*sings*
Spoiler, spoiler, spoilers are ahead.
If you're a player player player, read this and you'll be dead.
*/singing*
I was careening toward a threadjack in another thread, and just managed to pull up in time to avoid it. Whew!
I'm looking for suggestions on what to do with a dominated PC. The cleric in our group fled Zyrxog's layer after losing half of her companions. On the way out, she suffered an attack from the stone brain. Despite a phenomenal will save (for her level) and an active Magic Circle vs. Evil in effect, she failed her save. The Magic Circleprotects her from being immediately dominated, which is good. What's bad is that her buff disappears long before the dominate person does. As it stands, she's returned to the Crooked House with the barbarian, and has gone to sleep.
Next session we will be introducing two new characters to the group. I'm in a quandary about what to do with the cleric now. If she had lost her mind down in the dungeon, it would have been easy. She would have attacked her friends. Now that she's successfully fled, what should I do? Zyrxog should be receiving input from her, so she could just be a spy. I would imagine that he would prohibit her from praying for any protection spells (especially Spell Immunity which she and the barb. used to good effect in their first encounter with Z). I could think of all sorts of evil things to do to the cleric, but right now, she doesn't really have much of a party to support her. It's a delicate time as completely new characters come to meet the group, but haven't yet. The barbarian is going to be little help to the dominated cleric.
So what should I do? How do we have fun with the fact that she failed her save, and yet not derail the campaign and have the cleric die (because she ran right back to Z to have her brains sucked out). Should I give her a get-out-of-jail-free card on this one?
Any and all help/evil suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
One thing that may help - the Sense Motive to notice someone is under domination is actually pretty easy (15). Be sure to roll that in secret for all party members.
It's true. At the moment though, only the barbarian is in the party. Barbarians aren't known for wisdom. Although, the cleric's mother is actually a cook in the Crooked House (backstory, you know?). She should probably get one too... And mothers are WISE. Hmmm.
A smart dominater would tell his thrall to "act normally when around your allies, except when it would cause you to disobey other orders". This might set the sense motive or spot check higher, as it would be off of the dominee's bluff.
Of course, parents know their children more intimately than others, so her mom should get a circumstance bonus on the sense motive. Mom might not come right out and say "So who's dominating you miss smarty-britches," but might well react in such a way that it gives strong hints to the party that something weird is going on. Enough so that maybe they'll subject the cleric to a few divinations, perhaps. Of course, the possibilities are limited, since it's the cleric who's dominated, and her superior, as I recall from your previous updates, has disappeared.
Anyway, the Big Z won't want to do in his mole right away, he'll want to use her as a lure to snag all the others. And hang them out to dry because they have no effective clerical support. Could be nasty. Does the player know she's dominated?
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 6
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A smart dominater would tell his thrall to "act normally when around your allies, except when it would cause you to disobey other orders". This might set the sense motive or spot check higher, as it would be off of the dominee's bluff.
I'm not inclined to think that works. Consider (1) the DC is fixed in the skill description and (2) dominated people are very single-minded. A person who is dedicatedly trying to "act normal" isn't likely to come off as normal.
Of course, parents know their children more intimately than others, so her mom should get a circumstance bonus on the sense motive. Mom might not come right out and say "So who's dominating you miss smarty-britches," but might well react in such a way that it gives strong hints to the party that something weird is going on. --snip--
Anyway, the Big Z won't want to do in his mole right away, he'll want to use her as a lure to snag all the others. And hang them out to dry because they have no effective clerical support. Could be nasty. Does the player know she's dominated?
The player does NOT know that she's dominated yet. Well, we all saw her fail her will save, and she didn't take any wisdom damage from the trap like everyone else did, so people may have drawn some conclusions. But at the time everyone was so relieved to have avoided the TPK, and focused on the players rolling up new stats that I'm pretty sure people have forgotten about the whole thing. I was planning on sending the player an e-mail before the game with a little secret information.
Yes, her mother very well might detect something strange. It's hard to know what she might do, but there's been this big scare about doppelgangers recently you see, so Mom might cry, "Imposter!" This could lead to some interesting roleplaying. It's true that the temple of Pelor is in an uproar because their leader has been replaced by a doppel. But the barbarian was REALLY impressed with those martial Heironeans. I can see him dragging the cleric to the temple, kicking and screaming.
Yes, this could be very nasty indeed, which is why I'd like to tread carefully. Zyrxog has already proven to be a campaign altering foe as it is. I'm kind of eager to seem him bite the dust so that we can move on. I'd like to find a way for the cleric to be entertainingly dominated, but ultimately non-threatening. Perhaps Z will have her not pray for any spells at all, which should be a pretty big freaking clue...
Note that any commands that force the subject to act against her nature force a new saving throw with a +2 bonus. So the cleric might have a chance to break free if forced not to pray for spells (a deeply ingrained daily habit), and would certainly get a 2nd save if forced to do anything directly against her friends. Note also that once detected, the dominate effect is easily blocked with a protection from evil spell--so dispelling is not necessary.
Hmmm! Maybe Zyrxog would just wait until the party arrives in his sanctum again, and try to get her to turn against her friends. While waiting, he occasionally concentrates on his victim to figure out where she is and what she's doing, and perhaps has her try to prevent, say, being dragged off to Jaikor Demien for an exorcism. It's sort of an all or nothing tactic, but I can't really think of anything better to do with the dominate, except maybe ordering her to try to kill her fellow party members in their sleep or something--and I'd give a new saving throw for every party member attacked. At least. If not every swing of the mace. Did the party kill off all the octopins? If so, maybe three party members against Zyrxog and the party cleric is an OK matchup. Or, the party gets wise when the cleric refuses to cast the buffs they've been planning to use. (And of course, even if they then take steps to block the domination, he already knows what they are planning.)
Anyway, just throwing out some random thoughts. Hope they are useful. The important thing is to make this fun, and not a TPK. Could make for some good roleplaying if you just tell the player she's dominated and what Zyrxog's orders are, and let her run with it.
The player does NOT know that she's dominated yet. Well, we all saw her fail her will save, and she didn't take any wisdom damage from the trap like everyone else did, so people may have drawn some conclusions.
I think this is really the key. You need to have something come of this, but there is no impetus that it actually be domination if you don't think that fits well into your game. Perhaps she now has a magical, mind-affecting disease that will slowly rot her wisdom if not cured (side-quest for a component or somthing). But if no one knows she is dominated and you don't want her to be... well, that is a no brainer, so to speak.
Sean Mahoney