Geas/Quest Spell Question

[Red Pilgrim]

Ok, so I am currently playing a dragonfire adept, and right when I was about to burn down a city full of elf-lynching racists, my comrades spring on me, hold me down, and get a higher level wizard to cast geas on me. The terms of this Geas Order me to:
Repress all memory of my powers,
Refrain from any use of my powers,
Never harm anyone unless they first harm someone else, and even then, only nonlethally.
Furthermore, they added on a stipulation at the end that I must follow all those tenets until the end of my natural life.

My argument, and I'm fairly certain I'm in the right on this, is that the command is open ended, and even with the stipulation at the end, would only last one day per caster level.

"If the instructions involve some open ended

task that the recipient cannot complete
through his own actions (such as
“Wait here” or “Defend this area against
attack”), the spell remains in effect for a​

maximum of one day per caster level." PHB 235

Like I said, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right on this point, but if any of you can offer any sort of opinion or precedent on this issue, I would appreciate it. (The city full of people won't )

 

[kitcik]

Ok, so I am currently playing a dragonfire adept, and right when I was about to burn down a city full of elf-lynching racists, my comrades spring on me, hold me down, and get a higher level wizard to cast geas on me. The terms of this Geas Order me to:
Repress all memory of my powers,
Refrain from any use of my powers,
Never harm anyone unless they first harm someone else, and even then, only nonlethally.
Furthermore, they added on a stipulation at the end that I must follow all those tenets until the end of my natural life.

My argument, and I'm fairly certain I'm in the right on this, is that the command is open ended, and even with the stipulation at the end, would only last one day per caster level.

"If the instructions involve some open ended

task that the recipient cannot complete
through his own actions (such as
“Wait here” or “Defend this area against
attack”), the spell remains in effect for a​

maximum of one day per caster level." PHB 235

Like I said, I'm pretty sure I'm in the right on this point, but if any of you can offer any sort of opinion or precedent on this issue, I would appreciate it. (The city full of people won't )

I agree with you on the rules. You gotta stop making this argument in front of the other PCs. Convince the DM outside of game time. Tell him not to let on. Act like you've given up and you're the paladin of commoners. Then, after one day per caster level of game time, it's revenge time. Burning the party alive in a TPK (other than you) is the goal. Maybe wait until they are sleeping in an inn, then Grease every surface in sight, put up webs and stinking clouds everywhere, maybe Wall of Iron over the window, then set the building on fire.

 

[Red Pilgrim]

Thanks, Kitcik. Though I'm not sure I'm going to do a TPK just yet...

 

[domino]

I would argue that you can't be made to repress all memories of your powers. Geas talks about actions to take (or not take) but remembering something isn't really an action. And most people can't choose to do so, any more than you can choose to not think of pink elephants for a minute.

Also, "Never harm anyone unless they first harm someone else, and even then, only nonlethally." does not include "get someone else to cast remove curse on me." Nor does it prevent you from saying "Hey, here's 5000 gp to murder everyone in this adventuring party. I'll tie them up for you tomorrow night."

 

[Empirate]

It's definitely only 1 day/caster level, or the end of your natural life, whichever comes sooner!

Also, I'd say that "repressing all memory" of your powers is not a valid use of the spell, since it is not something you could do voluntarily. The spell descriptions of Geas and Lesser Geas (to which Geas makes reference) seem to stipulate that you may act contrary to the conditions imposed at the time of casting - you just take damage for doing so. Now 3d6 damage each day plus possible sickening is a very negligible price to pay for acting contrary to said Geas. And the whole clause heavily implies that you're aware of the restrictions laid upon you, and can act contrary to them if you so choose.


Oh, and BTW, you might also want to find a less douchebaggy group to play with.




EDIT: Ninja'd on the repressing memories thing!

 

[kitcik]

Oh, and BTW, you might also want to find a less douchebaggy group to play with.

Sorry, I can't XP you, but let me just say...

...not until after the TPK!

 

[Red Pilgrim]

Fun Fact, my character is the twelve year old adopted son of one of the other characters!

 

[domino]

Well, in that case, someone's being a terrible parent for casting geas on you, and for raising a kid who wants to mass murder an entire city.

Plus, they obviously ignored their Asimov, since they left out a prohibition against allowing people to come to harm through inaction.

 

[Dross]

Refrain from any use of my powers,

I wonder if they consider the scales, dragonkin and DR as powers, and if so, how do you refrain from using them

Never harm anyone unless they first harm someone else, and even then, only nonlethally.

You could fulfill the Geas with (non-lethally) attacking your party members when they attack someone. Actually, considering the high level wizard just harmed you (invaded personal space and cast a spell on you that you didn't want) you could attack the wizard and the party members right away.