OOTS #1126 - The Discussion Thread

[brian 333]

The rules do not specifically say what happens to the Supernatural version of Dominate, but the majority opinion here and elsewhere on the web says that the victim keeps on doing what the vampire last ordered. The best defense of this is the statement that dominator and victim must be on the same plane to enable the vampire to control the victim, but that being on another plane does not break the domination.

The thing is, a dead vampire does not return to the plane in which it was spawned: it is destroyed and ceases to exist. If the same corpse is used to create a vampire again it will be a new entity because the original vampire spirit has become random negative energy bits floating about.

This, to me, indicates that any active spell or ability with a requirement that it be monitored or maintained would similarly cease to exist. It seems to me that Dominate requires an active mind to maintain it, as it's description shows is required by a daily requirement to spend at least 1 round doing so. Death and desolving into non-existence makes the exercise of such control impossible.

My other objection is for game-rule reasons: a character dominated by a destroyed creature would spend the next twelve days standing around or trying to fulfill the last given order, which would make any adventure grind to a halt as the PCs stand around waiting fof the domination to end. If this involves a campaign, the next monster in the queue gets twelve additional days to prepare for the PCs, and would allow any NPC survivors of the fight a chance to find the tools they need to return and finish off the PCs.

My Ruling

A being which does not exist cannot maintain control of a being which does, and standing around a destroyed vampire's lair for twelve days would be a major disruption of a game. It cannot, in my opinion, be intentional on the part of the designer, to allow a non-existent creature to continue to maintain a Supernatural Ability which requires an active mind to maintain and control.

Therefore, the next save to which the PC is entitled, being unopposed by the user of the Supernatural ability, automatically succeeds and breaks the Domination.