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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hellcow" data-source="post: 5163451" data-attributes="member: 15800">A point that's already been raised is that it's up to the DM to decide who the Concordian dominates. Sometimes that choice may be painfully obvious. But at the same time, there could be situations where the best choice isn't a PC at all. Let's say the Concordian meets with the PCs in a bar. Trouble arises. The Concordian COULD dominate the fighter for a round. Or... he could dominate the barmaid, a first level minion with low enough Will defense that he will automatically succeed. Attack the Concordian, and he will use Price of Loyalty to have the barmaid fling herself in front of the attack... and as DM, I'm going to declare that as this is a use of a power on his part, he can supersede your usual freedom to decide if the final hit kills or not. You're not attacking her - he's making her throw herself on your blade. If you attack him, you will end up killing the innocent barmaid. And then he'll grab the old drunk. And then the child who just walked in the door. It's even better if this "shield" NPC is someone the PCs know and like - this is the tavern they come to between every adventure, and there's a romance brewing between Fiona and the fighter. The Concordian isn't even going to fight; he's just going to shift and walk to the door, using the dominated NPC's action to keep them close to him. The Aurum are, by and large, on the noir end of the spectrum, and this is good noir flavor. He's a mastermind, not a brawler; faced with a party of adventurers, he should be trying to get away so he can come up with a new plan to deal with them. You can kill this guy - but how many innocents will be killed in the process? Personally, I'd use this to play up the idea that the PCs are resistant due to their strong will, by saying that if the Concordian targets a minion, he doesn't have to sustain the effect; essentially, it acts like the 8-day 3.5 dominate when he uses it on NPCs. He can have one person dominated at a time. If it's a minion, the effect lasts until he releases them. If it's a PC, it lasts one turn - so he has to fight to maintain it. The effect FEELS natural - the victim feels like the Concordian is a friend - so when it wears off an NPC may be confused and disoriented as opposed to immediately screaming for the watch. They're going to spend a round or so thinking "Why did I do that?" not "I'm finally free!"Just using it as written, you could deal with this by using forced movement (bull rush or grab, if nothing else) to get the Concordian's victim away from him. If I was allowing the no-need-to-maintain-on-NPC rules, I'd allow the victim to make a save if a PC gave her one - she just wouldn't get to save on her own. So my point is that as DM you create the situation. Controlling the fighter may be a simple thing to do. But controlling the fighter's minion girlfriend and telling him that she will die if he attacks? That's an Eberron story... and the sort of thing that makes a villain the PCs will really, really hate.</blockquote>

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