Dominate person on unconcious targets?

[TrueChaos13]

Can you use dominate person on a knocked out target? It would be pretty great to know if the mage is my mind slave before I wake him up

[hymer]

Can you use dominate person on a knocked out target? It would be pretty great to know if the mage is my mind slave before I wake him up

You can. But they still get their normal save against it. The DM can rule that you know whether the telepathic bond is established, but it makes just as much sense to rule that you can't know that until the target is conscious again. A Detect Magic or similar effect may be helpful in determining whether your spell took hold.

[TrueChaos13]

Hmm I find it intresting that they wouldnt atleast get disadvantage to the save now that I think about it but thats 5e for ya

[Cybren]

Hmm I find it intresting that they wouldnt atleast get disadvantage to the save now that I think about it but thats 5e for ya

Literally the entire purpose of the advantage/disadvantage system is for adjudicating good or poor circumstances in a way that doesn't require prescription, so, literally yes, that is 5e for ya.

[trollballz]

While unconscious according to the condition: "The creature automatically fails Strength and Dexterity saving throws."

So the PHB is explicit that only str and dex saves are automatically failed. Doesnt mention other saves at all so DM gets to decide if unconsiousness affects this spell save.

So you can rule it the save how you want, but they can definitely still cast it on them while asleep.

[darknite]

You can. But they still get their normal save against it. The DM can rule that you know whether the telepathic bond is established, but it makes just as much sense to rule that you can't know that until the target is conscious again. A Detect Magic or similar effect may be helpful in determining whether your spell took hold.

Given that Dominate is a concentration spell, you would know if it was in effect. However Dominate Person only lasts a minute (unless upcasting to a pretty high level), so have fun dominating the unconscious guy.

[MaxWilson]

Given that Dominate is a concentration spell, you would know if it was in effect. However Dominate Person only lasts a minute (unless upcasting to a pretty high level), so have fun dominating the unconscious guy.

Technically... you could maintain concentration on a Dominate that the creature had successfully saved against, it just wouldn't do anything, because "It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be Charmed by you for the duration." Otherwise, nothing happens for the duration.

The only case I can think of where you'd want to do this is if you're a War Wizard and you want your +2 to AC and saves. Even then, you'd often drop concentration next round in order to cast a different concentration spell.

[TrueChaos13]

Cool, thanks yall I guess my question was really can sleeping people be charmed but it looks like theres nothing stopping me. Im even a step better off as the target isnt in combat with me so it dosnt get its advantage. This all makes me happy.