Out Of Character

[waysoftheearth]

Guys, as Armando is in a potentially critical position this upcoming turn, I'm kinda waiting on orders from flightcommander. If I don't hear anything today (tonight for most of you) I'll go ahead without him...

[flightcommander]

Sorry folks — was out of town on business and impacted by "unscheduled" work. Responding now ...

[waysoftheearth]

There we are

[sully]

Forgot to mention, I am on vacation through Monday. Dorgan will be back on Tuesday to express his gratitude to Josiane for saving his life (again).

[waysoftheearth]

Apparently turn undead was originally more-or-less like the Protection from Evil spell (only protecting the cleric) at low levels, and then more like the Circle of Protection from Evil spell (protecting everyone in a radius) at higher levels (7+)...

[Olroda]

A very interesting article. Thanks for bringing it up. Is that how you will be doing it in our campaign (I haven't read any of "The Abysmal Pit")?

[ehiker133]

I agree, it was a great read.

It is not how WOTE currently uses it, fortunately.

I do find a lot to be desired in the way many DMs handle turning, though. I've even had some DMs who herd all of the undead into a corner if the party is in an enclosed room, and allow party members to toss oil onto the backs of the undead and light them up, all with them doing nothing in response (but burn, I suppose).

The method of turning explained in the above link sounds much more in-line with how I envision the game. Some bonuses - any player can turn a vampire - and some detriments - protection doesn't extend to others until the higher levels.

Would certainly add an additional level of excitement to the game!

[waysoftheearth]

Because of the initial absence of clerics in this game turning undead has not come up until now. However, with the recent (2014) effort to play more "by the book" Josaine "became" a cleric (although she is only just realising this herself!), and has just turned undead for the first time.

I used a Circle of Protection from Evil-like effect just now (albeit with a larger radius), which I think is about right for a heroic tier cleric versus normal tier undead. I might have a bit more of a think about how it "should" work for clerics across the different tiers of play, particularly the radius part... but for now it's more or less a case of "try it and see"

[mgtremaine]

My 2cents I always allowed the turning but if the undead were then attacked or backed into a situation without escape they would turn and attack as if the turning was broken. It's bad enough when the cleric gets to destroy undead but the holding them at bay while the party kills them gets old.

[waysoftheearth]

I agree; the undead in question are "held at bay" but they're not helpless. If they are directly attacked they would fight back.