D&D 5E Intelligence in resolving "Suggestion"

[jgsugden]

Suggestion was cast on someone. That person failed the save and decided to follow through on the suggestion. They attempt to do so to the best of their ability.

"Bring me to Person C".

OK. To get them to Person C, I need to go to Person B and arrange for an audience. I'm supposed to get that guy with an oiled snake tongue in to see the Big C, so I better arrange things with Person B.

 

[MarkB]

Suggestion is a concentration spell, so the caster knows whether or not it's still active, and barring interruption it ends either after 8 hours or when the suggested task is complete. If Person A had escorted the party to person B and the spell had remained in effect, the caster would know that Person A had not completed his task.

 

[Harzel]

Person A should act in the same way that (s)he would if the suggested action were his/her idea. In this case, it seems natural that Person A would say, "I think you need to go see Person C, but in order to do that we'll have to go to Person B first."

 

[Lucas Blackstone]

Let's say someone casts Suggestion on Person A with the command "Bring me to Person C", but Person A knows that to get an audience with Person C he needs to ask Person B first, would he bring the caster to Person B or Person C?

I decided for Person B, but now my group thinks that Person B is Person C and I'm unsure whether I should clarify that their interpretation and my interpretation of the spell's effect is different.

You made the right call if that is how the npc would normally go about meeting person C, which it sounds like it is from your description. It's not meant to be a literal following of the suggestion, otherwise they wouldn't open a door if there was one along the way because the suggestion was not to open doors, and of course they would have to carry the caster there on top of it, since leading someone somewhere isn't the same as bringing them there.

I think the perfect in character explanation is what was mentioned earlier. It is a concentration spell, and the spell will end if the suggestion is completed. If the magic is still lingering after the target has brought them to person B, then that person is not who they were suggested to bring them to. And I would feel free to remind the caster of that, and then it would be up to the caster to relay this to other party members.

 

[Storyteller Hero]

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