Protection from Evil + Dominate

[prufock]

This is a rules interpretation question. Last D&D session, the wizard villain cast Dominate Person on the party's barbarian. However, the barbarian was under the effect of a Protection from Evil spell.

Dominate Person:

Protection from evil or a similar spell can prevent you from exercising control or using the telepathic link while the subject is so warded, but such an effect neither prevents the establishment of domination nor dispels it.

Protection from Evil:

the barrier blocks any attempt to possess the warded creature (by a magic jar attack, for example) or to exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment (charm) effects and enchantment (compulsion) effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as dominate person). The protection does not prevent such effects from targeting the protected creature, but it suppresses the effect for the duration of the protection from evil effect. If the protection from evil effect ends before the effect granting mental control does, the would-be controller would then be able to mentally command the controlled creature.

Our debate concerned what actually happens to the barbarian, who failed her save. My interpretation is that the Dominate Person has no effect until the Protection wears off. The DM, however, took it to say that the barbarian takes no actions at all, since it "neither prevents the establishment of domination nor dispels it."

What say you?

[Rowanomicon]

I would say that your interpretation is clearly right.

To clarify:

Dominate Person is established on the target, but has no real effect while Protection From Evil is in effect.

No where does it say that anyone is paralyzed, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to act.

[tyckspoon]

Your interpretation is correct. Suppression means the Domination effect is non-functional; the Barbarian has normal free will for as long as the Protection From Evil is active. The statement that it does not dispel simply clarifies that the Domination effect is still there; it will come back into effect if the Protection stops over-riding it by running out of duration or being dispelled or however it should happen to end.

[Belteshazzar]

Basically he is unable to access the dominate spell he put on the barbarian. Barbarian plays as normal until protection wears off. By then he either has a new pet or is eating dirt as the party already crushed his larynx and gutted him.