In our last session the following happened; the party druid summons an ankylosaurus, the enemy bard proceeds to cast suggestion on the ankylosaurus and tells it to go as far away from the battle as it possibly can, it fails its saving throw, but at the start of the druids next turn the druid casts dominate animal to try to make it continue attacking for him.
To settle the matter in an expeditiously and peaceful manner I ruled in the druids favor since his player was getting tired and grumpy, and neither me nor the other players was interested in a long and drawn out rules discussion.
How would you rule this? I suggested that the druid and the bard should roll opposed charisma checks to see who was in control, but the druid claimed that since he cast the last mind-control spell that his magic should trump the bards.
Suggestion is a language dependent spell. Ankylosaurus do not have a language, so they are unaffected by the spell.
So...the bard casts the spell. It fails. And the dinosaur eats him.
Suggestion is a language dependent spell. Ankylosaurus do not have a language, so they are unaffected by the spell.
So...the bard casts the spell. It fails. And the dinosaur eats him.
Ah, I didn't notice that when I skimmed the spell, seems like everything worked out then (the bard would probably have done something else but it's to late to change that now).
If for some reason the suggestion did work (which would require some means of sharing a language with the ankylosaur in question), then you're in multiple compulsion territory:
Multiple Mental Control Effects: Sometimes magical effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as spells that remove the subject's ability to act. Mental controls that don't remove the recipient's ability to act usually do not interfere with each other. If a creature is under the mental control of two or more creatures, it tends to obey each to the best of its ability, and to the extent of the control each effect allows. If the controlled creature receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.
Is "Summon Monster" really considered a mental control effect? I realize you have total control over the summoned creature, but isn't that due to the inherent nature of the spell and not a specific mind-control effect? I'm honestly curious, and I can't see why it wouldn't, it just feels wrong for some reason.
@TheBlackPlague
Go back to the original question.
Druid casts summon
Bard Cast Suggestion - (technically doesn't work as language dependent) and is mind affecting compulsion (mental control)
Druid casts Dominate Animal - mind affecting compulsion
These last two are your opposing mental control effects. Assuming suggestion did somehow work, then it would be opposed mental control effects when the druid cast dominate animal.
*facepalm* Reading comprehension fail. Carry on.