Protection from X spells vs. Mind Control

[rhammer2]

This is exactly my interpretation. You are still dominated, but must receive verbal commands.

The strange thing is, Hold Person has the descriptor Enchantment (Compulsion) (Mind affecting) as does Suggestion, Dominate Person, Dominate Monster, Confusion and Ottos Irresistable Dance (for example).

All of these spells magically compel some kind of behaviour. Is protection from evil supposed to negate the power of all these spells? I don't think so, it never has in the past.

The description suggests that the magic of dominate still affects you, but it blocks the mental commands that a vampire sends. Do you take this to its literal extension and say that it *only* blocks mental control, so anyone that is dominated by Dominate Person (say) and given a verbal command must obey that command because it is not a (blocked) mental command?

 

[ouini]

I like Plane Sailing's explanation. It helps me understand how Hold Person can be seen as different, since Otto's Irresistable Dance didn't originally strike me as excercising mental control. Well, of course it does, but I can at least see why the PHB writer who wrote that weird passage saw Hold Person as different.

At this point, I still think the spell descriptors and the conflicting spells paragraph imply that Protection from Evil negates the power of all these spells. But given that the writer felt the need to include the idea that Hold Person (and probably O.I.D. et al) somehow are different types of commands, it's probably reasonable to assume that they meant to include a phrase in the PHB that says something like, "mind-affecting compulsions for which the caster is able to invent the course of action for the target, are subordinate to mind-affecting compulsions with a fixed course of action." I can work with that assumption.

As far as whether Protection from X spells block -only- mental control, yeah. I don't know of any spells, enchantments or not, classified as sonic or ear-affecting compulsions. Even Command -- which is also language dependent -- is a mind-affecting spell, excercising mental control, so I'd rule Protection from Evil would block its effects.