Turn Undead

Clerics and paladins can turn undead, causing them to flee or even turning them to dust by the power of religious faith. An evil cleric can also turn a paladin, but cannot destroy the paladin by turning. Evil clerics may choose to control the undead instead of turning them. If an evil cleric gains a result of “D” on the table, the undead creature falls under the cleric’s control for 24 hours. Normally 2d6 creatures are affected by Turn Undead. Exceptions are paladins and Type 13 creatures, of which only 1d2 are affected, and results of “D”, which affect 1d6+6 creatures.

Turning lasts for 3d4 rounds. While turned, the creature must move away from the cleric at its fastest possible movement rate. It will attack a creature that is directly blocking its escape route, but otherwise may not fight.

The cleric or paladin must be holding his or her holy symbol to make a turning attempt. In most cases this will preclude attacking on the same round, and the cleric must sheathe or drop his or her weapon (or else set down his or her shield).

To turn undead, roll a d20 on the Turning Undead Table. If the result is equal to or higher than the number shown, the attempt is successful.

Exception: Certain religions exist where the cleric’s holy symbol is also his or her weapon (for example, some GMs may permit clerics of the god Thor to carry a hammer which doubles as a holy symbol). In this case, the cleric will be able to make a turn undead attempt with his or her weapon in hand, although even this situation does not empower the cleric to attack and attempt to turn undead in the same round. If the cleric is successful in a turning attempt, he or she may try again next round. If the cleric fails, no further turning attempt may be made during this encounter.

Optional Rule: An evil cleric may control no more Hit Dice worth of undead than his or her level of experience; thus a 9th level evil cleric could control no more than two wights, for example.

Turning Undead Table

For the purposes of evil clerics turning paladins, paladins are treated as Type 8 if they are level 1-2, Type 9 if level 3-4, Type 10 if level 5-6, Type 11 if level 7-8, Type 12 if level 9-10 and Type 13 if level 11 or higher. However, paladins cannot be destroyed by turning.

If the number on the die is equal to or greater than the number shown on the table, the creature is turned and will flee.

If the table indicates “T”, the undead creature is automatically turned, and will flee.

It the table indicates “D”, the undead creature is automatically destroyed and will crumble to dust. For evil clerics, a result of “D” indicates that the undead are forced into the cleric’s command for a period of 24 hours.