Dominate/Charm questions

[Soramain]

It's a perennial favorite topic, I know. I'm curious what people think about the interaction of multiple mind affecting spells.

Scenarios:

A) Fighter is dominated by BBEG. Wizard successfully spellcrafts the dominate person and also dominates fighter. Who has control? Do you use some kind of opposed roll?

B) Fighter is dominated by BBEG. Wizard successfully spellcrafts the dominate person and casts charm person. Does the dominate automatically prevail by virtue of being higher level, or is there some kind of opposed roll between the casters?

C) Fighter is dominated by BBEG. Sorcerer successfully spellcrafts the dominate person and casts a heightened dominate person on Fighter. Does the Sorcerer's spell prevail because of its higher caster level, or would you still use some kind of opposed roll mechanic?

I don't mean to take for granted that an opposed roll mechanic is necessarily the answer to this question, but it is the answer I came up with on the fly when this situation arose. I'm curious how other DMs adjudicate the interaction between different charm spells.

 

[Nezkrul]

a. each round I'd say opposed caster level check at the beginning of the fighter's turn.

b. since the charm makes the fighter believe the wizard to be his true friend, he would potentially get to save again against the dominate with a bonus, failing that he would still attack.

c. Again, higher level spell doesn't matter, I would say opposed caster level checks at the start of the fighter's turn to control him. Both effects are "dominate"; technically you could rule that the newest version of the same spell is the one that takes affect.

 

[Soramain]

You'd use caster level and not opposed charisma? I'm not saying you're wrong, but charm person uses opposed charisma checks in similar cases This is not the same case, though. The nice thing about using opposed charisma is it benefits bards and sorcerers.

 

[Dandu]

I personally think that, since Dominate does not stack, the most recent successful casting would affect the fighter.