How do you handle Turning Undead

[wulfgar]

As far as I can tell, this is a question that never gets a clear answer in any of the versions of D&D I'm familiar with (everything before 3.x). How exactly does turning work?

Well, it's very clear how to determine if a cleric succeeds in turning, but it leaves lots of room for some other questions:

-The party enters a room with 5 skeletons. The cleric succesfully turns 2 of them. A few rounds later 4 more skeletons enter. May the cleric turn again? If so, against who? Just the new skeletons or all that are present?

-The party defeats the skeletons and keeps moving through the dungeon. A few rooms down the hall they run into the skeletons that were turned. Will they run from the cleric because he already turned them? If not, is he allowed to try turning them again?

There are lots of other scenarios I could come up with but I guess they all boil down to:

A) How often can a cleric attempt turning undead? (sub questions would be the same undead and different undead)

B) How long do the effects of turning last?

I'm not looking for a by the book answer, because I'm pretty sure there isn't one. Just curious how the different DM's around here made their own rulings on the subject.

[coffee]

My opinion (like you say, there is no by the book answer) is this:

A) Once per round. I use the rule I remember from AD&D (and this may have been a house rule, but I think it was in the book): If you succeed, you can keep trying. When you fail, you stop. But if different undead show up, you can try to turn them. (I don't think I'd let you turn the ones you had already failed to turn.)

Note that there's a difference between failing to turn (on the dice) and not turning all of the undead present. If there are 50 skeletons, you can't turn them all (only 2d6 of them) so you can keep going. But if you roll a two on your turn attempt, you flat out failed and don't get another try. (I almost said "another turn" but my anti-pun mechanism is actually working today.)

B) For the duration of the encounter. Turned undead leave the area; the next time you see undead, even the same type, it might be a different group.


I'd also like to point out, for those of us who started with later editions, that the number of undead turned is just that: a number of undead.

Later editions (after Holmes) changed this to "number of hit dice of undead", which is a different thing entirely.

[makofan]

I do it the same way as coffee. The key is I have the cleric be in the front of the party, and forgo any attacks or defensive maneuvers while he does so.

[coffee]

May 2, 2008 13:54:24 GMT -6 makofan said:

I do it the same way as coffee. The key is I have the cleric be in the front of the party, and forgo any attacks or defensive maneuvers while he does so.

Yeah, forgot to mention that. No attacks or defensive maneuvers.

[kormydigar]

For a lot of these timing questions I prefer to use the 24 hour rule. If a cleric turns a particular group of undead then these undead cannot be affected by the same cleric again for 24 hours.

The same 24 hour rule applies to failed attempts also. I determine what constitutes a "group" of undead by which ones are in range and can see the presented holy symbol at the time of turning. Undead that are turned manifest an aura around them that only the a cleric of that particular deity can perceive. This aura fades away in 24 hours.

I believe that permitting clerics to turn again and again without restrictions makes them too powerful compared to other party members against undead. Considering the fact that they are are one of the faster advancing classes already it helps keep the other characters from feeling like add-ons in an undead heavy adventure.

[philotomy]

I put up a musing about how I'm handling the clerics' ability to turn undead.

May 2, 2008 13:27:35 GMT -6 wulfgar said:

The party enters a room with 5 skeletons. The cleric succesfully turns 2 of them. A few rounds later 4 more skeletons enter. May the cleric turn again? If so, against who? Just the new skeletons or all that are present?

I'd give him a turn attempt against the new skeletons. However, let's say the cleric had failed his first attempt against the original 5 skeletons: in that case, I would not give him another turn attempt. I see his previous failure against the skeletons in this encounter as shaking his faith in his ability to turn these undead. In other words, I see the turn ability as being "encounter based." Once the cleric fails, no more turning is possible in that encounter.

The party defeats the skeletons and keeps moving through the dungeon. A few rooms down the hall they run into the skeletons that were turned. Will they run from the cleric because he already turned them? If not, is he allowed to try turning them again?

Since I apply a duration to the turning effect (3d4 rounds, nicked from AD&D), I'd rely on that to resolve the question of whether they'd attack or continue to flee. If they move to attack, I'd allow the cleric to attempt turning them again.