How to use Dominate

[cbarrett76]

My DM just gave me a neck item that has a daily dominate power save ends. I want to make sure my thinking is right on how to use this as this is a home brew campaign and he loves to give his monsters ridiculous powers as at wills. Questions:

1) Once i dominate the monster it is effectively dazed and cant take OAs or do immediates right?
2) I get one action per round with the monster and can use ANY at will power it has to attack with?
3) Do its effects benefit my allies? Like if I did a burst or blast that hurts enemies and heals allies with the monster that I have dominated then my allies get the benefit and its allies take the damage?
4) If it has an aura that helps its allies do my allies get the benefit of the aura and do its allies get the effects of harmful auras while it is MC'd?
5) If our fighter has it marked, while MCd does it still have the -2 penalty for not including the fighter in the attack? Can the fighter punish it with an OA for violating the mark while MCd? If another melee class is next to it and I have it do a ranged attack does my ally get an OA?

[Inevitability]

My DM just gave me a neck item that has a daily dominate power save ends. I want to make sure my thinking is right on how to use this as this is a home brew campaign and he loves to give his monsters ridiculous powers as at wills. Questions:

1) Once i dominate the monster it is effectively dazed and cant take OAs or do immediates right?
2) I get one action per round with the monster and can use ANY at will power it has to attack with?
3) Do its effects benefit my allies? Like if I did a burst or blast that hurts enemies and heals allies with the monster that I have dominated then my allies get the benefit and its allies take the damage?
4) If it has an aura that helps its allies do my allies get the benefit of the aura and do its allies get the effects of harmful auras while it is MC'd?
5) If our fighter has it marked, while MCd does it still have the -2 penalty for not including the fighter in the attack? Can the fighter punish it with an OA for violating the mark while MCd? If another melee class is next to it and I have it do a ranged attack does my ally get an OA?

1) Indeed. It is limited to a single action on your turn.
2) You can choose from all of its at-will powers, indeed.
3) No. The creature keeps its own allies/enemies.
4) Again, no.
5) I do not see why it should not have the -2 penalty. And yes, you can make dominated enemies provoke OA's, and the fighter may punish it.

[Leewei]

Have it charge one of its allies. This will give it a +1 to the attack rolls against it, and will also provoke OAs from your nearby allies.

[dariathalon]

1) Indeed. It is limited to a single action on your turn.
2) You can choose from all of its at-will powers, indeed.
3) No. The creature keeps its own allies/enemies.
4) Again, no.
5) I do not see why it should not have the -2 penalty. And yes, you can make dominated enemies provoke OA's, and the fighter may punish it.

Actually its action is still taken on it's turn, not yours. You still have your full complement of actions available to you, and get to decide it's one action on its turn.

A note about the aura's, if the aura is particularly aggravating, most monster auras can be turned on and off as an at-will minor action (this is stated in the aura description in the glossary). So you depending on your DMs particular reading of this, you can probably have it spend its minor action shutting off its aura. Most of the time it is more worthwhile to have it just attack though.

[Sol]

If the target is also going to be dazed for it's next non-dominated turn, or is likely to be slowed but isn't yet, you could also consider having it run away with it's action. This will provoke OAs from any adjacent allies, and will put it out of range of charging back in on it's own turn, if your allies are smart about positioning themselves.

Obviously this loses power on enemies with viable ranged attacks. In those cases, make them RBA themselves if they're surrounded, or run/charge into the melee pack if they're off on their own. Bonus points if the run/charge into a terrible position for them also provokes from your melee allies.

[Epinephrine]

Throw the enemy's weapon as an improvised thrown attack, provoking AoOs for the ranged attack and eliminating future Weapon attacks.?
(I'd be so annoyed if the party did that that I'd start doing it to them...)

[Inevitability]

Whoops! Mixed up the 'your turn' part. Thanks for correcting me!

And throwing a weapon... that is evil. That is just evil. I think it is straight up there with 'I command the monster to lie down with its eyes closed ignoring all things that happen, so it is helpless and CDG-able now'.

[Excession]

My wizard has, twice now i think, used Hypnotism to order enemies to bite off their own heads, killing them. Effective, clean, and cinematic. No sense getting your hands dirty after all.

Worth noting that many mark punishments, sometimes post errata, don't work unless the creature attacks one of the marker's allies. OAs from charging are still good though if you have a real dominate.

[Mandrake]

My wizard has, twice now i think, used Hypnotism to order enemies to bite off their own heads, killing them. Effective, clean, and cinematic. No sense getting your hands dirty after all.

Um, I don't think he can, by RAW, do that. He can make them use a BA against themselves, but unless the enemy has a BA that "Bites off a head", then this is overpowered. Just saying, have fun playing it your way :)

[Leewei]

Um, I don't think he can, by RAW, do that. He can make them use a BA against themselves, but unless the enemy has a BA that "Bites off a head", then this is overpowered. Just saying, have fun playing it your way :)

Huh. An enemy with Swallow Whole? :smalleek:

[Inevitability]

How can something bite its own head off? :smallconfused:

[Epinephrine]

Huh. An enemy with Swallow Whole? :smalleek:

Yeah, that could work - technically, it could target itself with an ability that swallows itself. I may have to see if I can make that happen in game some time :P

[Excession]

How can something bite its own head off? :smallconfused:

Before my Hypnotism it was alive. Afterwards it was dead. The rest is fluff. ;)

[DragonBaneDM]

Before my Hypnotism it was alive. Afterwards it was dead. The rest is fluff. ;)

Ohhh okay so it was at low hit points and the Hypnotism was the killing blow. Gotcha.

[obryn]

Yeah, Dominate gets tricky. I have kind of a "cold war" philosophy about it. The more terrible my players are when they dominate an enemy, the more terrible I'll be when enemies dominate them.

[Daracaex]

Throw the enemy's weapon as an improvised thrown attack, provoking AoOs for the ranged attack and eliminating future Weapon attacks.?
(I'd be so annoyed if the party did that that I'd start doing it to them...)
And throwing a weapon... that is evil. That is just evil. I think it is straight up there with 'I command the monster to lie down with its eyes closed ignoring all things that happen, so it is helpless and CDG-able now'.
*Tentatively raises hand*
I... ummm... I'm guilty of this. As a DM. Without any prompting from my players. I had a large treasure-golem-dragon command the fighter to use his main hammer as an improvised thrown weapon attack against the wizard.

One of the best ideas I've ever had in a fight. :wink: