Bard song idea: Song of Blood

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm trying to work out a special spell for one of the BBEG for a future campaign. The NPC in question has a large number of illegitimate children in town, and I want him to be able to use a unique bard song that will work as a Dominate spell on any of his children, working over a long range, and letting him command them to do his dirty work (typically just banditry, but murdering inconvenient adventurers is also a likelihood) and then not have any memory of what happened afterwards.

Now, I'm trying to work out the parameters of this spell.

1) It would only work on his children, which IMO should lower the spell level a few steps.
2) It works over a very long range, so he can sing it in the distance, almost too quiet for someone to hear, and yet still take command of his progeny.
3) It works like a Dominate Person, but since he has a number of children in town, it might need to work on more than one subject at a time. (This can be jettisoned if it makes the spell too high in level.)
4) It erases the memory of what happened while they were controlled when the song ends.

Any thoughts on level? I'm thinking it should have a Will save, a duration of performance + 1 round/level and ... well, I is stumped.

Any suggestions?

 

[Darren]

Sounds to me like it would be a bit too powerful for a single bard spell.

My first instinct would be to try to set this up with magical items... earrings for the children for example, and some sort of master item for the bard. The earrings let the bard channel 'dominate person' and 'modify memory' spells over distance.

However, considering that modify memory only works for 5 minutes at a time, the number of spells the bard needs, not to mention the cost of items to accomplish this, might be beyond his means. What level bard are we talking about here?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Not sure. I'm in the development process. I wasn't hoping it'd be TOO high of a level, though.

 

[Ferret]

How about a magic pipe for the piper?

 

[Eremite]

You could also detail it as an incantation as per the rules in Unearthed Arcana. That would allow you to factor in the song (perhaps he needs to make six DC 20 Perform checks over the course of an hour) plus that it only works on his progeny without being too concerned if it ends up higher level than he could otherwise cast.

 

[dvvega]

To reduce the level, you could require that he can see them to control them. Then he can have a mirror of remote viewing or other item that he can Use Magic Device with or similar power.

This way its a lower level, but has the requirement of a magic item to remote view.