Convoluted Methods of Magically Extracting Information From Unwilling Subjects [3.5]

[megabyter5]

For reasons I will not disclose right now, I've been trying to come up with some really strange ways to get a difficult NPC to talk, all of which must be much more complicated than necessary, and quite impractical. For example:

A druid and a sorcerer or wizard, both 12th level or higher, can cooperate to cast Flesh to Stone and then Stone Tell.

It's an absurd use of Stone Tell, that's for certain, but if you were crazy enough to try it, your DM might just allow it just because of how crazy it is. But that's only one idea, and I want to know what my fellow nerds can come up with. Non-core content is acceptable, as long as it isn't too obscure of a sourcebook.

On your mark...

Get set...

Formulate unnecessarily convoluted strategies for the purpose of divulging information from subjects by means of combining and/or reinterpreting spells found in sourcebooks for the revised third edition of Dungeons & Dragons that is both commonly and officially referred to as the "3.5" edition, not limited to purely core content but at least to those sourcebooks that retain some measure of notability or would be known of by the majority of forumgoers at this website (specifically referring to the forums section of http://www.giantitp.com/, the host website of the webcomic The Order of The Stick, by Rich Burlew, the forums of which contain the people that should presumably have a majority knowing of the sourcebook in question, and can be found at http://www.giantitp.com/forums/), those members of the aforementioned category that do not play Dungeons & Dragons notwithstanding!

[jokey665]

kill them -> speak with dead

[Pyro_Azer]

For reasons I will not disclose right now, I've been trying to come up with some really strange ways to get a difficult NPC to talk, all of which must be much more complicated than necessary, and quite impractical. For example:

A druid and a sorcerer or wizard, both 12th level or higher, can cooperate to cast Flesh to Stone and then Stone Tell.

It's an absurd use of Stone Tell, that's for certain, but if you were crazy enough to try it, your DM might just allow it just because of how crazy it is. But that's only one idea, and I want to know what my fellow nerds can come up with. Non-core content is acceptable, as long as it isn't too obscure of a sourcebook.

On your mark...

Get set...

Formulate unnecessarily convoluted strategies for the purpose of divulging information from subjects by means of combining and/or reinterpreting spells found in sourcebooks for the revised third edition of Dungeons & Dragons that is both commonly and officially referred to as the "3.5" edition, not limited to purely core content but at least to those sourcebooks that retain some measure of notability or would be known of by the majority of forumgoers at this website (specifically referring to the forums section of http://www.giantitp.com/, the host website of the webcomic The Order of The Stick, by Rich Burlew, the forums of which contain the people that should presumably have a majority knowing of the sourcebook in question, and can be found at http://www.giantitp.com/forums/), those members of the aforementioned category that do not play Dungeons & Dragons notwithstanding!

Well first off that is a mouthful.

Second zone of truth and inducing pain? Thats the way they did it for hundreds of years. The zone of truth just makes it a bunch more reliable.

[Jergmo]

Cast Polymorph Any Object multiple times to turn someone into a pebble. Then cast Stone Tell.

[avr]

Lying is Bluff, right? So find a way to take their charisma down to 1 - poisons, curses, weird monster attacks ...

[Jergmo]

Lying is Bluff, right? So find a way to take their charisma down to 1 - poisons, curses, weird monster attacks ...

Ego Whip and Curse, and while you're at it, summon an Allip and have it attack them 'til they have 1 wisdom so they can't resist Zone of Truth.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Ego Whip and Curse, and while you're at it, summon an Allip and have it attack them 'til they have 1 wisdom so they can't resist Zone of Truth.

I doubt you could get much intelligible information from someone with 1 wisdom and 1 charisma.

[GallóglachMaxim]

Mind Probe...oh, sorry, you wanted to do it the hard way.

[Jergmo]

I doubt you could get much intelligible information from someone with 1 wisdom and 1 charisma.

On the bright side, there is no chance that they'll be able to lie to you!

[Glimbur]

Modify Memory? Mind Rape?

[SurlySeraph]

Baleful Polymorph to turn it into an animal, then Awaken, then Modify Memory (since it can "Allow the subject to recall with perfect clarity an event it actually experienced") to restore the memories it lost (since Baleful Polymorph erases the subject's memory if they permanently turn into an animal).

If the subject is 11th level or higher, cast Legend Lore, since it can give you "information that has never been generally known."

Cast False Vision, then somehow persuade the subject to cast a divination spell, and use it to give him a vision of his god telling him to tell the truth.

Crushing Despair and persuade him that he has no hope of affecting anything so he might as well tell you. Fear and Ray of Exhaustion could also be useful here.

Repeated Touch of Idiocy and convince him you're his friends. Feeblemind won't work because it removes the target's ability to understand language.

Hypnotism, the 1st level arcane spell, makes a subject that fails its save treat you as two steps more friendly. Could be combined with any other approach.

Do the Polymorph + Stone Tell approach, except using Speak With Plants

Insanity and hope the subject forgets why he didn't want to cooperate with you.

Mark of Justice, with the condition "Say anything except what we want to know."

Seeming, combined with Mirage Arcana and other illusions, to convince the subject that he's back among his friends or family, and then ask him. Best if you maintain the illusion for a week or so first.

Plane Shift to go to some other plane and hire an outsider to persuade him for you. Likely to work best with Mechanus.

Go to another plane and cast Planar Binding on him, and then compel him to tell you the truth.

[mikeejimbo]

kill them -> speak with dead

I am very happy that this old standby was the first suggestion.

[Tyndmyr]

Ditto. It's my favorite method.

[Randel]

I remember looking through a guide on wizard divination spells (it was there to show people all the good spells that are in the divination school since wizards can't ban it).

Anyway, somewhere in there was a spell where the wizard eats the targets brain in order to absorb their memories. I suspect that its from some book that deals with mindflayers.

It gave me a crazy mental image of a group of adventurers interrogating a group and after trying the traditional methods of interrogation the Evil wizard gets a hacksaw, saws open the head of one of the still-living suspects, gets two slices of bread, eats his brain *nom nom nom... burp!*, and starts reciting everything the suspect knew up until he points out that one of the other suspects knows the info they want.

Brain-eating interrogation spells... when you just can't switch to chaotic evil fast enough.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

@ Randel: I'm pretty sure that was a Vile spell from BoVD.

[icefractal]

Simulacrum (of them), then just ask the Simulacrum (which follows your commands) to tell you what you want to know.

[Zaq]

I remember looking through a guide on wizard divination spells (it was there to show people all the good spells that are in the divination school since wizards can't ban it).

Anyway, somewhere in there was a spell where the wizard eats the targets brain in order to absorb their memories. I suspect that its from some book that deals with mindflayers.

It gave me a crazy mental image of a group of adventurers interrogating a group and after trying the traditional methods of interrogation the Evil wizard gets a hacksaw, saws open the head of one of the still-living suspects, gets two slices of bread, eats his brain *nom nom nom... burp!*, and starts reciting everything the suspect knew up until he points out that one of the other suspects knows the info they want.

Brain-eating interrogation spells... when you just can't switch to chaotic evil fast enough.

You might be thinking of Crystalline Memories, from Complete Mage. Less graphic, but still fun.

[mikeejimbo]

Brain-eating interrogation spells... when you just can't switch to chaotic evil fast enough.

Is that necessarily chaotic, though?

[Shademan]

SOMEHOW tranform him into a plant and have the weretiger ranger...ugh..."speak with plants"
(or the druid. who the ranger "got his spells from")

[Thurbane]

I think SurlySeraph wins!

[Mewtarthio]

1. Capture and dominate a werebear.
2. Cast bestow curse on the captive twice: once to penalize saving throws, and once to penalize Con (do not use damage/drain, as that can kill him; bestow curse can't drop the subject below 1).
3. Have the werebear bite the subject.
4. Lock the werebear away for storage.
5. On the next full moon, see if the subject changes. If not, recover the werebear and repeat the above step.
6. If the subject does change, then proceed forward.
7. Purchase the subject a +5 tome of understanding and force the subject to read it.
8. After the next transformation, use whatever means you have to boost the subject's Wis score right as the subject regains consciousness.
9. Use detect thoughts to determine whether or not the subject remembers being a bear. If not, repeat the above step.
10. If so, then plane shift to any relatively safe extraplanar location.
11. From there, planar bind an allip.
12. Return with the allip and drain the subject's Wis until the subject is comatose.
13. On the next full moon, hit the subject with mind fog right as the transformation occurs.
14. Use detect law and detect good to see if the subject has failed his save vs. alignment shift. If not, repeat the above step.
15. Dominate a bard.
16. Force the bard to repeatedly use modify memory on the subject until the subject recalls a band of paladins slaying you and rescuing the subject.
17. Disguise the bard as a paladin.
18. Make the bard cast glibness and impersonate a paladin.
19. Cast limited wish to restore a single point of the subject's drained Wis (emulating restoration, except much weaker, which falls well within the spell's bounds).
20. Cast limited wish again to bestow a further -7 penalty to the subject's next saving throw, as the next step could be very costly if the save is successful and mind fog is inconvenient to use here.
21. Make the bard cast hypnotism.
22. Subject now believes your puppet is a trustworthy ally and furthermore will obey the bard's next request as though Fanatical. Simply have the bard order the subject to participate in the "debriefing" in which the subject will be required to reveal everything (s)he knows.

Convoluted enough for ya?

[Grumman]

You might be thinking of Crystalline Memories, from Complete Mage. Less graphic, but still fun.

I was once tempted to play an extremely unsubtle sorcerer who believed that any problem could be solved with enough violence.

Need Detect Thoughts? Physically tear the memories from their skull with Crystalline Memories.
Need Plane Shift? Use Reality Maelstrom to tear a hole between planes.
Need Dominate? Lobotomise them with a Necrotic Cyst.

[Set]

Make a Simulacra of the subject, and order it to answer all of your questions.

I was once tempted to play an extremely unsubtle sorcerer who believed that any problem could be solved with enough violence.

Reminds me of a Brujah a played with Potence 5, convinced that it was the only discipline anyone ever needed. "Dominate the bartender to answer our questions!" <punch bar in half> "Can you use Auspex to see through the wall?" <punches hole in wall> "Use Presence to get the crowd off the street." <lifts car over head>

[Optimystik]

You might be thinking of Crystalline Memories, from Complete Mage. Less graphic, but still fun.

Pretty sure he's thinking of Absorb Mind from BoVD. OM NOM NOM.

(The CM version is better, however. 2d6 WIS damage, only 25% chance to get info? No thanks.)