Rhenny
Adventurer
Turn Undead is a wonderful role-playing opportunity demoted to a magical attack. I like magical attacks but we already have those. Any little clichéed scene that can function as an easy role-playing excercise must be preserved. Who wouldn't rather make a Anthony Hopkins impression than roll on a chart (for this too).
I like how the current spell version promotes roleplaying. (The ability to hold the spell for multiple rounds is a winner). The cleric in our last playtest was able to thrust his holy symbol toward 4 skeletons, utter a prayer to his god, and 2 of the 4 skeletons turned back from the party. The 2 unaffected ones, came forward to attempt to skewer the Cleric. Two of the party intercepted one of the skeletons and dropped it to the ground, but the remaining skeleton struck the Cleric. The cleric stood resolutely took the hit, and then maintained the spell for another round. (The player was really into this. He even stood up and held his imaginary holy symbol out before him...saying, "back...back...unnatural creatures of death and decay." He battled the pain of his wounds to keep the others in the party safe, and eventually they prevailed.