Good monsters to dominate?

[Shadowbite]

I'm playing a beguiler and so far we've just gotten to level 5. But I'm looking to the future and am looking forward to dominating monsters and having a few mind slaves around.

So what creatures are especially good to dominate? since I won't get dominate monster for a long time, I'm especially looking at dominate person and charm monster. Though any other good spells and advice are welcome

[ArcturusV]

People without Names. Least in my experience. If someone doesn't have a name, if the DM just describes them as something like "the random courtier in the throne room" or "the maid dusting a suit of armor" etc... it means A) They have access to whatever in the area you want to get access to typically. B) No one pays them a second thought. C) They are usually treated like dirt as lower ranking, less important people, and thus are perfectly willing to "stick it" to their bosses that you are looking to screw over. Yay for no bonus to saves!

[Alleran]

As a note, you may want to look into the Mother Cyst spells from Libris Mortis.

There's a two-spell combo that could be just what you want. Necrotic Cyst and Necrotic Tumor. One puts a cyst into a target, the other makes it dominate them. Permanently. And they can't avoid it unless the cyst is cut out of them, either (so no Protection from Evil or similar blocking your domination). It's hard to get off, and it won't kick in until much higher levels, but it's just something to think about.

(Also the Domination domain, but you won't get Monstrous Thrall until you have 9th level spells.)

[AntiTrust]

Depending on the society you're in I'd go for some racial humanoids that could act as your enforcers/muscle. Lizardfolk for example are humanoid and have +2str/con as well as +5natural armor. They stand 6-7ft tall so to your average townsfolk they are quite intimidating. They also speak draconic in addition to common so you can easily give them orders in front of most people without worrying about being overheard.

[Shadowbite]

Interesting suggestions. Any advice on getting good mileage out of charm person in dungeons? The +5 to will saves during combat is killer. Would it still apply if cast before they acted?

[ArcturusV]

Depends on how the DM rules it. They may have the +5 come into play only if cast during combat. They may also add it in during a "Do something you normally wouldn't..." sort of save if combat is involved. I've seen it go both ways.

In any regard I usually see "Extra meatshield/blade/blaster" as basically an inferior use of Charms and Dominates. I mean yeah, it's useful, but it's not the most useful use of the ability. There's so many more things you can do that won't give them the usual "Things they wouldn't do" loophole save, that are more effective than combat.

This could be as simple as just lying to a charmed enemy and say, "Hey, we're buddies right. I really like your sister over there. I've wanted to talk to her for a while but I'm too shy. Think you can bring her over, no crowds, no pressure, just the two of us, and you to help me out? Be my wingman buddy?"

So the guy says sure. Takes his sister (Maybe a dangerous spellcaster shaman) over alone to talk to you. You smile, then shank her for the kill while she has no allies to help. The charmed guy didn't do anything too weird to get a saving throw. No "Combat" saving throw as he wasn't involved. Still you just took out the most dangerous threat with it.

So it's that sort of theory. Use your charms and dominates not as extra bodies in a fight. Use them to set up a fight to your best advantage. Lure away people, create distractions, spread false information that has half the enemies running off to some emergency that doesn't exist, showing you where all the traps, secret tunnels, etc, are.