d20 Morale Checks & Undead Turning

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On a Discord server, I suggested that turning the undead should be treated as a forced morale check (which undead monsters usually don't make) rather than as a distinct mechanism. Little did I know that my friend John B. of The Retired Adventurer had the same idea a while ago! :)

Taking that as a jumping point, I wanted to consider morale checks using the monster scheme I have been messing with for a couple weeks. Monsters are defined primarily by die type (e.g. d10), and roll that die size to determine an HP bonus ("grit") as well as a bonus to any d20 check they make ("grit check").

So, a morale check might just be a creature or group leader checking grit versus a DC of 12. (I've been ruminating over target numbers in my head for a while, and have that decided 12/16/20 is a fine set of potential DCs for a range of ability bonuses from +1 to +10). If they fail, the creature or group retreats. This puts a weak grit-1 creature with a 50% chance, and a grit-10 creature with just a 5% chance.

Turning the undead is a special morale check in the form of a contest between a clerical character and a group of undead. The player-character checks CHA (which, by the way, has become the cleric ability rather than wisdom as of late), while the 'leader' of the undead checks grit. If the undead fail, they retreat.

That's all!

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