There are some good ideas here. You may also want to consider the following: character is wearing chainmail (AC5), and he gets hit with a long sword which does 7 hps of damage. You could have the armor bonus convert into subdual damage so the character would take 5 hps of subdual damage and 2...
Our group had a brief discussion on this topic during our last session. It will probably be a few weeks before we actually try it, however. One thought was that it be a cone effect in the direction that the cleric presents his holy symbol rather than a burst. There will be details posted here...
Both options here are good ideas. Since I perfer characters to make attack rolls I would make it a "Turning attack" at 1/2 cleric level + CHR modifier + misc. and give each undead "Turning Class" (something like 11 + HD + WIS mod (CHR Mod) + turn resistance. In any case I believe I will try some...
I solved the problem by getting rid of all the short races. I never much liked "comedy relief" in my fantasy anyway. Many an old fantasy cartoon was ruined by some small, silly character.
This probably is not the reply anyone is looking for, but just create a new spell that will allow the caster to ride it. I would probably recommend it be one level higher unless it is restricted to just the caster riding it and removing the ability to carry other items independently.
If you care, when TSR sent their pronounciation list out several years ago it was Tree - ent. I hear ki rin, chimera, drow, and lich butchered all the time as well. Call them what you will. If you are DM then everyone can pronounce them your way.