How do you play Dominate Person?

[bensei]

If a PC casts Dominate Person successfully on an NPC enemy sorcerer, how do you play this?

- Can the player (as long as he can keep control) play two characters now or is the control weaker (if yes, in which instances)?
- What does the player get to know about the NPC? Everything? His current stats (i.e. character sheet)? His spells? Not even his spells?
- Can he force the NPC to cast spells? What if he does not find out which spells the NPC is able to cast?
- How far can the controlled character be forced to undertake actions that may result in some kind of harm for him or his allies (esp. indirectly)?
- Can the NPC character still think? Is just his body controlled, or also his mind (his soul)?
- Lots of other stuff

So I'm interested. How do you rule this?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

- Can the player (as long as he can keep control) play two characters now or is the control weaker (if yes, in which instances)?

No, the PC can't control the character like that. They give orders, the victim may be able to make saves to resist.

- What does the player get to know about the NPC? Everything? His current stats (i.e. character sheet)? His spells? Not even his spells?

He knows nothing but the obvious. In combat, you can order your victim to "slay his companions" (or "slay x"), or perhaps even "slay x to the best of your ability". Out of combat, you can interrogate your foe, but they'll probably get to make Will saves, unless the victim is usually boastful.

- Can he force the NPC to cast spells? What if he does not find out which spells the NPC is able to cast?

Yes, you can do so. For instance, if you have dominated a sorcerer who can cast Fireball, you can force them to do it again. You may force them to reveal spells they can cast (but that may take time). You can say "Hey! Can you cast Cone of Cold? 'Cuz if you can, cast it at that Red Dragon!"

- How far can the controlled character be forced to undertake actions that may result in some kind of harm for him or his allies (esp. indirectly)?

You can tell him to kill his lover while she sleeps, if you're evil, and you feel like it. But he'll get a Will save with a +4 bonus if you do that. You can't order him to carry out self-destructive orders, though, so no "fall on your sword!" tricks

- Can the NPC character still think? Is just his body controlled, or also his mind (his soul)?

He can think, but he cannot oppose you. If you order your victim to "in three days, assassinate Bob." without going into specifics, then your victim will be forced to plan Bob's assassination, not tell anyone what he's planning on doing, etc. This is great if you play a sorc with low Intelligence, who want to Dominate a smart rogue into doing something

- Lots of other stuff

Like what?

 

[Ds Da Man]

What about casting other spells on the dominated victim? Could you force him to recieve a spell, as long as it does not "harm" him, therefore no saving throw?

 

[gfunk]

I think that Dominate should be given a lot of leeway considering its level. Unless a dominated individual is given orders to slay his comrades (save, possibly w/ bonus to resist) or kill himself (spell automatically ends) I think he should obey.

For instance,

- You should be able to get him to fork over all of his items to you. The only exception I can see is if the item is of artifact level or is of great sentimental value to that person. In those cases I would consider giving the dominated person a second save.

- You should be able to ask him any questions and he would have to answer you to the best of his ability. Of course he could "resist" by not volunteering information or answering questions in a round about way, but ultimately the caster should be able to get what he wants.

- You should be able to get the dominated person to cast any spell he knows on you (if beneficial). Of course hurting his allies (or himself) with spells would force a new save.

 

[bret]

I think that giving away all your items would count as "forced to take actions against their nature" and give a new saving throw. If you don't think this is against a normal persons nature, let me be the first to volunteer to relieve you of all your material possessions. If the character wouldn't normally do something for a good friend, then I would think it is against their nature.

Interesting enough, it doesn't say that the spell ends if given obviously self-destructive orders. It says "Obviously self-destructive orders are not carried out."

Since you have to have a language in common with the subject in order to give detailed orders, I don't think you automatically know the victims abilities.


I think the situation gets a bit more interesting when you look at casting this spell on someone with a strong code.

If you dominate a Paladin can you:
1. Force him to commit a chaotic act (lie, cheat, make a rude gesture in the King's direction, etc)? This would violate their code of conduct.

2. Force him to commit an evil act (slay a defenseless person, frame an innocent for a crime, etc)? If done willingly, this would normally require a 9th level cleric with Atonement to fix it. If the action would require an Atonement I think it would be considered harmful if not self-destructive.

3. Run away from a battle? What if doing so would obviously result in another characters death? Here I think it gets to be a much tougher call.

 

[nsruf]

So I'm interested. How do you rule this?

Of course, you could also ask your DM how he intends to handle this in his campaign

The answers given by Psi(Severed Head) and gfunk cover this pretty well, though.

 

[bensei]

bret wrote:Since you have to have a language in common with the subject in order to give detailed orders, I don't think you automatically know the victims abilities.

But if you do share a common language, you could certainly give the order: "Tell me everything about you/your spells/etc.!" Of course outside of combat, but Dominate Person lasts long enough. Well, even in combat this may be partially possible.

nsruf wrote:Of course, you could also ask your DM how he intends to handle this in his campaign.

I intend to do so, too (seriously ) But this question came to my mind yesterday evening, and my DM does not have ICQ. So what to do? Hey, the enworld messageboards! What a great idea!

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

"What about casting other spells on the dominated victim? Could you force him to recieve a spell, as long as it does not "harm" him, therefore no saving throw?"

If receiving the spell is against their nature, I'd give them a save... whichever they're less likely to make (the Domination save or the other spell save).

For instance, if I force my victim to accept a Slow spell, they get a save at the Dominate spell DC.
If I force them to accept a Polymorph any Object spell, they get a save against the Polymorph any Object instead of the Dominate, since they're less likely to make that save (it's like taking an action against their nature, but harder, because even if they resist, you still cast the spell on them).

 

[Al]

Hmmm...well, generally I'm fairly broad, but the interpretation is that if they do something against their nature, they get a Will save, at an arbitrary penalty/bonus.

Hand me all your material possessions is usually against peoples' natures, so they get a Will save with a bonus.

Killing comrades is usually likewise, unless they're chaotic evil or similar.

Receiving spells is a tricky one. Generally, any harmful spell they will try to resist- it is against their nature to allow it to be cast on them. What you can do, however, is Bluff and Diplomacy them. You can persuade them that you are casting Heal when you really cast Polymorph, and if they have poor Sense Motive and no Spellcraft they may fall for it.

If they don't, they have to make TWO saves. The first save is against Dominate: if they fail, they happily accept the spell. The second save is against the spell itself: they are trying to resist it, but still have to save as per standard.