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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1735994" data-attributes="member: 3146">I would imagine that Zone of Truth would be a part of most serious trials--after all, there's someone who can cast it in nearly every village and it seems like it would be irresponsible not to. On the other hand, in most villages, it can only be cast at 3rd-5th level which is hardly enough time to cover the trial proper and will have a DC of 13-15 (2nd level spell+1-3 for wisdom and possibly spell focus) which an ordinary commoner can resist about 30-40% of the time.  So, while it might have some effect, I would think that it would be more use in evaluating confessions and during interrogations than during the actual testimony. It might be used after all testimony was completed for the day. ("In the sight of Pholtus, I hereby solemnly certify the truth of my testimony. I have told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth." And if the person can't say this, they're charged with perjury). That way, it would raise the bar for people attempting to give false testimony because they would not only have to worry about being caught in a lie ordinarily, they would also have to worry about failing the save and making it clear that they had perjured themselves even after a successful lie. The knowledge that lying would face the risk of magical detection after the fact might well be more effective than simply having the zone of truth active in the courtroom to begin with. (If it's active, you could test your resistance with a little lie before saying anything that could be prosecutable and your hearers might be less wary because of the zone of truth).Of course, the skilled liars present in each village (lets say a 4th level commoner with a decent wisdom, iron will, and the deceptive feat or skill focus: bluff) would be able to get away with lying as often as not and unusually skilled liars (6th level bards or clerics with the trickery domain aren't that uncommon and could succeed at the save most of the time) would usually be able to evade the magic. Consequently, I don't think that there would be much less discussion about the reliability and trustworthiness of witnesses than there is IRL. After all, the guys who won't make the save often (Com 1 with an 8 wisdom) are generally the guys who aren't very good at lying to begin with (His bluff would max out at 7+cha mod even if he had Skill focus: Bluff and Deceptive). The guys who you're actually worried about (the com 4 with his +8 or +9, the bard with his +15 bluff, or the cleric with his +12-+14 bluff) are the least likely to be deterred by the zone of truth. The real effect would be to further separate the petty liars from the skilled ones rather than to prevent lying in general.</blockquote>

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