I'll be the first to admit that I'm a far cry from a SQL (Server or not) guru. So I'm at a loss as to what system destabilizing result you could generate from a UDF that you could not replicate in a stored procedure in which the RAND() function is called. Attempting to use RAND in a UDF would result in a non-deterministic result, that's a different result for the same input parameters. I googled for a few minutes to try and satisfy my curiousity but unfortunately paying work beckons me back. Luckily for me I was able to get my desired functionality with a sproc instead of a UDF, but I do think the UDF would have been cleaner. Oh well.

On a self referential note... I had one of those rare instances of having to use recursion in my T-SQL. I remember drifting in and out of boredom induced sleep during the recursive portion of my C++ classes but until now I had never actually needed it in a “real world” scenario.