Extracting information from somebody who's Dominated?

[MerakSpielman]

A situation is about to come up in my game where the PC's (an evil party) are going to interrogate somebody who they suspect knows more than they are letting on. This assumption is correct - the person in question is being Dominated by a powerful Archdevil. The interrogations could easily lead into torture.

The person in question has a pathetic Will save (2nd level aristocrat) and is unlikely to break free of the Domination. She has been specifically commanded not to reveal the information the PCs are after. How would this subject react to such an interrogation? Would torture have any effect?

 

[Ion]

Perhaps after much torture the aristocrat would get a bonus to the will save it has to make to break free of the domination.

 

[Kemrain]

Archdevil? I think they might torture her to death before she got a big enough will save bonus...

- Kemrain the Grim.

 

[Epametheus]

Isn't this the epic evil party? I would expect such a group to be competant enough to not kill the victim by accident. Also, I'm assuming that they can tell if the subject is lying to them, and what-not.

Exactly what form of domination is the archdevil using, and how'd the aristocrat get dominated? Did she willingly enter a pact with the devil? Did she get enslaved out of the blue? Is she far more scared of what the devil could do to her than she is of the PCs?

The basic form of domination allows a save re-roll if obeying the command is resulting in physical harm, if I remember right. Refecting upon the status of the creature who cast it, maybe one re-roll per hour of serious interrogation. Maybe even just once per day, if it used one of the higher-end domination effects. If 20's are an auto-sucess in your game, she'll shake the spell eventually. If they aren't, she'll have a hemorrage well before she could shake it off; I'm assuming that this is a person with a +2 or 3 will save vs. a save DC of 25+.

The PC should probably realize that they're working against a spell, after a while. Using a Protection from Good to supress it or just breaking the domination will drastically change the results of the interrogation. I doubt that a L2 aristocrat is going to hold out long against epic psychopaths, regardless of what the cost of betraying her master would be.

 

[AuraSeer]

The person in question has a pathetic Will save (2nd level aristocrat) and is unlikely to break free of the Domination. She has been specifically commanded not to reveal the information the PCs are after. How would this subject react to such an interrogation? Would torture have any effect?

I think in extreme cases, resisting torture would fall under the "obviously self-destructive orders" exception. Defying a bunch of evil, epic-level adventurers is just as suicidal as a swan dive into an active volcano, and slightly more painful.

The domination should probably lose hold after the underling truly realizes his enemies will kill him to get what they want. (From the PC's point of view, killing him might even be preferable, because casting speak with dead is a lot easier than interrogating a live captive.)

 

[Mytholder]

Remember there's a Sense Motive check (DC15 for Dominate IIRC) to notice that someone's under magical compulsion. I'd play it with the noble breaking, sobbing "I'll tell, I'll tell", and then being unable to actually reveal the information - he just stops talking, despite obviously wanting to give them what they want.