Recently, I was looking at the cleric class from OSE (aka b/x D&D) and I made some tweaks to some of the progressions for a custom version of the class. As I was looking at the Turn Undead procedure and table, a question bubbled up through my brain: could we reduce this mechanic to a single roll of dice? I think we can.
Breaking down the original mechanic
By the book, a cleric can affect an average of 7 hit dice of undead, regardless of their level. The higher level the cleric, the more powerful undead they can affect, and they begin to destroy rather than merely turn those affected undead. The probabilities produce, more or less, some average turning results, per attempt, of:
- against lower level undead, one creature or 7 HD;
- against equal level undead, one creature or 4 HD;
- against undead of one level higher, one creature or 2 HD;
- against undead of two levels higher, one creature or 1/2 HD.
I arrived at these numbers by multiplying the turn success rate by the average number of hit dice turned (remember, this number doesn't change as the cleric levels up). One caveat is that a successful turn will always affect at least one undead, which I noted as "one creature" in the list above. When I look at it, broken down like this, it feels a bit underwhelming. Maybe it's just me. In any case, let's move on to my proposed variant.
Resolving Turn Undead with a single throw of dice
A cleric who elects to turn undead rolls a number of six-sided dice (d6) equal to their level. Thus, an acolyte (first-level cleric) rolls 1d6 and a matriarch or patriarch (ninth-level cleric) rolls 9d6. The result of each die represents a number of hit dice affected, with the following caveats:
- against lower level undead, the number of hit dice affected, per die, is doubled;
- against undead of one level higher, the number of hit dice affected, per die, is halved;
- against undead of two levels higher, the number of hit dice affected, per die, is quartered.
This gives us an escalating scope of effect:
- against lower level undead, an average of 8 HD per die;
- against equal level undead, an average of 4 HD per die;
- against undead of one level higher, an average of 2 HD per die;
- against undead of two levels higher, an average of 1 HD per die.
This is for turning; to destroy, simply double the cost:
- against lower level undead, an average of 4 HD per die;
- against equal level undead, an average of 2 HD per die;
- against undead of one level higher, an average of 1 HD per die;
- against undead of two levels higher, an average of 1/2 HD per die.
Against mixed groups of undead, the only things to note are that a die cannot be split across different types of undead and, as in standard turning, lower levels of undead must be dealt with before higher levels.
One-Roll Turn Undead in action
Here's an example: Franic the Adept (second-level cleric) steps into a dusty mausoleum, awaking three skeletons (1 HD) and a zombie (2 HD); they immediate declare their intention to turn the foul unliving; they roll 2d6; the results are 2 and 1; the skeletons must be dealt with first; the die showing 1 isn't enough to turn them so Franic's player spends the die showing 2 which, against lower level undead, gives Franic 4 hit dice of turning power; that's enough to turn the three skeletons; they cannot bank the extra hit die of turning left over to affect the zombie; the zombie remains unturned (1 hit die of turning power vs 2 hit dice).
This method will definitely amplify the power of clerics against undead of lower levels. Against undead of equal or higher levels, the calculus does not change much. I'm fine with this as I think letting a cleric go nova on lower leveled undead is just fun and fulfills the image of a powerful cleric banishing undead hordes. Higher level, powerful undead will remain challenging. And we can do it with one roll of dice, albeit more dice. Is more dice ever a bad thing?
