Neutral cleric of an evil diety?

[0-hr]

I have a new character coming into the campaign who will be a neutral cleric of a neutral evil diety. My question is whether she can turn (rather than rebuke) undead. The PHB contradicts itself and I was wondering if there was any clarification on the matter.

PHB pg32

Evil clerics (and neutral clerics who worship evil deities) can rebuke undead.

PHB pg140

A neutral cleric (one who is neither good nor evil) can either turn undead but not rebuke them, or rebuke undead but not turn them. When you create a neutral cleric, decide which effect he has on undead.

So pg32 says No and pg140 says Yes.

 

[Shayuri]

It's not really a contradiction. Bear in mind that a neutral cleric can worship an evil god, a neutral one, or a good one.

Of those, the PHB specifies that a neutral cleric of an evil god (a subset of the 'neutral cleric' category) can only rebuke undead, not turn them.

Neutral clerics of neutral or good gods would have a choice, since it's not otherwise specified.

That's how I read it anyway.

I don't think it'd make a lot of difference though, balance-wise, if they all got to pick.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Note that neutral clerics of evil deities are fairly tightly bound to evil - a Lawful Neutral Clr-5 of an evil deity will show up more than a Lawful Evil Ftr-20, on a Detect Evil spell.

Bearing that in mind, I have no problem with a Neutral cleric of an Evil deity being restricted to rebuking and inflicting.

By the same logic, I'd restrict a Neutral cleric of an Good deity to turning and curing.

... unless something in the description of the deity suggested otherwise.

-Hyp.

 

[Li Shenron]

I have a new character coming into the campaign who will be a neutral cleric of a neutral evil diety. My question is whether she can turn (rather than rebuke) undead.

Well, I agree with the other posters, that if his deity is Evil, he Rebukes undead rather than turning. After all, he is indeed forbidden to cast Good spells (divine spellcasters can't cast spells with an alignment opposed to theirs or their deity's), which doesn't imply much but it's another bound to Evil. You can also consider it from a RP point of view.

BTW, did you notice that currently you can't be a TN Cleric of a NE deity? A NE deity can have LE, NE or CE Clerics only ("a Cleric cannot be Neutral unless his deity is Neutral"). You can of course rule out it's not so important in your campaign and let your player play what he likes .