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Table 1
Old and New Ratings of Undead Turning

Undead	Old	New
Skeleton	I	I
Zombie	I	I
Ghoul	III	III
Shadow	V	V
Wight	VI	VI
Huecuva	III	III
Ghast	IV	IV
Monster zombie	III	III
Wraith	VI	VI
Coffer corpse	II	II
Penanggalan	V	V
Mummy	VII	VII
Son of Kyuss	IV	IV
Paladin (L 1-2)	-	VII
Spectre	VII	VII
Apparition	VI	VI
Juju zombie	III	III
Paladin (L 3-4)	-	VII
Vampire	VIII	VIII
Vampire (cleric)	IX	IX
Vampire (magic-user)	X	X
Paladin (L 5-6)	-	VII
Ghost	VIII	VIII
Paladin (L 7-8)	-	X
Lich	X	X
Paladin (L 9-10)	-	Special
Special	-	Special
Paladin (L 11+)	-	-

Table 2
Matrix for Clerics Affecting Undead*                                        Level of cleric

Level of Undead	1-2	3	4-5	6	7-8	9	10-11	12	13-14	15	16-17	18	19+
I	9	4	T	T	D	D	D*	D*	D*	D*	D*	D*	D*
II	14	9	4	T	T	D	D	D*	D*	D*	D*	D*	D*
III	19	14	9	4	T	T	D	D	D*	D*	D*	D*	D*
IV	20	19	14	9	4	T	T	D	D	D*	D*	D*	D*
V	-	20	19	14	9	4	T	T	D	D	D*	D*	D*
VI	-	-	20	19	14	9	4	T	T	D	D	D*	D*
VII	-	-	-	20	19	14	9	4	T	T	D	D	D*
VIII	-	-	-	-	20	19	14	9	4	T	T	D	D
IX	-	-	-	-	-	20	19	14	9	4	T	T	D
X	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	19	14	9	4	T	T
Special	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	19	14	9	4	T

* Paladins turn undead (et al.) as a cleric two levels below their level.

Table 3
When Creatures are Affected

Undead	Level	Old T#	Old T	Old D	New T#	New T	New D
Apparition	VI	5	14	-	4	12	15
Coffer corpse	I	3	9	14	1	6	9
Ghast	IV	2	8	14	1	9	12
Ghost	VIII	7	-	-	7	15	18
Ghoul	III	1	5	7	1	7	10
Huecuva	III	1	7	9	1	7	10
Juju zombie	III	5	14	-	1	7	10
Lich	X	8	-	-	10	18	-
Monster zombie	III	2	8	14	1	7	10
Mummy	VII	4	14	-	6	13	16
Paladin (L 1-2)	VII*	4	14	-	6	13	16
Paladin (L 3-4)	VIII*	5	14	-	7	15	18
Paladin (L 5-6)	IX*	6	-	-	9	16	19
Paladin (L 7-8)	X*	7	-	-	10	18	-
Paladin (L 9-10)	Special*	8	-	-	12	19	-
Paladin (L 11+)	-	8	-	-	-	-	-
Penanggalan	V	3	9	14	3	10	13
Shadow	V	1	6	8	3	10	13
Skeleton	I	1	4	6	1	4	7
Son of Kyuss	IV	4	14	-	1	9	12
Special	Special*	8	-	-	12	19	-
Spectre	VII	4	14	-	6	13	16
Vampire	VIII	6	-	-	7	15	18
Vampire (cleric)	IX	6	-	-	9	16	19
Vampire (magic-user)	X	6	-	-	10	18	-
Wight	VI	1	7	9	4	12	15
Wraith	VI	3	9	14	4	12	15
Zombie	I	1	4	6	1	4	7

When the Dungeon Masters Guide was
first published in 1979, its table entitled
"Matrix for Clerics Affecting Undead" was
comprehensive in its coverage of all
known undead creatures and showed how
they were affected by clerics of various
levels. However, in the seven years that
have passed since the DMG's first printing,
the AD&D® game has advanced considerably.
The table, however, has not.

Three major deficiencies exist in the
table.

First, undead of similiar strength or
power are not turned in the same manner.
Levels did not appear in the AD&D game
until the publication of the FIEND FOLIO
tome. With its publication, the existing
table listing only the original Monster
Manual creatures is no longer realistic (see
Table 1). Why should a zombie be more
difficult to turn than a skeleton, both of
which are Level I creatures? Why is a
ghast (Level IV) more difficult to turn than
a wight (Level VI)? When you compound
this with the haphazard way in which the
undead types have been added, utter
chaos exists (as if these undead were not
chaotic enough). For instance, a Level II
coffer corpse is as hard to turn as a Level
VI wraith, while a Level III juju zombie is
only slightly less difficult to turn than a
Level X magic-user vampire.

Second, characters are acquiring higher
levels in today's games. The existing table
halts progression of the clerical undead turning
ability at 14th level. Len Lakofka's
article in DRAGON® Magazine #80 unified
the DMG's attack matrices and extended
them to clerics of 19th level. As turning
undead is an attack (and at upper levels, a
very deadly one), a cleric?s ability to turn
should also progress up to the same level
as that of standard fighting ability.

Finally, the existing table?s treatment of a
cleric?s ability to affect paladins is inconsistent
with its treatment of creatures that
falls under the category ?Special.? Classified
under that category are ?evil creatures
from the lower planes . . . from 1-2
in number. (As a rule of thumb, any creature
with . . . 11 or more hit dice . . . will
be unaffected.)? Thus, it is inconsistent to
allow paladins of higher than 11th level to
be affected by clerics, while creatures of
the Lower planes with 11 HD are unaffected.
Also, the table allows an 8th-level cleric
(or a 10th-level paladin) to turn a 20thlevel
paladin.

Knowing the shortcomings of the current
matrix, the obvious solution is to
devise a new matrix. This new matrix,
shown in Table 2, allows for progression
of clerical undead turning to continue up
through 19th level (identical in the level
groupings and upper limits to that in Len Lakofka's
article), along with 11 groups of
undead (one for each of Level I to X and
Special). Progression in the table is in 25%
increments in increasing from one clerical
level grouping to the next, as well as in the
difficulty in turning successively higher
levels of undead. As was done on the
original matrix, a slight chance (1 in 20) is
given for each level group in turning a
higher-level creature. For example, a 1stlevel
cleric has a 1-in-20 chance of turning
a Level IV undead (such as a ghast). Table
1 also shows the new grouping of undead,
including paladins as derived from Table 2.

Table 3 contrasts the old and new matrices.
Arranged in alphabetical order, this
table shows three differences for both the
original DMG matrix and the new matrix:
the level at which it is first possible to turn
a creature given a roll of the dice (T#); the
level at which a turn is automatic; and the
level at which the creature is automatically
destroyed (D). Several things are
apparent from this table. First, paladins of
greater than 11th level are no longer
affected by clerics, making their treatment
consistent with that of creatures of the
Lower planes. Second, with the exception
of liches, vampires (magic-users), ?Special?
characters, and level 7-10 paladins, it is
possible for high-level clerics to instantly
destroy any type of undead.

DECEMBER 1988