Hello forum. Here’s a thing I’m working on (unplaytested as yet). . . essentially this is about something akin to old fashioned-esque turning undead but in a (more) modern framework, that’s the intent anyway, and so if you think turning’s dopey (which I get but it’s not me), you might want to move on.
“Turning” to the collective wis here to see if you care to have a look and what thoughts you might have. Any help appreciated!
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Cleric Archetype: Undead Scourge
Vile undead creatures are a constant threat, especially in certain haunted lands where unholy powers hold sway. An undead scourge dedicates herself to rooting out and battling these abhorrent supernatural fiends, by strength of faith and arms, and to protecting the innocent from these dread necromantic terrors wherever they arise.
An undead scourge must be of good alignment or neutral but worship a good deity.
An undead scourge chooses only one domain.
An undead scourge gains Heavy Armor Proficiency as a bonus feat at first level.
Holy Presence (Su). The mere presence of an undead scourge is an abomination to the undead.
By taking only the briefest moment to focus her energies, an undead scourge can direct the force of her faith against the undead. Activating her holy presence ability is a free action. One or more undead creatures within 30 feet of the undead scourge may be affected. If all undead within 30 feet have 8 or more Hit Dice, then only one creature may be affected (the one closest to the undead scourge - determine randomly if more than one are equally distant). If there are multiple creatures within 30 feet and at least some have less than 8 Hit Dice, then those with the fewest Hit Dice are subject to the holy presence first, starting with the creature closest to the undead scourge. Up to a total of 8 Hit Dice of creatures may be affected, or less than 8 Hit Dice but as many as possible.
If the undead scourge’s strength of faith overcomes an undead being’s necromantic force then the creature succumbs to a fear-like effect. For each creature who may be affected, roll 1d20 + the undead scourge’s cleric level against DC 11 + undead creature’s Hit Dice. If the check succeeds and the undead creature has more Hit Dice than the undead scourge’s cleric level then it acts as if shaken (-2 to attack rolls, saves, etc.). If the creature’s Hit Dice are the same or less than the cleric level, then it acts as if frightened (tries to flee, may defend itself if cornered, -2 to attack rolls, saves, etc.). There are no automatic failures or successes on this check and thus, depending on her level, some undead may be either impossible to affect or automatically affected.
The duration of the fear-like effects caused by an undead scourge’s holy presence is 2d6 rounds. Upon attaining fifth level this increases to 5d6 rounds. At thirteenth level and up it is 8d6 rounds.
A creature that successfully resists an undead scourge’s holy presence is immune to that same cleric’s holy presence for 24 hours. In addition, whenever an undead scourge attempts and fails to affect a creature with her holy presence, a trace of uncertainty unsteadies her briefly. She cannot invoke her holy presence until recouping the vigor of her faith. To do this, she needs to make a will save with a DC of 15 + twice the undead’s Hit Dice, which can be attempted once each round. On the round after successfully making the save, the undead scourge can use her holy presence again. Note that once a melee has concluded, the GM may simply rule that she recovers the holy presence ability after a couple of minutes without going through the tedium of saving throws every round, as one would eventually be made in any case (similar to taking 20).
Holy presence replaces a cleric’s ability to channel energy.
Heightened Presence (Su). Upon reaching ninth level, the force of an undead scourge’s holy presence intensifies. Any affected creature whose number of Hit Dice is at most the undead scourge’s cleric level – 5 acts as if panicked (runs away randomly, cowers if cornered) instead of just frightened.
Obliterating Presence (Su). At sixteenth level and higher, if an affected undead being’s Hit Dice is at most the undead scourge’s cleric level – 13 then the undead scourge can choose to utterly destroy the creature instead of inducing the panicked-like effect.
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PF turning is ok but I want to have a different sort of option along these lines. Not necessarily better just different, not to replace but to have another option. Goals: turning (i) is not a feat, (ii) doesn’t come from a pool of dailies, especially same pool as a healing option, (iii) depends only cleric’s level and creature’s HD, and (iv) does not involve the cleric presenting a holy symbol or doing much of anything at all, it’s just essentially her presence.
Pax.
The main problem with Holy Presense is the 8 HD bit. If I am a 17th level cleric facing nine 1 HD skeletons, one of them isn't affected. The 8 HD line seems arbitrary. It would be better if the HD limit scaled and was based off of the cleric's level (and possibly Charisma). You could try something like "he cannot affect undead with more hit dice than his cleric level +3. Undead with fewer hit dice than his level -3 do not receive a saving throw". Its simple and possible clumsy, but better than the set-in-stone 8 HD.
The main problem with Holy Presense is the 8 HD bit. If I am a 17th level cleric facing nine 1 HD skeletons, one of them isn't affected. The 8 HD line seems arbitrary. It would be better if the HD limit scaled and was based off of the cleric's level (and possibly Charisma). You could try something like "he cannot affect undead with more hit dice than his cleric level +3. Undead with fewer hit dice than his level -3 do not receive a saving throw". Its simple and possible clumsy, but better than the set-in-stone 8 HD.
This is a very good thought and suggestion! Thanks much.
“Version 2” - thanks again to Ciaran Barnes! I’ve made a change in light of that comment, other changes too. Ciaran Barnes is right, arbitrary 8 HD set-in-stone wasn’t the way to go.
Current incarnation (v.2) . . .
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UNDEAD SCOURGE (Cleric Archetype)
Vile undead creatures are a constant threat, especially in certain haunted lands where unholy powers hold sway. An undead scourge dedicates herself to rooting out and battling these abhorrent supernatural fiends, by strength of faith and arms, and to protecting the innocent from these dread necromantic terrors wherever they arise.
An undead scourge must be of good alignment or neutral but worship a good deity.
An undead scourge chooses only one domain.
An undead scourge gains Heavy Armor Proficiency as a bonus feat at first level.
Holy Presence (Su). Essentially the very presence of an undead scourge is an abomination to the undead. If her strength of faith overcomes an undead being’s necromantic force then the creature succumbs to a fear-like effect (shaken, frightened, or panicked).
By taking only the briefest moment to focus her energies, an undead scourge can direct the force of her faith against the undead. Activating her holy presence is a free action. Holy presence may affect undead within 30 feet of the undead scourge. Up to cleric level + Charisma modifier Hit Dice of undead are subject to it (minimum one creature), starting with the undead closest to the undead scourge. If two or more are equally distant, determine randomly. If an undead within 30 feet is already under the influence of an undead scourge’s holy presence (hence acting as if shaken, frightened, or panicked and moving away in the last two cases), it is not subject to her holy presence again until the duration expires.
For each undead that is subject to an undead scourge’s holy presence, roll 1d20 + cleric level against DC 11 + undead’ s Hit Dice. If the check succeeds and the creature has more Hit Dice than the undead scourge’s cleric level, it acts as if shaken (-2 to attack rolls, saves, etc.). If the creature’s Hit Dice are the same or less than the cleric level, then it acts as if frightened (tries to flee, may defend itself if cornered, -2 to attack rolls, saves, etc.). There are no automatic failures or successes on this check and thus, depending on her level, some undead may be affected automatically or impossible to affect. (In particular, although a minimum of one creature is subject to the effect - see above - if has 10 or more Hit Dice than the cleric’s level, it is immune).
The duration of any fear-like effect caused by an undead scourge’s holy presence is five rounds. Upon attaining fifth level, this increases to ten rounds. At thirteenth level and up it is twenty rounds.
Whenever an undead scourge attempts and fails to affect a creature with her holy presence, that creature is immune to that same cleric’s holy presence for 24 hours. If any more undead were subject to her holy presence during the round in which she failed, they are not affected. Moreover, a trace of uncertainty unsteadies her briefly and she cannot invoke her holy presence again until recouping the vigor of her faith. To do this, she needs to make a will save with a DC of 10 + twice the undead’s Hit Dice, which can be attempted once each round (starting the round after failing to affect an undead). Once making the save successfully, in the subsequent round she can invoke her holy presence again. Note that once a melee has concluded, the GM may simply rule that she recovers the holy presence ability after a couple of minutes without going through the tedium of saving throws every round, as one would eventually be made in any case (similar to taking 20).
Groups of undead with mixed Hit Dice. When there are groups of different types of undead, with different numbers of Hit Dice, those with the fewest Hit Dice are first subject to an undead scourge’s holy presence, starting with the one closest to the undead scourge. Then those with the next highest Hit Dice, again starting closest to the cleric, and so forth, up to cleric level + Charisma modifier Hit Dice of undead, or as many as possible but not more than that.
Multiple holy presences. If an undead is already suffering a fear-like condition from an undead scourge’s holy presence, it is only subject to a second undead scourge’s holy presence if succumbing would result in a worse fear-like condition.
Holy presence replaces a cleric’s ability to channel energy.
Heightened Presence (Su). Upon reaching ninth level, the force of an undead scourge’s holy presence intensifies. Any affected creature whose number of Hit Dice is at most the undead scourge’s cleric level – 5 acts as if panicked (runs away randomly, cowers if cornered) instead of just frightened.
Obliterating Presence (Su). At sixteenth level and higher, if an affected undead being’s Hit Dice is at most the undead scourge’s cleric level – 13 then the undead scourge can choose to utterly destroy the creature instead of inducing the panicked-like effect.
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Level + cha mod HD may seem small but (i) you can keep trying, round-to-round, until you fail (not a daily thing), and (ii) it's a free action, and (iii) a minimum of one creature is affected (except if HD is your level + 10 or more its immune). Undead with HD at most your level - 10 are automatically affected. Thus there are limits, like the +/- 3 that Ciaran Barnes mentions, although the thresholds, +/- 10, are much wider.