I’ve always been thinking about “turning undead” ability as invoking divine presence in the broader sense. You know, the mightier and cooler version of a priestly aura. So, it doesn’t have to be about undead, and it’s not necessarily about turning either. In one of my unfinished games that I might or might not end up finishing someday, I even tried to make a special progression universal for all priests: divine aura, divine presence, divine gift, divine wrath, divine intervention. With these elements defined it’s easy to design gods. For instance, a War Deity can have an aura that inspires people to fight, its presence will increase attack roll successes, the gift can be some awesome warrior-like feats, the wrath will do something bad with the enemy and the intervention will send down an angelic fighter. On the same terms, a Health Deity’s aura will be detecting diseases, the presence will grant regeneration, the gift will cure hp, the wrath will bestow a painful illness, the intervention will fully recover a whole group of people. I can even incorporate this idea into the current project if I finally give up on the idea of all the classes following the same progression and power mechanics.
Also, Noisms had the coolest idea in his Monsters and Manuals blog about sumo priests doing the stomp for turning instead of just thrusting you hand forward with a holy symbol clenched in the fingers. I should totally go back to Salveblues (the fantasy setting I use for my games) and re-think some of the priests that do have turning powers.
