D&D General Which edition did Turn Undead the best?

[mr_monkius]

Years ago I converted a GURPS campaign to Arcana Evolved, a 3.5 variant by Monte Cook. What I did was give clerics access to some force spells (sorcerous blast, wall of force) and said that they did holy damage (radiant today). However, they only worked against undead, demons, and such.

The direct damage was simpler and access to some of the other spells allowed for walls of force keeping undead out.

 

[I'm A Banana]

5e. Every version before 4e is way too fiddly. The 3e version was the best iteration of the "turning damage" roll, and even that was very fiddly. The 4e version just misses the point of why turning undead is a fun alternative to attacking or casting a spell. Another "damage + condition" result. The 5e version is playable, and does something interesting. It also benefits from being part of Channel Divinity, which allows you to use your Turn Undead for other uses, much like late 3e was doing.

 

[AlexofBarbaria]

I prefer the D20/Pathfinder version. The rules are simpler and easy to understand. No fiddly tables.

Ah, thanks for reminding me to take a look at Pathfinder.

It seems PF1 simplified Turn Undead into a single-step saving throw 5 years before 5e did.

Turn Undead – d20PFSRD

www.d20pfsrd.com

Turn Undead – PF2 SRD

 

[Stormonu]

If 5E gave Clerics 3 turn attempts at start, it would be right where I want it.

The older editions always annoyed me that you basically had infinite attempts (at least, until you failed - but if you had a T or D there was no chance to fail. And you could always start over with the next group).