Rules question: Protection from evil, how does "suppressing effect" work exactly?

Hello there,

I've been playing dnd in various editions for quite some time, but we had a big difference of opinion yesterday during play. So, I hope people here can help us with how this works exactly.

The question is the following:
- I become dominated, and been given a task: clear a tower of all monsters within.
- Next, the priest in my party casts protection from evil on me

The question is, what happens (and why?)? We ourself had discussion between the following two interpretations of the rules:
- The protection from evil completely suppresses the effect of the domination, thus I am free to do what I want for the duration of the protection from evil. Afterwards, the dominate spell (which still exists, there is no discussion on that) kicks in and I again continue with the task given. The reasoning here is Prot Evil suppresses the effect of the dominate completely.
- The protection from evil suppresses the mental link, so I cannot be given new commands. But, the current command still exists, the domination is still there, so I need to carry on with the task given, in this case clear a tower of all monsters within. Reasoning here is that dominate states explicitly that prot evil prevent exercising control and use of the telepathic link, and this is not what is being done currently as the task has allready been given prior to the prot evil. So, only no new commands can be given for the duration of the protection from evil.



The text from protection from evil (from SRD):
[FONT=&quot]Second, the barrier blocks any attempt to possess the warded creature (by a [/FONT]magic jar[FONT=&quot] attack, for example) or to exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment (charm) effects and enchantment (compulsion) effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as [/FONT]dominate person[FONT=&quot]). The protection does not prevent such effects from targeting the protected creature, but it suppresses the effect for the duration of the protection from evil effect. If the protection from evil effect ends before the effect granting mental control does, the would-be controller would then be able to mentally command the controlled creature. Likewise, the barrier keeps out a possessing life force but does not expel one if it is in place before the spell is cast. This second effect works regardless of [/FONT]alignment[FONT=&quot].

[/FONT]And the text from dominate person (from SRD):
Protection from evil[FONT=&quot] or a similar spell can prevent you from exercising control or using the telepathic link while the subject is so warded, but such an effect neither prevents the establishment of domination nor dispels it.

[/FONT]Hopefully you can shine some light on this, as my searches on this topic do not really help: we (me and my DM) both read our own opinion in the various discussions on this topic, and no question is discussed on precisely this topic.

Cheers, Hans

stokking said:

The question is the following:
- I become dominated, and been given a task: clear a tower of all monsters within.
- Next, the priest in my party casts protection from evil on me

The question is, what happens (and why?)? We ourself had discussion between the following two interpretations of the rules:
1) The protection from evil completely suppresses the effect of the domination, thus I am free to do what I want for the duration of the protection from evil. Afterwards, the dominate spell (which still exists, there is no discussion on that) kicks in and I again continue with the task given. The reasoning here is Prot Evil suppresses the effect of the dominate completely.
2) The protection from evil suppresses the mental link, so I cannot be given new commands. But, the current command still exists, the domination is still there, so I need to carry on with the task given, in this case clear a tower of all monsters within. Reasoning here is that dominate states explicitly that prot evil prevent exercising control and use of the telepathic link, and this is not what is being done currently as the task has allready been given prior to the prot evil. So, only no new commands can be given for the duration of the protection from evil.

Click to expand...

It seems obvious to me that #1 is the correct interpretation. The Dominate person spell is a long-term continuous compulsion spell. The dominated person is an automaton of the caster with no free will to do anything other than basic survival. As part of this domination, the caster can issue new commands or even receive sensory inputs from the dominated creature. The Protection from Evil is an abjuration spell. Abjuration spells create barriers that block magical spells. Thus for a short time (min/LV), the compulsion created by the dominate spell is completely suppressed. Whether the dominated creature is being affected by a previous command or by a new command, the domination still exists. And that effect is explicitly blocked by the protection spell.

The text of the Protection spell even directly addresses the premise of #2, when it reads "blocks the effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as dominate person". The ongoing command is blocked, so option #2 holds no water as it's premise is that ongoing control is not blocked.

#1 is correct.

"suppresses the effect for the duration of the protection from evil effect."

..Yeah, I'd vote number one as well.