Mind Control is No Fun

[jas61292]

To some extent, yes, but which hurts more? "My character died fighting for what he believes in" or "My character became a mindless thrall and murdered everything he cared for"?

I think it depends. Both on the player, and the circumstances. There was actually a campaign I played in where I experienced both of those. My first character was a Paladin who did have strong beliefs, and he fought exactly as I wanted him to, and died fighting for what he believed in. My second character was a Barbarian that, quite literally became mindless (damn intellect devourers) and ended up helping murder everything he cared for.

And I'll tell you what, for me the latter was a heck of a lot more enjoyable. On the one hand, yeah, my paladin played the way I wanted them to, and died fighting for what he believed in. But he also died a rather boring death that was more a result of terrible dice luck than anything. Its not like just because he fought for his ideals that meant he went out in a blaze of glory. He didn't. He bled out on the side of a road because some bandits crit too much.

On the other hand, the death of my barbarian (and the rest of the party) was great. It is a moment we still talk about to this day, because it was actually fun and entertaining. Sure, I didn't get to do what the character I made would have done, but the DM let me play out the character, giving me orders but not dictating my actions directly. And so I just ran with it, had fun, helped some mindflayers trick the party into walking into a trap, and then got to chop our annoying prick of a warlock in half (the character was the annoying prick, btw, not the player. The player is cool, and loved how this all went down).

Ultimately, I think it just depends a lot on circumstances. I know there are probably a lot of people who put so much work into their character that having to play them differently than they envisioned hurts. I also know there are probably a lot of situations where being mind controlled is not that fun, because it ends up meaning you play a less interesting version of your character, and it doesn't even end up mattering. But there are also situations where being mind controlled can be very interesting, and there are people who are happy to just go with the flow on these kind of things so long as it keeps them entertained. And I'm not saying any one situation is better than another. D&D is a broad game for people that enjoy many different play-styles. So while I don't think mind control is something good for every table, I think it is a good mechanic for the game to have, and do not think the game would be any better without it.