Five Spells to use in Interrogations in Dungeons and Dragons 5e
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- MONSTERS OF DRAKKENHEIM is 300+ pages of eldritch horror inspired monsters for 5e by the Dungeon Dudes! Coming to Kickstarter March 26th, 2024: www.kickstarter.com/projects/... Let's get some real answers. We take a look at five spells you can use for "enhanced" interrogations in Dungeons and Dragons 5e.
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Игры
"A corpse is a corpse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a corpse, of course,
But I can talk to a corpse, of course,
'Cause, I've got speak with dead!"
I now want to play an intelligent horse necromancer.
Well played, Good sir.
This is delightful :)
The Bard Necromancer
Go right to the source and ask the corpse
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse
He's always on a rotting course
Talk to Mr. Dead
NPCs yakkity yak and crit fail your bonus action away.
But Mr. Dead will never speak, without a spellcaster’s say
A corpse is a corpse, of course, of course
And the DM’ll talk 'til his voice is hoarse
You never heard of a talking corpse?
Hi, I’m Mr. Dead.
I once used prestidigitation to change the color of the air between a captured enemy and a jar, closed the jar, and then told the man I’d stolen his soul and I’d only give it back if he told us what we wanted to know. It worked well!
Added this. Fucking brilliant
What was the Deception DC?
@@VinceValentine no idea, dm never told me
fantatastic
3:28 - Charm Person (1st level) - honorable mention: Charm Monster (4th level)
6:36 - Zone of Truth (2nd level)
8:21 - Detect Thoughts (2nd level)
10:58 - Suggestion (2nd level) - honorable mention: Dominate Person (5th level)
14:04 - Disguise Self (1st level) - honorable mention: Modify Memory (5th level)
I like Message.
Scry.
These can be useful.
Obviously detect thoughts is the zenith.
Thank you. I'm surprised the creators aren't capable of adding this to the description.
@@Lostcory is it not possible they make money when people watch the video and not skip through it?
@@Lostcory I had found that until a rather recent RUclips update, when they did do that, the timestamp links didn't usually work.
Edit: They as in other creators I had seen do it.
Social interactions and interrogations are where Sorcerers can really Shine.. using subtle spell to disguise their spell-casting so that the targets (possibly right in front of them) have no clue that they're using detect thoughts on them( or Friends , Cantrip usable at will..also ,using disguise self to impersonate a trusted ally/ authority figure further sows chaos and confusion after interrogations..)
Disguise self is also available to Warlocks through a use of Invocation "Mask of many faces".
So here was my play, which I thought was pretty clever and worked out well:
a) Detect thoughts
b) Tell them we already got a comrade to crack so now we know what all their greatest fears were. (their mind goes directly to their own fear)
c) minor illusion to dangle that thing above their head (in our case it was a skeleton that was afraid of being crushed to death so an anvil illusion worked pretty well).
d) ask nicely
I only need two spells, disintegrate and revive, but lots of them.
"The creature can be restored to life only by means of a true resurrection or a wish spell." True res is pretty dang expensive!
Revival spells in D&D also typically require that the target be willing to be return. I doubt they would be when the one reviving them is the person who killed them - or helped kill them.
@@Draeckon in terms of using it once, bringing them back and telling them it will be permanent the next time, may work quite well on the less hardened or more fearful of captives
Lol I have a conquest paladin that bare knuckle beats information out of people by bloodying the and using punches with divine smite to knock them unconscious and then punches with lay on hands to restore them.
A good strategy is having revivify, then torture them until they either talk or die. Then when they die cast revivify, they come back and threaten that next time they won't be so fortunate
Not a spell, but an often overlooked method of interrogations: Alcohol. Lots and lots of Alcohol.
As a spell, you can possibly combine that with Protection from Poison. It again is DM's discretion, but alcohol _is_ a poison and drunkenness _is_ a form of being poisoned.
Having an hour (or possibly several with recasts) where you're resistant to drunkenness should make even rather fragile interrogator far less drunk than the target without them even suspecting it. Than, it's a case of being good with words.
If the interrogation fails, you can always take a piece of hair and let the prisoner escape unintentionally... Then cast scry after it goes back to its base of operations..
Enhance Ability is a massive upgrade to Charm Person. You give yourself or an ally advantage on all charisma checks for an hour. You don't need to worry about charm immunity and saving throws, and it is completely undetectable. You can cast it on the party face before going into any social setting. It is only second level and is available to clerics, sorcerers, bards and druids.
Don't know how I missed that before, but it's such a good idea!
True it works. I think of charm person more in terms of a beautiful agent seducing someone though. Charm person is a lot of fun to role play.
Robert Kaufman Possibly. But I don’t like the way Charm ends with the target knowing what you did. Plus, you may need to sweet talk or fool multiple NPCs during the duration. EA seems all-around better, for a cha-skills based character. And then, Charm ends if you injure the target. But intimidation still gets advantage even after you break a few fingers with EA.
It might seem like metagaming but enhance ability while functionally similar to charm person, I think would get fewer results than charm. Enhance ability doesnt make the target more likely or willing to talk.
From a dms pov enhance ability still requires you to get past all the same hurdles that charm or suggestion might just make completely obsolete.
@@kaemonbonet4931
... except that this isn't how the rules work. If your DM wants to houserule that, then of course that's alright, but that isn't how the game is designed. Advantage is advantage.
Your comment about lower level goons not knowing the plan reminds me of the line from the movie Total Recall,
Richter: But, I thought...
Vilos Cohaagen: [interrupting] Who told you to THINK? I don't give you enough information to THINK! You do as your told. THAT'S WHAT YOU DO!
Detect Thoughts as a Great Old One Warlock feels so good to roleplay out. You can probe into someone's mind while you speak to them telepathically.
If Zone of Truth wont work, then cast Command and Detect Thoughts on them. This works well, also
"Wow, you really like futanari x trap hentai don't you?"
"PLEASE STOP! I'LL TELL YOU EVERYTHING!"
Interrogator : tell me what you know or I'm putting your search history on the internet..
NPC : no , NO , no ..please not that.. whatever you want..
I’m about to start in a campaign where I play a spy bard and was just about to start picking my spells. This was clutch timing!
Same here at lvl 3 picked college of whispers hands down makes these spells even more devious
And being a kenku adds the expert nimicry with forgery
Play a Changeling Bard, and this kind of thing would be even easier to pull off, since they pretty much have access to Disguise Self (except that their clothing/gear will not change with them) as an at-will racial ability (and they have advantage on checks to avoid being discovered as an impostor). Changelings can be exceptionally versatile, and if you take Detect Thoughts as a Changeling Bard, you would have an even easier time passing yourself off as someone that you're not, and can make your disguises even more effective and much harder to see through.
I once used Ceremony (I was a Paladin) to trick a high ranking religious individual that I was about to dedicate her to the service of a god she considered to be blasphemous. It took a lot of Deception, some thematic thaumaturgy and prestidigitation from my fellow party members for ambiance and effect, as well as plenty of ranting from our party Cleric to sell it but right before the hour was up she cracked. The best part is that the Ceremony would have never worked since she wasn't willing.
Pascal's Dilemma, used beautifully. Mad props for that.
The high ranking member would definitely have known that they need to be willing though. Our DM would have shut that down based on RAW and the high ranking part.
Cool though
So what were the gods of the Paladin and the Cleric who were okay with lying and respectless misuse of religion?
Not in D&D, but still on the subject of interrogation : In our Mage the Ascension campaign, our group managed to get hold of a high ranking prisonner that is kinda immune to Mind Magick, but who has some information we need. We do have some time though.
So one girl came with this idea : we'll just gonna let him rot in his cell, and she's gonna use Life Magick to block his endorphine and dopamine secretion in his system, making him effectively depressed kinda permanently, and then, she'll come by each day to give him food and be friendly with him, and when she does, she's gonna use Life Magick again to give him a little boost of those hormones and then block them again as she leaves... Basically, this guy is only gonna be able to feel somewhat happy when she's there... Which leads to her becoming a friend, and then him giving her what we need...
I feel really bad for the guy, but that's ingenious af =D
Oh geez, thats true torture.
@@WinterPains Well... yeah, and probably forced Stokholm Syndrom with a little side of brain washing. But that's alright, we're the good guys ! ^^
@@Paehrin Are we though?
Mage: the Ascention was my favorite game. Loved the flexability. Sucked as a Larp- and they (White Wolf) didn't treat those writers well at all!
Had a party capture 3 hobgoblin skirmishers. Took away hobgoblin 1 for interrogation. He didn't break. Party member uses disguise self to look like a half dead tortured version of said hobgoblin. Returned him to the cell with the other two. He wouldn't say anything to the other two, just huddled on the far side of the cell from them sobbing in the corner. He coughed out a few ballberrings and kicked them away with clear fear in his body language. They then take hobgoblin 2 in for questioning. Party force feeds him a bag of ballberrings. Had the death domain cleric explain death would not be coming this night and cast hear metal on a berring left out. Didn't ask him a damned thing and returned him unharmed to the cell. Pulled out 3 after 2 induced vomiting to get out the herrings. Tortured the help out of 3 and the party let it slip 2 squealed in seconds (acting like they were betting on who would break). Sent back 2 and retrieved 1. Let 3 and 2 argue in their cell. The questions 3 asked 2 told us everything they thought was important to hide. The answers didn't mean as much as knowing the right questions to use speak with dead on.
Wow...... no words. Well, no, fuck that, that was pretty damn special!
That was dark af
One incredibile combination i found is using Speak with Dead and then cast Zone of Truth.
The targer of Speak with Dead has to answer but can lie, while a target with Zone of truth can't lie but can decide not to speak.
So if you have problems with a target you can just finish him and use this.
Its a bit heavy on the spell slot, but if you want answers there is no better combo.
Except Zone of Truth only works on creatures, and the thing you're speaking to is a corpse.
So it really depends on whether your DM wants to allow it. Personally, I probably wouldn’t, just because keeping secrets is a valuable tool as a DM, but that doesn’t mean it can’t work in some campaigns.
Zone of truth only prevents someone from lying. It doesn’t force them to answer fully or helpfully. You can mislead someone without directly lying to them, or you could truthfully say something like “I don’t want to tell you” or answer so cryptically that he answer could be interpreted multiple ways.
Always smash or take the head of your opponent if they see your face and you want to be "incognito".
Use Speak with Dead after killing them to promise you’ll revive them once they tell you
Modify Memory could also be used to make the target think that an equal exchange of information has taken place or that you successfully deceived/persuaded them
Playing an 11th level Warlock and didn't have any of these spells. I did however have Major Illusion, Dream and Eyebite. We had captured a spy from a deeply religious country and needed information but didn't really know much about what was happening. So I sent the target a hostile dream consisting of the stereotypical visage of his god holding its holy symbol. I sent a message something like, "I am displeased with you, I will send my emissary.". The following morning I used Major illusion to make a portal open, change the terrain a little in the prison cell and then had the emissary come through. I then cast eyebite, let the emissary wait a minute and started the questioning. My trained deception was great for this as I could ask open ended questions and got tonnes of info. :)
This is how I interrogate.
I walk in and say nothing. I pull 5 chopped up bodies out of my bag of holding. If he still has not talked I cast danse macabre. I now have 5 zombies standing before the victim. I then command the zombies to eat him. Limbs first of course.
Now you have 6 zombies for the next interrogation.
Getting answers is easy...
Getting the truth [dramatic pause] is what my profession is all about.
- some badass inquisitor
I will use that, thanks
You forgot **snaps butt probing glove**
Chilling, actualy.
@@dolphinboi-playmonsterranc9668 Eh, I'd rather break their knee caps and tell them to talk or I'll start breaking other stuff...
My favorite interrogation I've done is when my character, a bard, took out his earnings, which where just bent nails, and put them in the ear lobes of the enemy. Then I used heat metal
You could also pull some nasty tricks with Dream, now that I think about it.
Drake Ford dude hell yeah! Depending on what sort of dream the character was having before you enter it, you might even be able to have “people” your target is communicating with get them to spill the beans while you watch
Just had a thought watching this, building on team effort, cast hex and choose charisma for the ability check with dissadvantage. Helps with insight rolls contesting the deceptions. Then throw in an enhance ability of owls wisdom and that's one hell of a role off
Soul Cage is pretty damn solid as a high level interrogation tool when you can spare the details.
Perhaps not the most savory tactic, but it guarantees true and complete (if brief) answers to up to six questions, and there's no permanent damage to the soul- if you're the sort to worry about that kind of thing.
There is that whole issue of needing to kill them, but that's pretty likely anyhow if we're being honest.
"I'd like to cast Waterboarding at 3rd level."
While cantrips are sometimes harder to come by than spells, the Friends cantrip is almost identical to Charm Person for the purposes of interrogation, and since cantrips can be gotten on non-spellcasters in a variety of ways, you can use it even if you're more of a fighter or barbarian.
It only lasts a minute though, and only works on a creature that isn't hostile to you, which is very often not the case in an interrogation.
@@nickschile4807 Since it's a cantrip, you can constantly re-cast it to keep it running as long as you need.
@@elbruces "For the duration, you have advantage on all Charisma checks directed at one creature of your choice *THAT ISN'T HOSTILE TOWARDS YOU.* (emphasis mine) When the spell ends, the creature realizes that you used magic to influence its mood and *BECOMES HOSTILE TOWARD YOU* (again, emphasis mine). A creature prone to violence might attack you. Another creature might seek retribution in other ways (at the DM’s discretion), depending on the nature of your interaction with it."
So, like I mentioned before, it only works on creatures not hostile toward you, and this spell will MAKE them hostile toward you, so this only works once; you can't cast Friends over and over again on the same target.
@@nickschile4807 Doesn't say whether you can re-cast a spell to extend its duration. That would be up to the DM.
@@elbruces Except it does. RAW, this is not an option, especially with Concentration spells, which Friends is. When you cast the spell a second time, you have to drop concentration, which effectively ends the spell, which makes the target hostile, which makes any further use of Friends impossible. Sure, your DM can rule differently, but at that point, you are trying to turn Friends into Charm Person, which it isn't. Not to mention the material component if you aren't a spell caster with a focus; you would literally have to put on some makeup every minute. I am all for using cantrips in cool ways, but Friends is not meant for any long term use.
Should the party have more than one prisoner they can use the "prisoners dilemma" to exert more pressure. Don't be shy in lying that prisoner #1 has already started to tell all and only by spilling secrets /now/ will prisoner #2 be spared.
Hell you can just pretend like you have more prisoners.
More likely than not they wont know since you probably knocked them out or you can use disguise self again and pretend to be a comrad if you don't have another prisoner and make it seem like he have already revealed a lot of information and that they don't need the other soldier anymore.
"Can you get him to talk? No can do sir! He wont say a single word! Forget about him then we will use this one instead! (Reveal said "comrad" and make it seem like you are about to kill the actual soldier)
It might not work but he might start talking since he knows that the only chance for him to be spared is by at least giving you some useful information the other don't have or maybe he will even talk to just help his friend not get tortured like he had been.
Take #2 out of the room. Disguise self as #2 with an ear missing, nose chewed off, teeth knocked out etc and go back in to talk alone. A good deception or performance from a bard could do it. Act like you stole a lock pick and are getting #1 out. Walk with him straight back to base. Learn any secrets along the way.
Variant add-on: If you have 4+ prisoners, take 1 at a time into a private room. Tell the first that to survive he/she must scream bloody murder. 5 minutes later, come out alone--first prisoner has been rendered unconscious or removed by another (hidden) door--and take in the 2nd. Ask a few questions, then repeat the screaming scenario. Come out 10 minutes later looking irritated. Repeat, with more questions and waiting 15-20 minutes. Look angry but not yet furious as leaving room. By the 4th you should be getting a lot more answers and a lot more honesty, with minimal bloodletting (for those good-aligned parties).
'Cardinal Fang! Get the comfy chair!'
Possible Ideas:
Zone of Truth, Detect Thoughts, Suggestion, Disguise Self, Charm Person, Geas, Phantasmal Force, Glibness, Heat Metal, Witchbolt, Flame Sphere, hmmm...
Ngl, Geas may be a bit overpowered.
I like Speak with Dead. Pretty reliable way to ask 5 questions and get truthful answers, though watch out for a DM willing to twist your words.
Dead people can lie to you, though.
True which is why DM input is crucial. My DM believes that since the spell only gives a semblance of animation and not life or undeath unless I give myself away in my questions as a hostile being it will answer truthfully. That being said, my DM also believes that for the same reason I need to be careful with how I word questions, or he can answer based on a completely different context.@@fishworshipper
I feel like a paladin casting Hold Person, plus a wizard using Vampiric Touch/Enervation, plus a cleric to bring them back could be pretty useful
I never noticed the "Penny for your thoughts" detail in Detect Thoughts - I love it!
I'm really always looking forward to a new Five Spells!
Good work with these!
How about: Zone of truth + Command (answer). They're in the zone of truth, and MUST answer.
It's open to the "harms way" counter argument, but I'd say this is an over interpretation of the rules. The "Harms way" caveat is there to avoid making enemies suicide in one way or the other.
So, this is an evil one that I came up with and used in a session downtime.
My gnome was being interrogated for info, and gave the interrogators vague and clever answers. Then the cleric came in and cast Zone of Truth. The interrogators asked the same questions again, with the threat that every time an answer didn't match, my gnome would get beaten and hurt.
The evilness of this is two-fold. First, it makes a character know when and how they're about to get hit and builds that fear and dread because they know what they lied about. Second, the more clever the character was during the first part of the interrogation before Zone of Truth was used, the worse it's going to go for them during the second part *and they'll know it the second they realize what's happening.*
I wrote this in a downtime blurb and it made everyone else at the table determined to never let their characters be taken prisoner when I'm running the game :)
As a fiend warlock I've found as my groups go to interrogator the spell command and the word cooperate is always my go to for answers
Played a paladin with Zone of truth and Command. Cast Zone of truth waited till the tied up prisoner failed save, then had a party member ask a question before casting Command with a one word order: "Answer".
It is something minor but I noticed it right away. Technically, your suggestion can be up to two sentences. Great videos. Thanks.
The party got mad at me that I wouldn't let them execute the goblins after the interrogation. IRL I was an Army Interrogator for ten years. We played a lot of role playing games.
Thank you so much for this vid! I have been dealing with writers block related to this topic and you guys gave me a new perspective.
While I liked the spells listed here as great sources of getting information out of someone, there was one thing that kinda stuck out to me. You guys mentioned that players "tortured" NPCs to get information out of them. In D&D games that I've played, I've never had anyone in my party that was of good alignment torture someone. Having said that, I did have one DM who saw that a player was going that route, and asked, "What's your alignment?" When the reply came back as Lawful Neutral, they said, "Ok, continue." I think it's worth letting players know before they go that far that they should consider their alignment, and if they do it anyways, that would shift it downwards towards being evil.
Having said all that, I did have a Aasimar Paladin of Conquest who used to be Lawful Evil. Even after an alignment shift to Lawful Neutral, I used their special aura along with fear tactics to cause psychic damage while demanding answers without ever physically touching the target. After all, how can they claim that they were tortured without physical injuries? In that case, Channel Divinity: Conquering Presence, the spell Fear, and Necrotic Shroud became ways I got information out of someone using intimidation. And when I was pressed for time, such tactics made me think of how Batman usually made criminals talk just to get to where he needed to be to stop whomever said criminal worked for.
In one of our first sessions of this campaign, we used Prestidigitation to imitate the sound of screaming in the next room while the... ahem... interviewees were waiting their turn to be "tortured." Fear of the unknown, anticipation, and a good cop/bad cop routine between the sorcerer and the warlock worked wonders. Of course, now I have Suggestion, so that'll help.
My researcher in a Curse of Strahd campaign has often used magic to assist in interrogation. Detect Thoughts is a great spell, but hands down my favorite interrogation tactic has been Tasha's Hideous Laughter. Ultimately harmless, but an easy way to make the target feel powerless and like I have complete control over them. Couple with the fact that I can read their thoughts, and it has made even a hardened spy utterly break down.
I have never played a deception type of character, i was always a DPS kind of class and thinker or a tank type, but this sort of thing really makes me want to play those sorts of characters
Inflict wounds, blight, bestow curse, soul cage, revivify.
Awesome and insightful DnD tips video, Dungeon Dudes! Especially the real world mention! This segment opens doors into creative possibilities with getting to the truth! Kudos! A Keeper!
So far a choice between "travel ration" or "agonising blast" has been pretty effective for us in our current campaign.
But admittedly the BBEG is a currently (we suspect he's middle management) a liche of the "I have your children hostage, work for me or else" variety, so his mortal servants tend to spill the beans first chance them get.
A rather literal "cake or death" choice. :-P
I feel like phantasmal force could be used to a somewhat similar effect as disguise self? Idk, it’s not a very common spell as far as I’ve seen, but I’ve used it quite a bit with my Dao Genie patron Warlock
Feels great to have these spells neatly listed and explained.
Even though most everyone should know by now,glad you 2 still made the 📹😁😎🎉
Had a really niche use of Disguise Self not too long ago. Bit of Backstory. The current campaign I'm in is abour 4 sessions in (and we JUST hit lvl 3) and one of the party members is a vampire (we knew this relatively early on as Metagame knowledge). The warlock I am playing had a backstory as Intel-Specialist of sorts for a mercenary guild and relatively quickly picked up on the idea smth is wrong, especially since the vampire started acting strange around a PC he didn't get along with previously. So in order to try and get more Information out, my warlock disguised as the vampire to try and lure that other PC into giving out more information. Shame it didn't work out the way I had planned it, but it's definitely a fun spell
Im running Waterdeep: Dragon Heist currently and these thoughts will come in handy for sure throughout the entire campaign.
Thank you for the great ideas!!!
this was a great one, guys. thanks.
Cool ideas & great video! I'll have to remember these ideas for the future.
I've had one moment where we tried to beat answers out of an enemy and it didn't work so we knocked him out and dumped him in the woods, no weapons with my forge domain clerics light hammer and I cast locate object on the hammer while he used it to fight his way back to the enemy base we were trying to find and we literally just followed him from 800 feet back
My party combines Disguise Self and Speak With the Dead.
You only get five questions, so we decide what we’re going to ask in advance, but we literally get to “shoot first and ask questions later.”
If you have a bard and an artificer(lvl 11) you can use bardic inspiration + guidance + flash of genius on a persuasion roll that has expertise. That's a combined roll+18+1d4+1d8. That's an average of roll + 25. That's assuming 20's in charisma and intelligence in the needed characters. We used that on a extremely hard roll we had, that our DM put a DC=40. We also used advantage. We rolled 16, for a total of 41. Impossible things can be accomplished
My favorite tactic is to use *Prestidigitation* to create some fancy magical effect, poke them between the eyes, and then convince them that if they lie... their head will explode. Obviously this wont work with a more intelligent or magic savvy opponent but it has worked for me many times when dealing with minions.
This is great and real eye opener/Perspective change
My favourite interaction with Zone of Truth is Cloud of Daggers (the one that spawns daggers that do 4d4 piercing damage per round for as long as they remain within the cloud). If the creature stays in the space, they take damage and if they stay they take damage. You can then pressure the NPC to speak since Zone of Truth does not compel them to speak, but being repeatedly stabbed might.
My first character was a great old one warlock that liked to try and deceive people that he was on their side using his telepathy. Pretending to be a secret agent on their side or a sympathetic would be ally that has his own plans to thwart the other PCs
The subtlety of this is that evil will be more likely to accept the idea of treachery and trickery.
I hate Detect Thoughts, not for the reason most people think.
90% of the time they will spend half the session interrogating the guard who knows NOTHING!
And never on the guy who will give them what they need to know.
Prestidigitation on some vodka to taste like water and wait untill they are drunk. That can really lower the DC of the intimidation/persuasion checks
You can waterboard them with the vodka so they can't refuse the drink.
I needed this. I have a major NPC that is a bard/informant for the mafia in our campaign. This will help a lot!
My favoured Interrogation method is Delayed Blast Fireball. You have exactly one minute to tell us what we want to know, or else you take 22d6 fire damage.
Recently played in a campaign where I played a Knowledge Domain Cleric. I was an interigator that liked his job a little too much and this video was quite the useful resource. My favorite moment was when I kept one of the enemies alive after a fight to question. The DM was playing the enemy very resistant to my questions and kept resisting my spells, so I used my Channel Divinity to become proficient in some nearby blacksmith tools and used those to torture the info out of him (I was lawful evil).
-inflict wounds
-heat metal
-revive
-shocking grasp
-zone of truth
I used some well timed guidance spells and carefully crafted script before we started and I think we were able to pull it off.
Loved it. Specially the rescue with Disguise Self. That's the kind of thing that would make me proud of my players!
i once played a tempest cleric and would alternate between zapping the prisoner to death and spare the dying. With some "I''m going to deny you access to the afterlife" sprinkled in between.
Great ideas!
Another option would be "Heat Metal". Put something metalic on the thing you want to question for example hand cuffs and use as necessary. I also thought about using prestidigitation and raising the cuffs by 1 degree every 6 seconds and continue until they start being truthfull.
My favorite is to damage them and heal them. That’s my brute way. Force so much pain and not allow them the sweet release of being unalived. But that’s also the last stage after doing all you can to get unaltered info so they don’t just say stuff to make it stop
I was just going to basically post this. Get Vampiric Touch
, which is 1 min Concentration and can be used by WARLOCK
, WIZARD, DEATH DOMAIN, vampiric
I have a player who uses presdigitation to make food super spicy then feed it to the person they need info from.
All you really need to get advantage is for the barbarian and the bard to team up as good cop bad cop and some really good RP.
An idea only now just popped into my head: Information gathering spells. IE spying, espionage, that sort of thing
How about waterboarding with healing potion?
It's not economical enough, you'd be burning so much money, just use regular waterboarding and if they stop breathing use spare the dying.
@@InquisitorThomas Lol the idea of using spare the dying as a torture device is perfect.
Well someone's rich
Steve McStevens genius
Could you hypothetically just use shape water? (When they are about to die, remove the water.)
In 2e you could haste anyone, no text about being willing or even a saving throw (although understandably the dm could definitely make a house rule to add saving throws to an unwilling creature), and age them a year. I think that would be a pretty fun idea to use against a captured player.
You could use suggestion to tell them to return straight to the home base, commander, thing you are trying to find etc. and follow them there. Escaping and returning to home is probably a pretty good idea to them. Keep your spider familiar on their shoulder or your bird flying overhead to relay directions to you. I love being a wizard.
Send the druid
For the more nefarious of us, Dream can be a very nice spell in this case. Proventing sleep and probing them during the time they are the most vulnerable. Scary stuff.
Thanks for the guide, Dudes, perhaps it will come in handy one day :>
Disguise Self is my favorite option. One single spell instead of the other 4 that could not work. I am doing a bard with the Actor feat, so I can mimic anyone's sound, have adv checks on performance and deception, and I intend to buy a Hat of Disguise so I don't waste any spell slots and I can use it as many times a day I want.
My players used a combination of Zone of Truth and Command.
The cleric cast Zone of Truth, but the doppleganger being interrogated kept evading the questions, so the warlock cast Command and just said "Confess!". I thought it was really creative, so I had him confess, even though I still might have been able to make him "confess" something else instead. :)
These go a lot better with some assistance, as one of my players showed me last year... Before she used her Charm Person she had the bard cast Bane and the warlock cast Hex with the chosen stat being Wisdom. Suddenly the target has a penalty of 1d4 to their roll AND disadvantage on the roll, making resisting other spells far less likely.
Note that Hex does not create disadvantage on saving throws, just ability checks
@@DungeonDudes I realize on second reading I wrote that wrong... My bad! I'm trying to watch and post on lunch break, I'm rushing, lol. The ability penalty helps impair the target for things like Insight checks to see through lies, or determine the motives of the PC's, or just certain opposed checks during negotiation (I vary negotiating between Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma... depends on the situation.)
I could see using detect thoughts, disguise self (or even better, changeling), and some kind of torture spell to disguise yourself as the person you're interrogating and making them think they're going mad and pry that way.
It’s amazing how nerfed charm status is in 5e. In older editions the charm status allowed you to command a creature to do anything except for suicide. The direction of the condition depended on the intelligence of the creature and a spell saving throw at different intervals.
Nerfed, yes. Wrongfully nerfed, No. Charmed status was extremely overpowered in past editions and current Pathfinder and was a notorious challenge for DMs to deal with. Charm person as a level 1 spell was truly ridiculous. Having someone under your control for even one minute is an entire fight and you can command them to fight with you. So for a level 1 spell slot, you are not only effectively removing an entire enemy from a fight, but you are also gaining an ally, and gaining any information you want. That nerf couldnt have come any faster if you ask me.
Lay on hands is pretty good too. Not a spell, but constantly reviving someone by 1 hit point with the hands that will continue to choke the life from their body is terrifying.
My PC, our party face, interrogated a captive in a campaign we're playing shortly after one of their allies killed a fellow party member. They didn't say a word and mocked us, who were already sore from the recent events. I didn't have detect thoughts or suggestion which was exactly why I'm getting both of those spells in my following levels so it's a growing point for my PC lol
Our group captured 2 cultists right after the battle in Greenest in HotDQ. Both were uncooperative & my Gunslinger pulled out his gun and blew away 1 of them. Intimidation ✔ w/ advantage, 2nd guy instantly started talking. Violence never fails on lackeys!
Running Tyrany of Dragons right now, and we just took out the green wyrmapeaker at 11th level. Honestly, the best way we found to interrogate people is to not let them know you are the enemy. We found a book detailing the common greetings of the cult of the dragon, and acquired some robes from those we killed. So now whenever we want to talk to someone, we just nonchalantly walk in with our cult garb, give the hand sign, and say "hi, we are the messengers from severin."
If who we need information from is out at the time, we play some dice games with the other cultists and none seem the wiser. Works. Every. Time.
I personally like control water. Waterboarding with the water freezing halfway through? Hell yeah. Forcing water into someone’s nose? Hell yeah.
Ah yes, the good ole Geneva Checklist…
I do remember using my Aberrant Mind Sorcerer’s Subtle spell to use detect thoughts on a cultist after we infiltrated the cult. The DM did not see that coming.
My best interrogation，up to now, is that I once hold the orc chief upside down just above a 700 ft cliff, with the lair of an ancient dragon(and two dragons,the ancient one and one of our party member which is the daughter of the dragon)down there, the guy instantly gave up.
One thing j notice about most players and campaigns is thath its extremely rare for players to make a permanent base of operations. A great technique to interrogate npcs in game is to simply leave them in a dungeon with some scary ilusions a water source and some food for a week or a month then come back and try to get the information
I found a simple Mold Earth cantrip pretty effective for interrogation. I just buried the captive alive for half a minute and after that he gladly answered all my questions...
These look handy :) Im sure gonna use some of them!
Maybe I'm just evil, but I was expecting a healing spell to be on that list.
"Mimic your boss telling you the plans."
Heeeeey I love your list ideas. Can we got a top 5 combat mobility/tank/evasion spells?
Misty step is all you really need for that.
Of course, if you don’t have spells, all you need is a chair or table (a good sized pole or tree would work too), rope, leatherworkers tools, poisoners kit (with supplies to make various things such as a truth serum), and good intimidation and persuasion checks. Other tool kits optional.