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Old 11-18-2018, 09:13 AM   #1
afschell
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Southeastern PA
Default Turning Undead

As I have not found any RAW on undead turning, here's what I am proposing for my campaign:

Turning works as the Avert spell (p. 18), with the associated ST cost but the spell is not needed.

Priest (p. 38) or Theologian (p. 44) talent is required.

Turner can take either the Disbelieve or Cast Spell action (i.e. only move/shift one 1 hex).

Roll 3/IQ. Success: turns undead equal to the Margin of Success with rolling his/her IQ exactly turning 1 undead; turner’s choice. Theologians double the number turned.

A roll 3 or 4: triple or double the number turned. Critical failure: all undead focus their attacks on the turner.

Affects all undead in the caster’s surrounding megahexes. Theologian doubles the Area of Effect.

Only undead with any IQ at all gets a chance to save: 3/IQ to resist a priest's or 4/IQ a theologian's turning. Critical failure: the undead disintegrates.

As always, thoughts?
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Old 11-18-2018, 10:56 AM   #2
Barliman
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

Looks good to me, though I can see making tougher Undead a 4/IQ or even 5/IQ roll to turn.
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Old 11-18-2018, 11:10 AM   #3
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Default Re: Turning Undead

I'm not a fan of the dependency on the Priest and Theologian talents (those strike me more as knowledge of the 'business of religion' rather than true faith), but I do like the simple mechanic.

I've been struggling with this challenge myself TBH since I want to include elements of divine magic, channeling, positive vs. negative energies, etc.in my campaign, but I don't really want to add a new ruleset to support it.
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Old 11-18-2018, 11:23 AM   #4
hcobb
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

Just carry Amulets Against Living Creatures: Zombies.
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Old 11-18-2018, 11:23 AM   #5
afschell
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

Thanks.

Quote:
Originally Posted by TippetsTX View Post
I'm not a fan of the dependency on the Priest and Theologian talents (those strike me more as knowledge of the 'business of religion' rather than true faith) ...
I agree with your "business of religion" concept. But, given the type of campaign I am running and the knowing my players, I want to give them some reason to choose Priest or Theologian. And I also agree with not wanting to add a new ruleset. If there is anything like GURPS' "True Faith" or DFRPG's "Turning" in TFT, I've missed it.

Having some type of healing magic based on Priest/Theologian has also crossed my mind. Just not quite clear on those mechanics.
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Old 11-18-2018, 07:48 PM   #6
platimus
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

As the good book (ITL) says, making religions too effective will encourage large swaths of the adventurer population to take the Priest or Theologian talents. (ITL p.38 & 62)

Creating a Turn Undead and a Megahex Turn Undead (modeled after Sleep) spell seems like the best approach to me. Turn would simply make the undead non-hostile unless attacked. A Release Undead and Megahex version could also be fashioned that un-animates the undead.

The advantage to these being spells is that they will be costly enough for Heroes to discourage the widespread knowledge/use when compared with Talents. There's also an ST cost each time you use them. You could also imbue these spells into magic items.

I would, however, allow the Priest or Theologian talents to provide some sort of benefit/bonus to the spells.

So, off-the-cuff...

(IQ11) Turn Undead (T): Renders one undead figure with ST less than 20 non-hostile until it is attacked. Cost: 4 ST.
(IQ14) Megahex Turn Undead (T): A Turn Undead spell which affects every figure with ST less than 20 (except the caster himself) in a single megahex, or any single figure with ST of 50 or less. Otherwise, just like Turn Undead, above. Costs 8 ST.

(IQ15) Release Undead (T): Unanimates one undead figure with ST less than 20. Cost: ST of the undead being released.
(IQ18) Megahex Release Undead (T): A Release Undead spell which affects every figure with ST less than 20 (except the caster himself) in a single megahex, or any single figure with ST of 50 or less. Otherwise, just like Release Undead, above. Costs : ST of the undead being released.

Priest and Theologian talents each grant a bonus of +1 DX to casting these spells. They also lower the IQ requirement of these spells by 1 point. Either talent will halve the ST costs.

A member of a religion or religious order may learn spells from their order/religion without fear of punitive consequences. Let's say you have a Hero that is a devout follower of a religion (i.e. considered a cleric or paladin). He can go to his order (which functions like the Wizard's Guild for wizards) and they will teach him a spell that they approve, provided he meets the requirements (and they may impose requirements beyond the IQ requirements). If this Hero finds a scroll or spellbook, he _could_ learn the spell from it (provided he meets IQ and XP requirements) but he risks the wrath of his order. The correct procedure prescribed by his order is that he takes the scroll or spellbook to the order. They will then study it and reject or approve some or all of the spells therein. If any of the spells are approved by the order, they may reward the Hero by teaching him one of those spells (again, provided he meets their requirements). The order would prescribe the same procedures for both character classes (Heroes or Wizards). Wizards simply pay less XP to learn the spells.
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Last edited by platimus; 11-18-2018 at 09:05 PM.
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Old 11-18-2018, 08:07 PM   #7
hcobb
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

1: Cast Avert on the zombie
2: Throw your mace at the zombie as it runs away
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Old 11-18-2018, 08:13 PM   #8
platimus
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

Quote:
Originally Posted by hcobb View Post
1: Cast Avert on the zombie
2: Throw your mace at the zombie as it runs away
Why is the zombie running away?
(Oh, wait. I see a joke coming...Answer: To get to The Other Side. LOL)
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Last edited by platimus; 11-18-2018 at 08:37 PM.
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Old 11-20-2018, 08:50 AM   #9
larsdangly
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

I think all quasi-magical powers should be modeled as spells in TFT (unless there is some compelling reason to do it otherwise), as this way you can plug the effect you want to achieve into a fully developed and play tested set of mechanics instead of making up a new set of sub-rules that run along side the standard ones.

In this case, I'd say good solutions are Avert to force them away and some sort of dissolve-enchantment effect to kill them. In principle, I don't see why Remove Thrown Spell wouldn't kill a zombie. It removes any thrown spell, and clearly without a thrown spell running zombies are just piles of bones and goop. Alternatively, you could make up a new spell specific to undead but having similar effects (presumably requiring lower IQ or ST cost because of its limited scope of use)

More generally, I think the best way to model priests is as Hero character types with one or more (but usually not much more) spells.

Last edited by larsdangly; 11-20-2018 at 08:55 AM.
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Old 11-20-2018, 09:17 AM   #10
hcobb
 
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Default Re: Turning Undead

Amulet vs Evil

http://www.hcobb.com/tft/new_spells.html#Magic
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Last edited by hcobb; 11-20-2018 at 09:36 AM.
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