Dominance

Dominance is a set of rules governing the application of will to force others to obey your commands. It does not describe what enables you to do so--for that, you need some sort of power--but rather provides rules for resolving contests of will in this situation.

When it Applies

This is not an exhaustive list, but the following are some powers and situations where Dominance comes into play:

• Extraplanar beings, by their nature, are subject to the will of other beings under certain circumstances:
  • If you are of their ilk, you may attempt to dominate them. For instance, a demon might be dominated by other, stronger demons, or by mortals tainted with demonic power (such as tieflings and warlocks). Faerie beings, similarly, respond to the will of other Faeries and changelings.
  • If you have a sympathetic component of the being, such as its True Name or a Symbol linked to it, you may invoke that to attempt your will against it.
  • Note: the discipline of Invocation provides the Ritual of Summoning, allowing you to summon extraplanar beings. You need not be the summoner to exercise will as described above, but it is one way to find a target.
• Certain powers allow you to exercise will on beings who are not extraplanar. The Empathy power skill has such powers.

How it Works

The most basic mechanic is the Contest of Wills: a simple, opposed Willpower check. If you win, the creature must do as you command. However, there are a few caveats:

• This is a concentration action; if you lose your concentration, the control is broken.
• The Willpower check is often subject to modifiers.
• Lacking any additional ability to communicate telepathically, giving commands requires communicating them in a way the subject can understand
• Creatures with a Scale modifier enjoy a bonus of +10 per Scale above 1 to their Willpower check.

Beyond the Basics

To do anything more than the above, you must be granted abilities by feats, powers, etc. Said abilities will be described separately. A non-exhaustive list of those options follows:

• Invokers can use the Ritual of Binding to establish long-term or permanent control of extraplanar beings. Such control can still be broken (see below), but the advantage is that you need not maintain constant concentration.
• Thaumaturgists can create a phylactery, allowing them to magnify the force of their control, and bind the control to an object. This, too, has the advantage of removing the requirement of constant concentration.
• Rituals provided by Knowledge (Magic) can be used to attempt to break control on a subject. Powers that allow you to gain control can also be used to set free a bound creature.

Breaking Free

Once control is established, the creature must obey commands given. This means that, if there is presently a command, the creature must spend all available actions to attempt to fulfill the command to the best of its ability. However, it is allowed to attempt to break free, albeit at some risk.

• Break Free: At-will, free (1/rd); you attempt to break free of a Dominance effect. You force a new opposed Willpower check; if you succeed, you suspend the effect, and take no action for one round. If you fail, however, you suffer a cumulative -5 penalty to future checks to break free. This penalty is specific to the dominator, and does not expire until 24 hours have passed since all active dominance effects applied by that dominator to you have ended.
  • Success on the check does not end control, it merely suspends it; you take no action while control is suspended. The next time you use Break Free (or the controller attempts to regain control), if you pass the Willpower check again, you end the effect. If not, you return to the dominator's control. Checks failed while in a state of suspended control do not cause cumulative penalties.