I don't like the latest Turn Undead

[gregpogor]

I liked the one from the red box. I liked how it could be used as a tool to repulse them and as a way to control them. From what I gathered, the original turn undead move from Apocalypse D&D was based on going aggro. How about something like

Turn Undead (Wis)
When you hold forth your holy symbol facing mindless undeads and give them a direct order, roll +Wis. On a 10+ the undead horde choose:
• they do what they're told
• you inflict your damage die + your level, spread however you like
On a 7-9 they can also choose:
• they let you pass wherever you want to go
• they slowly get the hell out of here
• they freeze and stand there until someone does something to them

Which issues would you have with this one?

[noofy]

Hey Greg, I think your move works nicely for when you command the undead horde (as a complement to turning them). Maybe as an advanced move check box from levels 2-5?

I'm confused however as to the 7-9 and 10+ results...
Should they be reversed? It seems like the 'also' should go along with a 10+?

I would put in a 'negative' on the 7-9 list too, for instance:
Command the Undead Horde (Wis)
When you hold forth your holy symbol facing mindless undeads and give them a direct order, roll +Wis.
On a 7-9 choose 1 on a 10+ all 3:
• they do what they're told
• you inflict your damage die + your level, spread however you like
• you keep them at bay

[skinnyghost]

We wanted to tune the Turn Undead move a little more towards being a defensive anti-zomboid bubble.  The way we'd imagined it in the fiction was a maintained move to allow the Cleric to provide a sort of cover-fire or suppression against the undead.  Forcing mindless undead to just explode or flee in terror just wasn't doing it for anyone in our playtests. 

[sage]

Yup, Adam beat me to it. We wanted something that showed a special relationship between the undead and the divine power of the cleric.

Speaking of which, I played a Cleric in an undead-heavy dungeon last night, and it worked great! Turn Undead was actually a decisive factor in one battle as it less us corner two wraiths so the fighter could get a good shot at them. And it saved the Bard's life! (Okay, maybe saved is a bit strong, but I totally get credit for the assist.)

[gregpogor]

Thanks for your feedbacks! Sage, based on the same idea, your wordings look much better, but notice that like Go Aggro, my move let the undeads (the GM) decide. Not sure if that's that important.

Our cleric didn't see that much undead action during our first game, maybe with time I'll learn to appreciate the current Turn Undead.

[John Harper]

I like the current move, but Turn Undead is a good candidate for a custom move since it touches on your game's unique cosmology (like Last Breath does). So if it's not quite right for the undead/cleric relationship you have in your setting, tweak away. :)

[skinnyghost]

I like the current move, but Turn Undead is a good candidate for a custom move since it touches on your game's unique cosmology (like Last Breath does). So if it's not quite right for the undead/cleric relationship you have in your setting, tweak away. :)

Absolutely right, John.  There's room for Turn Undead to be more controlling, exploding or less powerful as the case may be.  The moves, in a lot of ways (especially the magical-type-moves) say things about the world.  Especially the first condition of "in our cosmology, is this a case of 'to do it, do it' or not?"