• Registered: 2010-12-03
  • Posts: 2

Topic: Turn Undead Question

I play a cleric in Scott's (of huge ruined pile) Flame Princess game. The other night I had the opportunity to cast turn undead, and I didn't roll high enough. Reading the spell, we saw that even though I'd failed the turn attempt, I was still able to hold the undead at bay by continuing to brandish my holy symbol. This left me curious about a couple of things smile

1- If they are held at bay rather than successfully turned, I'm curious as to what you had in mind would happen if some cohort of the cleric attacked the fiend, or one of a group of undead.

2- If the cleric would, due to level or other factors, have no chance of actually turning a given undead, would the creature still be subject to being held at bay?

Thanks!

  • JimLotFP
  • Lord of All Fevers and Plagues
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  • From: Helsinki, Finland
  • Registered: 2009-10-07
  • Posts: 613

Re: Turn Undead Question

migellito wrote:

1- If they are held at bay rather than successfully turned, I'm curious as to what you had in mind would happen if some cohort of the cleric attacked the fiend, or one of a group of undead.

Attacking would break the turning (including any "holding at bay" part) - make the attack count.

migellito wrote:

2- If the cleric would, due to level or other factors, have no chance of actually turning a given undead, would the creature still be subject to being held at bay?

ooo, interesting loophole. I'm of two thoughts.

If the spell can't work, the the holding at bay part won't apply either. The cleric's puny faith is not enough to deter the creature.

Or, in the spirit of "since it's now a spell and not a regular ability we want it to always be at least somewhat effective," the creature who can't be driven away has to make a saving throw or be kept at bay.

What do you think?

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  • Registered: 2010-12-03
  • Posts: 2

Re: Turn Undead Question

I think, being a first level spell, I'd rather go with her puny faith being unable to deter the creature. That fits with other spells that have hit-die or level limits, like sleep or hold person.

Sound good?

  • From: Stroudsburg, PA
  • Registered: 2010-09-05
  • Posts: 33

Re: Turn Undead Question

JimLotFP wrote:
migellito wrote:

2- If the cleric would, due to level or other factors, have no chance of actually turning a given undead, would the creature still be subject to being held at bay?

ooo, interesting loophole. I'm of two thoughts.

If the spell can't work, the the holding at bay part won't apply either. The cleric's puny faith is not enough to deter the creature.

Or, in the spirit of "since it's now a spell and not a regular ability we want it to always be at least somewhat effective," the creature who can't be driven away has to make a saving throw or be kept at bay.

What do you think?

The game as written is pretty unforgiving, so I'd go with the former.  If I were coming up with something for D&D 4e, I'd go with the latter, since it's much more "balanced" and forgiving of players.

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