I created a Visualforce email template as below and it almost works. The only thing I cannot do is access the Account Owner's first name in the salutation. I can get the OwnerId, but that is not useful. Everything I have tried to traverse to the User raises an exception. Where are these legal fields specified? The merge field dropdown in the text template editor is wrong, the Force.com Standard API fields don't work.

I tried using "recipient.FirstName" which does work; however, it seems to be using the Answer's owner instead of the Account owner that I specified in the Email Alert. The plumbing here is not working the way I want it to.

Still Frustrated,

Jeff

<messaging:emailTemplate subject="Detractor Alert: Score={!relatedTo.Score__c}" recipientType="User" relatedToType="Answer__c">
<messaging:plainTextEmailBody >
Dear {!relatedTo.Response__r.Account__r.OwnerId}
This is an automated email about a new detractor incident. Please follow-up appropriately.

  Date: {!relatedTo.Date__c}
  Type: {!relatedTo.Question__r.Question_Type__c}
  Product: {!relatedTo.Question__r.Product__r.Name}
  Respondent: {!relatedTo.Response__r.Respondent__r.FirstName} {!relatedTo.Response__r.Respondent__r.LastName}
  Score: {!relatedTo.Score__c}

Comments:
  {!relatedTo.Answer_Text__c}

</messaging:plainTextEmailBody>
</messaging:emailTemplate>