The Luonnatar have Channeling II and III so that they can get the free xp, and more importantly so that they can buy Command promotions.
In my version I mod them significantly. (I'm not sure I remember ever finding the default version useful , or that I've even managed to get one of them since back in the Fire stage.) They can be built directly are are available at Philosophy, but have only half the base strength and philosophy was moved to come after Priesthood instead of before it and to be more expensive. They loose the Channeling promotions and Inquisitor, and gain Courage, Demon Slaying 2, Angel Slaying, and Temperance. (These are mostly promotions I myself added. ther units can purchase Demon Slaying 2 and Angel Slaying after Righteousness and Malevolent Designs, respectively. Temperance is normally granted by my Force I spell, and gives a 30% bonus to both holy and unholy.) They gain 2 unit specific spells, Enlighten City and Enlighten Units. Enlighten city is just like Inquisition, except it can remove the state religion from your rivals cities. Enlighten units has a chance to make nearby units loose their religion, and has a small chance of making rival units effected switch sides. If a priest unit loses his faith (which is less likely), there is a good change it will be killed or even become another Luonnatar under your control. Even if it remains loyal to its owner, it won't have access to its divine spells anymore. Also, Luonnatar are given the ability to target unitcombat_disciple units in stacks of stronger units, as well as high priests specifically. In short, my Luonnatar aren't very impressive in terms of brute strength, but can be the ruin of any enemy that is too dependent on their clerics.
