Questioning Dangerous Prisoners

[Nifft]

How do you deal with good players trying to get information from evil prisoners?

What changes if the prisoners are spellcasters / psions / shapeshifters?

What changes if the world provides ready access to magical regeneration / restoration / healing?

I think the best way to question a very dangerous prisoner would be to cut out his tongue, eyes, and remove his hands & feet, and get his answers to your questions via "Detect Thoughts". However, this would be "somewhat invasive", so I'm curious under what circumstances you as a DM would rule that good players could use it.

-- Nifft

 

[mmu1]

Hmm... I think this makes it clear that there is an e-mail about alignment that's painfully in need of answering...

 

[nopantsyet]

That's a good question. I typically find good characters are much less effective at interrogation than others. I think we'd all probably be that way in real life. I mean, if somebody knew who stole my TV, I'm not going to gouge his eyes out and burn him with a red-hot poker.

I think with the goodness you've got to resort to magic. Zone of Truth is good. And you can always to the Intimidate route. I typically will have the PC roll Intimidate vs. the NPCs Will save. Now, if perchance they resort to torture, penalties to Will stack up pretty quickly. But we're talking about good characters here, not my players.

Another idea is psionics. A good Telepath can work wonders. Especially when they can erase the capture & interrogation from the prisoner's and send them on their merry way thinking all is well. I once had an NPC do that to a character. Found out the party's plan to take him out, then put in the PCs memory convincing "evidence" that he wasn't really a bad guy and sent him back to the party as an emissary of peace.

And it would have worked, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!

 

[S'mon]

Paedophile: (under interrogation as to whereabouts of small girl) "So, you're the Bad Cop, eh?"

Cop: (produces implements of torture): "No, Good Cop and Bad Cop have left for the day. I'm a different kind of cop..."

I agree that sometimes in a bad world you need 'bad' people to get 'good' things done.

 

[alsih2o]

good people torture if the stakes are high enuf.

torturing over a sack of gold isn't good, torturing over the location of the hidden evil artifact slowly turning the kingdom to an evil alignment can be

 

[Tiberius]

I think with the goodness you've got to resort to magic. Zone of Truth is good.

I disagree. Zone of Truth is useless. While it compels the truth, it does not compel a response to the question asked. If I have a Zone of Truth up and ask my prisoner "Did you assassinate the king?", said prisoner can respond with "The sky is blue" or "Swords tend to be sharp." While these answers are truthful, barring something weird on your world, they do not answer the question asked. Having a Zone of Truth up is great if you happen to have a cleric on hand and torturing the prisoner anyway. Might as well make sure that whatever they're telling you is the truth.

-Tiberius

[edit: removed hot poker reference. Tiberius doesn't think things through properly without his morning Coke. ]

 

[Nifft]

Zone of Truth + multiple Commands might work... hmm.

Okay, let's not make this into a torture thread. Instead, I'd like to ask what does not count as torture given that the world has magical healing available.

What is the moral & practical equivalent to "tying up" if you're dealing with a spellcaster?

-- Nifft

 

[JacktheRabbit]

I find that heightened Charm Person spells work the best. It is amazing what someone will tell you when they are your best friend.

 

[Hand of Evil]

That's a good question. I typically find good characters are much less effective at interrogation than others. I think we'd all probably be that way in real life. I mean, if somebody knew who stole my TV, I'm not going to gouge his eyes out and burn him with a red-hot poker.

I think with the goodness you've got to resort to magic. Zone of Truth is good. And you can always to the Intimidate route. I typically will have the PC roll Intimidate vs. the NPCs Will save. Now, if perchance they resort to torture, penalties to Will stack up pretty quickly. But we're talking about good characters here, not my players.

Another idea is psionics. A good Telepath can work wonders. Especially when they can erase the capture & interrogation from the prisoner's and send them on their merry way thinking all is well. I once had an NPC do that to a character. Found out the party's plan to take him out, then put in the PCs memory convincing "evidence" that he wasn't really a bad guy and sent him back to the party as an emissary of peace.

And it would have worked, too, if it weren't for those meddling kids!

I don't know, a very lawful person could do it...

sample

I know you are the spawn of Satan and have no soul and are evil, I take no pleasure in this and I will leave after 15 minutes...

he then places a rag in the mouth, taking a pitcher of water he pours it into the mouth, this causes the sensation of drowning, after 15 minutes he leaves...

----
The above was a interogation performed by monks of the inquistion, it was very structured and the rules were very important. It is said this form of interogation was very very effective.

I do think if things are defined in your game a lawful good character could justify their actions as the betterment of their dogma.

 

[F5]

Keep in mind that normal healing doesn't restore lost limbs and organs, and Regenerate is a pretty high level spell. It can't be assumed that an average healer in an average D&D setting can restore a captive who has had his tongue cut out any more than an average Free Clinic in the real world could re-attach a severed hand. If you cut off a captive's feet to keep him from running away, you have to assume you have permanently maimed him, which is not a good act.

If someone in your party has the power to Regenerate a lost limb, so you know they will be restored, then that's slightly different. You are still inflicting tremendous pain on a helpless victim, and to torture someone needlessly is an evil act. If you are high enough level to cast Regenerate, you've probably got other magical tools you can use before resorting to hacking off parts untill the bad guy talks. A good character can probably only get away with that level of torture in unusual circumstances, if there is absolutely no other option. And may still have to Atone afterwards. My 2 cents.