Turn Resistance

[Valo56]

Something I've noticed as I'm playing my Lathanderite Cleric, who is built for turning the dead, is that he can't actually turn the dead. He can beat the unliving shit out of outsiders without much difficulty, but when it comes to actually turning undead, it's near impossible. The Turn Resistance on many of these guys seems very, very high.. Perhaps due to their Spell Resistance?

Going through the math... I'm level 7, I have a 17 CHA unbuffed, easily brought up to 20 (+5) with splendor. I also have the Sun domain. I can turn up to 11 hd creatures, and up to 30hd of creatures. Earlier today I tried to turn a group of basic Nightrisers, not even Nightriser Warriors, just "Nightriser," and only one of them fled when I rolled max, it took three turns to get them all to run. Shambling Corpses (yes, the basic, otherwise wimpy undead summoned by Animate Dead) are similarly very difficult to turn, as are all of H'bala's undead. I even rolled max, which would put me being able to turn an 11hd creature, and couldn't turn a single Nightriser Warlock.

I understand that these are supposed to be feared, powerful undead. But it's my opinion that the weaker ones, like Fleshlings and Nightrisers/Nightriser Warriors, should be able to be turned, and even destroyed, by focused turning clerics (like me, who was built almost entirely for turning at the expense of spellcasting ability). Stronger ones, like Warlocks, should never be outright destroyed, but probably at least feared on a particularly high roll, while heroes and elite ones like Nightriser Commanders should be entirely immune.

[xXCrystal_Rose]

Some undead have very high hit dice, but it also just comes down to if the roll was crap or not. You might be having a bad stroke of luck. Undead are admittedly very high level here, so turning can't be relied upon as a main offensive weapon, but it's a nice utility tool. Sometimes I've gone against a pack of nightrisers (As a paladin, so weaker turning than clerics have) and turned them all before in one go, other times none budge for multiple attempts. Try comparing your rolls to the HD (as close as you can estimate it) of the opposing undead, then check the turn undead chart to see any level modifiers and see if it's really a turn resistance or if you're just getting bad luck on the rolls.

[Tarnished_Tulip]

Then again... xXCrystal_Rose has godlike cha on her paladins... >.>