Level Up (A5E) Herald "Channel Divinity" Clarification

[steels12]

Hey all,

So one of my players recently made a full switch from a Barbarian to a Cleric, and just going over some of the higher level rules we found something that seems a bit unique in the Herald class.

Divine Recovery
At 12th level, you can transform divine energy into more easily manipulated magics. You can use a bonus action to recite a short prayer or mantra and expend a use of Channel Divinity to regain a spell slot of 3rd-level or less.
Once you have used this feature three times, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.

Now, as a DM who's been running with a Cleric in the party for a while, this didn't initially strike me. It wasn't until my player pointed out that Heralds only get ONE channel divinity per short rest that I found it odd. The way I see it, there are three possibilities:

1. This one ability is accounting for multi-classing with Clerics (who, if you were a 3 Herald, 6 Cleric, you would get 3 uses of Channel Divinity per short rest)
2. This ability implicitly accounts for DMs that might give their players magic items that let them restore class currencies like Channel Divinity
3. I'm a very cruel DM who rarely gives his party more than 1 short rest between long rests.

RAW, and with no multi-class or homebrew shenanigans, this would imply a contingency against... 4+ short rests per day? That seems a little weird to prep against, at least in my opinion. I do tend to run low-level travel with havens being few and far between (mostly to avoid constantly going nova against travel encounters), but maybe I'm missing something. Either way, this is a super minor thing, it just stood out to me as being a peculiarity, and I feel like I'm just missing something. My player was still curious, so I figured I'd shoot it over to you guys. What are your thoughts?

 

[W'rkncacnter]

i mean, if it is a contingency against a number of short rests, it'd be a contingency against more then 2 short rests a day, not more then 4. three channel divinities from a herald would be your first use plus 2 short rests (which, iirc, is about what o5e - and thus probably a5e - expects in terms of daily resource expenditure).

 

[steels12]

i mean, if it is a contingency against a number of short rests, it'd be a contingency against more then 2 short rests a day, not more then 4. three channel divinities from a herald would be your first use plus 2 short rests (which, iirc, is about what o5e - and thus probably a5e - expects in terms of daily resource expenditure).

Well the implication would be a protection against MORE than that, so it would be a contingency against at least 3 short rests per day, but you're right, it's not 4

 

[Distracted DM]

Yes, it's a built in mechanic to prevent abuse. If you're wondering why other classes don't have the same, like why there's no cap on uses of Catch Your Breath etc. my only explanation is that designers are human and in this instance they saw a potential for abuse and saw fit to note that.

 

[lichmaster]

I'd rephrase your point 3.
There's no "correct" number of short rests per long rest, but the limitation is there in place to avoid players regaining too many 3rd level spell slots.
Keep in mind that with a 3rd level spell slot the Herald gains 6 Exertion Points, which last until a long rest is taken. Use this feature 3 times and you have 18 EPs, then you can short rest again to get the Channel divinity and either reconvert it to a 3rd level slot or keep it as it is.

You can see that there's ample potential for abuse, especially because the EP remain until the start of a long rest. Hence probably the limitation.

 

[steels12]

I'd rephrase your point 3.
There's no "correct" number of short rests per long rest, but the limitation is there in place to avoid players regaining too many 3rd level spell slots.
Keep in mind that with a 3rd level spell slot the Herald gains 6 Exertion Points, which last until a long rest is taken. Use this feature 3 times and you have 18 EPs, then you can short rest again to get the Channel divinity and either reconvert it to a 3rd level slot or keep it as it is.

You can see that there's ample potential for abuse, especially because the EP remain until the start of a long rest. Hence probably the limitation.

Very fair, I wasn't sure if this was just a contingency against being rife for abuse at other DM tables, but it sounds like a lot of people agree it's just a "just in case" kind of protection

 

[someguy42]

Hmmmmm I had always thought cleric and herald channel divinity counted as septate resources but yeah its most likely due to multi classing. There quite a few confusing things in the book that are protections against multi classing abuse. The original way trained accuracy was explained in v1 made it sound like the ranger was supose to have access to fighting styles like 5e. But its just meant to be a protection against fighter-ranger multi classing.