[3.5/Pathfinder] Building a cleric/need advice

[Rekov]

I've never really played divine casters at all before, and I'm in a mid level (8-13) Pathfinder campaign right now.

Allowed Books:

• Pathfinder Core
• Pathfinder Bestiary
• Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting

The current party composition apart from myself is as follows:

• power attack/sunder build fighter9
• DEX/crit. build /inquisitor2/fighter7
• bard1/sorcerer8 (Arcane Bloodline)

I'm going to roll two lvl 9 clerics, one good (positive energy, spot heals) and one evil (negative energy, spot inflicts). I don't care too much about race, unless there is a significant mechanical reason. I'll choose which one I like more once I have two that I can compare. My roles in the party are in order of importance:

1. anti-mage
2. healing (good build)/nuking (evil build)

The problem with negative energy channel:
The primary concern I have is that the line between good and evil is drawn differently than the line between living and undead. This results in the phenomenon where a good aligned cleric will primarily be using his bubble to heal his allies, and the evil cleric will primarily be using his bubble to hurt enemies. This is because most settings have vastly more living people than undead people. The inherent problem with this is that using a bubble to damage has a chance of failure, expressed by the will save given to the targets. This makes the use of bubble for healing more efficient than the use of the bubble for doing damage. Following this thread of logic, good aligned clerics are mechanically better than evil aligned clerics.

The other issue is the restriction of domains based on the alignment of the deities that grant them.


What I primarily need advice on are Ability Scores:
In order of importance: WIS, CHA, ????

Domains:
Liberation seems really good, but is restricted entirely to good aligned gods.
Dunno about anything else.

Feats:
I am definitely taking Extra Channel, Selective Channeling, and most likely Armor Proficiency.

Items (46,000 gp):
completely lost here. Maybe stat boosters, maybe magic armor.

[Devils_Advocate]

The problem with negative energy channel:
The primary concern I have is that the line between good and evil is drawn differently than the line between living and undead. This results in the phenomenon where a good aligned cleric will primarily be using his bubble to heal his allies, and the evil cleric will primarily be using his bubble to hurt enemies. This is because most settings have vastly more living people than undead people.

Were allies and enemies randomly selected, that would be the case. But an Evil cleric's allies are likely to be a bunch of undead minions. On the other hand, his enemies, like a Good cleric's, are likely to be living. One possible disadvantage is that he can't easily heal himself, but that goes away if he's undead or otherwise heals from negative energy.

(In 3.5, the Tomb-tainted Soul feat made living creatures healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy, like undead. In Pathfinder, the Death domain's 8th level ability is apparently that plus a bag of chips: You heal damage from negative energy whether it's targeted against the living or the undead, and still get to heal from positive energy normally (so far as I can tell). Nifty! Although this doesn't do anything for an undead cleric. Aw.

I see that they also gave clerics proficiency with their deities' favored weapons, which only makes sense. I always thought it was rather weird that WotC didn't do that.)

Now, if an Evil cleric doesn't have a bunch of undead minions but instead fights alongside several living folks, then his naughtybad evil magic won't serve him quite so well.

The inherent problem with this is that using a bubble to damage has a chance of failure, expressed by the will save given to the targets. This makes the use of bubble for healing more efficient than the use of the bubble for doing damage. Following this thread of logic, good aligned clerics are mechanically better than evil aligned clerics.

Buffs tend to be better than the equivalent debuffs for the same reason. For stuff that effects multiple creatures, it also depends on the relative size of your group and the group of enemies, of course.

In 3.5, channeling negative energy was only a good option if you wanted to have undead working for you or were undead yourself. Pathfinder apparently hasn't changed that, though they've changed some of the details.