it, for example?

Only the "roll 1d100 for Divine Intervention" part works in anti-magic, by my understanding.

Otherwise Channel Divinity is magic but not a spell, meaning it bypasses what affects spells but not what affects magical effects.

Arkhios
2024-05-07, 05:41 AM
Correct. Paladin's Channel Divinity uses and effects are interchangeable with Cleric's Channel Divinity uses and effects, and vice versa, and as per the Multiclassing Rules, Channel Divinity from multiple sources do not give additional uses; in other words, the uses do not stack. DC's for each classes' channel divinity options are still used and calculated separately.

In other other words, if you multiclass between the two classes, you only get one use of Channel Divinity pe short rest, which is usable for all the options you have from both classes, unless you have at least 6 cleric levels, in which case you'd get two uses of Channel Divinity instead, as is normal for a 6th level cleric.

stoutstien
2024-05-07, 10:14 AM
It's fairly arbitrary that that share the same name thus don't stack.