Speak with Dead - How do I work this? (My players stay out!!!)

[Olive]

So last session my players killed a major bad guy MUCH earlier than I would have liked. They have taken his body back to a temple where they are asking the local cleric to cast speak with dead.

One of the bad guys contacts was a mysterious woman in a cave. Now the PCs have also met this woman, and are garunteed to ask some questions about her.

Now the name I wrote down that the woman in the cave had given the bad guy is Baenyal, but she told the players her name was Lady Langweil. Now, is it crule and nasty for the body to not answer any questions about Lady Langweil, on the basis that thats not the name he knew her by? Or is it good and chalenging?

What sort of questions do players usually ask with this spell anyway?

 

[Czhorat]

Well, the corpse only knows what the person knew in real life. If this mysterious woman were involved in shady dealings it is not at all unreasonable for her to use assumed names. If the party can in some other way describe her (assuming that they keep the body around and preserved well enough to wait the one week waiting period for a second speak with dead spell) they might get somewhere.

As far as what questions the players would ask, that really depends on what they need to know from him. Things like the location of his hideout or where his treasure is hidden might rank high on the general list.

 

[Mark]

Now, is it crule and nasty for the body to not answer any questions about Lady Langweil, on the basis that thats not the name he knew her by?

Yes, it is cruel and exactly what you must do. If the players are sharp enough they will plan against this eventuality.

What sort of questions do players usually ask with this spell anyway?

One of the players normally asks, "How many questions do we get?" quickly followed by another asking if "it counts?" and a third asking if "you are cruel enough to count those against the questions?"...

 

[Gizzard]

Tangent:

My favorite part of the spell is that "if the creature's alignment was different from yours, the corpse gets a Will save to resist the spell as if it were alive."

(I think its abusing the intent of the rules to allow the corpse to lie if it makes its save, but it is probably a DM call. ;-)

In any case, the "differing alignment" ruling puts a crimp in a lot of the straightforward "take the body back to our local priest and buy a spell" sort of investigations. Now, if you kill the BBEG you probably won't take him to a priest of Bane or Wee Jas and ask him to cast a spell for you. And if you do, you'll have to worry about that priest messing with your head by skewing what the corpse said.

 

[Olive]

One of the players normally asks, "How many questions do we get?" quickly followed by another asking if "it counts?" and a third asking if "you are cruel enough to count those against the questions?"...

I think the phrase is 'rat bastard'...