Turning/Rebuking - can you avoid affecting allies?

[Quasqueton]

Situation:

Cleric has a vampire ally with him. (Allied by choice, not by command.) They encounter some enemy undead. The cleric wants to turn/rebuke the enemy. Can the cleric choose to have his positive/negative energy channeling not affect his ally?

Cleric has some zombies that he animated with an animate dead spell with him. They encounter some enemy undead. The cleric wants to turn/rebuke the enemy. Can the cleric choose to have his positive/negative energy channeling not affect his zombies?

Cleric has some zombies that his necromancer ally animated with an animate dead spell with him. They encounter some enemy undead. The cleric wants to turn/rebuke the enemy. Can the cleric choose to have his positive/negative energy channeling not affect the friendly zombies?

Quasqueton

 

[Krelios]

1. No.
2. Yes (so long as you've turned them to your command).
3. Yes (so long as you've turned them to your command).

From the SRD...
"You turn the closest turnable undead first, and you can’t turn undead that are more than 60 feet away or that have total cover relative to you. You don’t need line of sight to a target, but you do need line of effect."
"You may skip over already turned undead that are still within range, so that you do not waste your turning capacity on them."

Give your allied undead that you have not already commanded tower shields and tell them to take total cover with them for a round while you turn the enemies (or have them stay 65' away)--it's your best bet.

 

[Quasqueton]

...

 

[Krelios]

...

That's a reply? Is something unclear or do you disagree? I'm not sure what the "..." is supposed to mean.

 

[Quasqueton]

Sorry, 'bout that. After I responded to you, I noticed you had edited your answer to pre-address my response (even changing your 3 "No"s to 1 "No".). So I just deleted my response. I didn't get around to requesting a mod to delete my post.

Thanks for your response, but I was hoping for more discussion. I'm probably going to have a situation like above in my game next session. But perhaps the issue is so cut and dried as to not need discussion. The answer seems to be that clerics and necromancers can't really be good friends in battle. The cleric either can't use his turn/rebuke, or he constantly grabs the necromancer's zombies away from his control.

Quasqueton

 

[Hypersmurf]

But perhaps the issue is so cut and dried as to not need discussion.

That's pretty much it.

It's like casting a Sleep spell, not like casting Mass Inflict Light Wounds. One is an Area defined in terms of creatures, the other is a spell with multiple targets. You can't make your Sleep spell 'skip over' allies, like you can with Mass Inflict Light Wounds.

-Hyp.

 

[frankthedm]

If you have turn undead in a world of moral absoloutes like a typical D&D world, then you have little reason to have undead on your side.

If you channel negative and you try to rebuke undead, then yes, you and your Necrofriend will be at odds. As evil characters,or those who use evil poweres, should be.

 

[Rystil Arden]

As evil characters,or those who use evil poweres, should be.

I disagree. Evil characters can work together just as easily as good ones can be at odds with each other.

As for the undead question, I agree with the previous answer.

 

[Quasqueton]

If you have turn undead in a world of moral absoloutes like a typical D&D world, then you have little reason to have undead on your side.

If you channel negative and you try to rebuke undead, then yes, you and your Necrofriend will be at odds. As evil characters,or those who use evil poweres, should be.

Mine is a typical (by the book) D&D world. But the PCs are a bunch of Neutrals and some Evil allies. The Neutral cleric turns instead of rebukes. The party necromancer just reached 7th level, and so will have access to animate dead, and he has a magic item that allows her to rebuke undead as a cleric of her wizard level. Plus they have had an intelligent undead character "forced" on them as a bodyguard for the necromancer (somewhat to the necromancer's dismay). Plus the necromancer is pregnant with an undead baby (*much* to the necromancer's dismay).

So, you see, turning/rebuking could be complicated.

Quasqueton