Sorry about that.  We went through 60 years of records to find 35 insurance policies to find out what policies were active.  My aunt was just three days from getting her vaccine when she passed away.


Anyway, I agree Connor is a goner, he wouldn't have been an effective fighter to begin with and all of his rolls were bad luck rolls. *When you roll HPs three times and get a 2, 1, and 2  it tells you something."

Anyway, I wasn't really introduced to D&D until 1990.  My family was very deep religious and that stuff was banned at the house.  I was in the Army and to pass the time the squad played D&D in the tent.  We had to use a stop watch for dice, but once we got back that bug really hit.  My first character I really remember was an UA Cavalier.

Thank you for the condolences.

My wife's father passed suddenly while we were visiting him for the holidays. Since her mother and brother have already passed, my wife is now the executrix of her father's will. We had to break the news to everyone, take care of the service, see the lawyer, etc. It's been a busy time. We are finally back at home for a couple of days, so I am finally able to update you all on a computer with a keyboard. I'd like to be able to give you a firm date for my return, but I'm headed back to his house in a couple of days to take care of things there (no computer - just a phone), and I have no clue how soon I'll be back at home again. If that's too long an absence, I'll understand, but I really want to rejoin the game as soon as things settle down. On the plus side, everyone here's doing okay.

It not wholly imaginative we have the TV set up as viewport and the boys and my partner's laptops as controllers. My PC runs them all as a network, it makes it a fun game but is a challenge to fly the ship.



Good to have you back, you can roll up a new character whenever you are ready.

---

Good to have you back Teodore too, you're welcome to return at any time.

Why goes Beryl think he's no use without a stick? Really if you're planning or relying on fighting you're doing something wrong. Beryl has plenty to offer as an adventurer and a cleric, for better or worse it was him that discovered the slime next time he might find something more useful.

I have no spells. I can help in no fashion that I can imagine.

This is game of exploration and adventure. There's not a lot on any character sheet that's makes much difference. However I would say that Beryl can still Turn Undead or even someone may have a staff he can borrow if he asks them.

But I don't really want to influence anyone's decision, it's your game and your characters if Beryl wants to walk back to Fourtower Bridge then he is welcome to.

I have crowbar that might make a suitable club... or a 10' pole that could become 8' and 2' if we found the means.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:36, Thu 14 Jan 2021.

Or you could be a linkboy.

You nasty! hehehe...

In reply to Beryl Plotz (msg # 154):

But, really, treat this game a bit more like Colossal Cave Adventure and you won't sweat the stats so much.

I've met some other military folks who also became RPG fanatics at their bases and in the field. Seems a world better than the epidemic of substance use that characterized the Viet Nam War.

The rules as written for Turn Undead are open to many interpretations. I'll lay a few ground rules for us to go by. Firstly when can a Cleric Turn Undead? The rule don't specifically state whether it happens before the encounter or during the encounter. For the purposes of a game on Rpol I think it will be difficult to slot it in before the encounter, as demonstrated in our last encounter as Initiative had even been rolled before everyone had declared. So easier if we treat Turn Undead as a combat action. As a combat action which category should it be considered, Missile, Magic or Melee? Gut feeling is Magic as it an invoked power. If its treated as Magic it must be declare at the beginning of the round and it will take place after Missile so can be interrupted. How long does it last? There's three choices really permanent, whilst the Cleric concentrates or for the rest of the encounter (assuming an encounter is 1 turn long) then I would pick 1 turn but willing to accept concentration if players prefer. Can Turn Undead be attempted multiple times? Our interpretation to the first question influences this, if it was a power to use at the start of an encounter it would be once per encounter, if we are considering it a combat action could the Cleric do this every round? I'm not sure about this one. I have stated previously that the game does not need to be fair so nothing can break the game. What is people's preference I say as many times they want but not on the same undead group but happy to edit this if people prefer a different interpretation. What happens if someone later attacks or chases a turned undead? The undead fight back, nothing should be defenseless that just doesn't make sense.

TLDR Cleric's Turn Undead as their action in combat as if casting a spell so must declare at the beginning of the round and can be interrupted. The Cleric can do this as many times as they want but not to the same group of undead. The undead will be turned for 1 turn but if attacked the undead will defend itself.

Let me know if people have any other ideas...

I did notice the rules were rather scant, I am glad you are addressing this.

For the moment the real issue to me is for turning undead to not be worthless.

As such, as as these are mindless undead, I was wondering what would happen if we attacked one skeleton? Would the others remain turned? Also, would the turned undead fight at any disadvantage while under the impact of the turning?

The fact that they have no place to flee too makes this instance a bit unique, so some of these questions would be pointless much of the time.

As to how often I can try to turn, once per encounter is not my first choice. As the impact lasts one turn, I would suggest the option to try and turn the same undead again would be a turn away. Any undead over above the number I turn would get that same one-turn window of opportunity, however any new undead who arrived would have their own clock, and I could try and turn them right away.

Does that sound reasonable?

Thanks for the feedback.

Turn Undead is a very worthwhile power and also in my opinion Cleric is the most powerful class. They advance the quickest at higher levels, have access to higher level spells the quickest after having to wait for their first spell at 2nd level, the power to turn undead, can wear any armour and really the only things will stops them being equal to a fighter in combat is d6 damage and d6 hit points compared to d8.

Back to Turn Undead. Yes I agree, if we set that when successful undead are turned for 1 turn then they may be turned again after this time and also if unsuccessful another attempt may be made after 1 turn too.

Also agree that each group of undead should be treated separately, so a new group of undead will allow a new Turn Undead action.

Your question, what happens when turned undead are attacked? I would choose that only those attacked would be able to defend themselves, I would that is advantage enough or so they would suffer no further penalty. As a slightly unrelated note, turned undead will for XP purposes be treated as defeated, so whether attacking them is worthwhile will depend on the circumstances.

Just as an example of the strange comparisons of Clerics with other classes.

A Cleric requires 50,000 XP to cast 5th level spell a Magic-User needs 300,000 XP for a 5th level spell.

You don't have to sell me, clerics are my favorite class. That said, I will be happier once I get some coin, and can buy some decent gear.

Well the party have a few more hours of adventuring ahead, if they are lucky they will bring back some treasure, alas all they have so far is a dead companion and a few XP.

Well, it can all get a little fiddly, can't it? And if we posit that a turned skeleton will defend itself once attacked, it will get even fiddlier as we focus our fire on one at a time.

One turn attempt per group per cleric: OK.

Executed during the Magic phase: OK.

Duration: 1 turn. How about d6 turns?

For the sake of expediency: Turned undead will do nothing but attempt to flee from the cleric. They have lost their compulsion to hate and destroy the living.

I looked over the DMG which seemed to want to run a little necromancy mini-game with turning.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:05, Sun 17 Jan 2021.

In reply to Ben (msg # 162):

Oh I don't like that at all. What if there is more than one cleric per group? Only one gets to try and turn? I rather like the version we have already discussed, seems fair without being overly powerful.

Added "per cleric" for clarity.

Happy to set duration of Turn Undead to d6, a bit of randomness makes it feel a bit more natural and less of a clock watching strategy. This rule will also apply to how soon the Cleric may attempt to retry a Turn Undead on the same group of undead.

In answer to the other points regarding attacking turned undead. Your points are valid in the current situation but situations vary. In the current scenario to pick off the trapped undead off one at a time with ranged weapons is a solid strategy. Faster undead, those with special powers or those turned in a place where they can not be so easily trapped and shot would probably need a different strategy to overcome them.

Additional note is amongst the party you only actually have 2 slings. So picking off the skeletons with ranged weapons will perhaps not be as easy or as quick as you have assumed. However make you plan and post it IC and I will adjudicate the outcome, how long it takes and if any rolls are required.

I didn't mean missile weapons, myself, is that how people too it? I was hoping people with melee weapons would separate one from the pack and bash it to death.

It was the statement above the words focus our fire which suggested to me using ranged weapons to finish them off.

If you wish to go in with weapons to hack and slash the skeletons to death I would reckon on only three characters being able to get close enough to attack and the undead would be able to defend themselves. Turn Undead only makes them flee, in effect holding them at bay, it does not make them defenceless.

I know, but if we do it right, we only have to face one at a time.

Yes you can definitely use that tactic.

How shall we adjudicate this, then? How many ranged attacks per skeleton? How many ranged attacks can we even muster? Ben has two extra daggers.