Dominate

[jpariury]

While under a Dominate effect:

1. is the victim permitted to delay obeying the "heal <target>" command if the it involves casting necromancy but is not against the victim's "nature" so as not allow people to witness his actions?
2. is the victim permitted to delay or even refuse obeying the "follow me" command if it would require them to follow the caster into a Wizard Lock, Ward, or Celestial Circle of Power (and doing so is against the victim's nature, i.e. Biata or Barbarian)?
3. is the victim expected to understand what the target of "heal <target>" is healed by, or can they make attempts that might otherwise be considered "attacks"? (ie, Gregor knows Iron Golems are healed by lightning. If he is Dominated and told "Heal this Iron Golem", and he possesses the spells or scrolls to do so, he must cast lightning damage spells into it. Ricochico Chavez, otoh, doesn't, but has a host of Celestial damage spells, and a rough idea that golems are sometimes healed by elements. Absent instruction as to what to use from the caster, can he just start working through the different elements until given better instruction or otherwise is confirmed as using the right element? In both instances, the characters are played by the same person, but with different IG knowledge.)
4. is the victim required to seek further information if they are unsure of what is needed to follow the "heal <target>" command?
5. is the victim required to heal the target to full body?
6. is the victim required to expend healing if the target is fully healed, but given the "Heal <target>" command?
7. If the answer to 5 is yes, and the answer to 6 is no, do these answers change if the victim has no method of ascertaining when the target is at full body?
8. is the victim required to use the most effective method immediately available to obey the "Heal <target>" command, or can they hold back on it?

 

[Morganne]

This post is to inform you that your question is currently being discussed by the ARC and once some clarification has been made, will be posted here (removing this post). Depending on the level of clarification and discussion (and potential involvement of the Owners or other national staff, if needed) this may take time.

 

[Polare]

The owners have approved an update to Dominate as follows.

WORDING CHANGES: (changes outlined in bold)
The sixth paragraph under "Dominate" would be changed to:
"While dominated, the victim must perform actions to the best of his or her ability and knowledge, including the use of spells and skills. The victim does not have the ability to pick and choose less effective abilities to use, nor may they choose to not perform certain commands due to their personality or race. For example, if the victim knows that the person who Dominated them is Undead, and that person commands the victim to heal them, they will not only cast Necromancy on that person but will not be able to choose to use less powerful spells if they have more powerful ones available. Similarly, if a Flame Elemental Dominated someone, and that character knew that Flame Elementals are healed by Flame, they would do their best to use Flame to heal the Elemental if commanded."

The second to last paragraph under "Dominate" would be changed to:
"Heal me: The target must make every attempt to heal or Life the caster. During this time..."

--------------------

I'll make a couple notes here as to what's behind these changes. The biggest and most obvious difference is that under certain circumstances (specifically, the caster of the Dominate being obviously Undead) Dominate can now be used to force characters to cast Necromancy. It is expected that characters will deal with this change in an appropriate in-game manner. As an example, as it is widely known that an Enslavement can force casting of Necromancy, with this clarification, Dominate can now do the same thing. Whether that applies as an in-game defense to a charge of Necromancy or not is up to individual roleplay and how Plot groups handle specific situations. On the other hand, this cannot be abused to force Dominated victims to cast Necromancy unless the caster themself is an Undead, as the "Heal me" command now only works for the caster, not an indicated target. If a PC wants to get another PC to cast Necromancy by using Dominate, they will need to get into some serious trouble themselves.

The wording changes give much needed clarity to Dominate and what it can and cannot force characters to do. "It's against my honor code to do it" or "My race wouldn't act that way" is no longer a valid OOG rules excuse to avoid performing a Dominate command, for example.

With the above clarifications, the original questions should be answered.

-Bryan Gregory
ARC