Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

This IQ 13 Thrown spell does what it's name suggests: it grants the caster power over a human or humanoid's actions while the spell lasts. At 3 ST with a maintenance cost of 1/turn, this power does not come cheap. Because the spell allows an immediate 3/IQ resistance roll (in stark contrast to Sleep, Freeze, etc., which succeed completely if successfully cast), players who choose Control Person for their characters show a certain penchant for gambling; even an IQ 8 target will resist Control Person a quarter of the time, and any order for the target to endanger their life or the life of a friend, or to do something obviously against their interest (like telling where their valuables are hidden) triggers another resistance roll. A success on a resistance roll breaks the spell, but success on the initial roll makes the casting of the spell fail, so the wizard only loses 1 ST instead of the full cost.

As described in the rules at ITL 136, when the spell expires, the subject will know who controlled them. In my Myriangia campaigns, I ignore this rule and instead just make the character "feel an irresistible urge to do x." [EDIT: Actually, the rule state that the figure will not know.] This is exactly what happened on one memorable occasion when the party's roguish bard fell prey to sorcerous domination and slapped the rumps of the group's camels during a wizardly ambush, sowing confusion and resulting in the party losing their most of their possessions out in the middle of desert wilderness. To refrain from overpowering Control Person, I still allow the caster to be revealed if the target rolls an auto-success on their resistance contest roll.

I recall Control Person being cast with some regularity back in the days of the Wizard microgame, in which IQ 7 and 8 humanoids were common. Once the advanced TFT rules came out and IQs of 12 or more became commonplace, Control Person began to see less use. In light of this, I use a quick IQ contest, rather than a simple resistance roll, with ties going to the defender. This rewards spellcasters with high IQ while still giving victims of the spell a chance to resist.

Conversation Starters

• Given that the IQ dynamics changed since the time of Control Person's origin, is it reasonable to buff it slightly?
• If so, in what way or ways?
• How often is Control Person learned by characters in your games?
• Is Control Person legal in most places in your game world?
• What are some memorable uses of Control Person in your adventures?
  

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

If you increase the power of Control Person by any amount at all then Telepathy (but not Long-Distance Telepathy) becomes useless.

Also see the "Fighter Card Instructions" that raise mook IQs to 10.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

Even if that were the case, which it isn't, the usefulness of Telepathy is not the subject of this thread.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

The reason to use Telepathy instead of Control Person (at a higher IQ and mana cost, and more prep to apply) is to make it harder for the subject to resist. If it becomes just as hard to resist Control Person then there's little point in using Telepathy instead.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

You should describe the IQ contest you propose.

I like your reasoning. Would a comparison of IQs from caster to target be an easy modifier? ex. wizard IQ-13 attempts vs. IQ-9 target = 4pt difference so the target rolls that many dice to resist? Makes anyone within 3 IQ or less of the caster pretty resistant.
or
The difference is added to the defense roll. The example = 3d6+4 vs target IQ to resist. That gets pretty extreme faster though. But hey, you pay allot of mana + upkeep and gave up the slot for other direct damage spells like fireball so why not make it easier to succeed? Nobody gets to "resist" fireball.....

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

Control Person, even with the tweaks I've given it, remains something that only works against humanoids and which controls motor function. While one could use it to compel someone to speak or write information, it cannot simply pluck it from their mind with nary a sound. Moreover, if the target of Control person does not speak the language of the caster, compelling them to talk won't do the wizard much good.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

How about a save starting at 5/IQ and going down by a die depending on the severity of the ask.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

The 1 fatigue cost of a resisted Control Person is another perk in its favor.
You don't have to touch them and you can compel them to look in the direction of the treasure. (If you compel them to walk into the nearest trap of which they are aware they'll get a second save of course.)
If you've got mana to burn then have them draw you a map and point at your current location and trace the safest path.
The higher IQs of starting Legacy PC heroes makes Control Person less of a threat to them and more of an interrogation tool the PCs can use. If you can haggle your heroes into starting with Aid then the party can cast Confusion on their captive followed by Control Person.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

This would trigger a second resistance roll.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

I might adopt that. That's pretty good.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

Not in my copy of ITL, which says (on p. 136), " When the spell ends, it will not know who
controlled it." Maybe that has been changed. (I use the latest PDF.)

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

I don't know how they would know for certain who controlled them. It may be an easy thing to figure out depending upon the situation but not a given.

I like the idea of a test of wills.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

Well I'll be darned. How many times have I read this and read right over "not"?!
At least I've not been flouting the rules all this time.

But when it says that the controlled figure won't know who controlled it, does it imply that it will know that they were controlled at all?

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

They have to know. I imagine it would be like watching yourself do things on TV. You just keep doing things that you don't want to and cannot stop it. Maybe if someone was mentally unstable they could assume it was a psychotic episode, but most people and animals will assume there was another actor in control.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

The two possibilities of either knowing that your body was under someone else's control or not being able to resist impulses that seem to come from your own mind each possess their own flavor of horror.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

Anybody do the sudden jump with a gap in the subject's awareness?

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

I don't but that would be a very good way to handle it.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

I guess I like dialing up the horror more.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

I know the week's over, Shostak, but I have a question about your suggestion. You pointed out that PCs and also NPCs have higher IQs these days, and so Control Person has become less useful -- a 3/IQ roll is pretty easy to make. Thus, go for an IQ contest instead, giving the caster better odds of a successful casting.

But there are two other Control spells, Control Animals and Control Elementals. Animals and Elementals haven't increased their IQs. There are two options:

(1) Go with an IQ contest here. Advantage: simple consistency. Disadvantage: Control Animals has just gotten a lot better for no good reason.

(2) Go with a 3/IQ roll here. Advantage: Controlling Animals is still easier than Controlling Persons, but not massively so. Disadvantage: It's hard to come up with a thematic justification.

Which of these two do you prefer?

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

Note that there are harder to resist spells, such as Geas/Telepathy/Possession at 4/IQ and Word of Command at 5/IQ.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

The latter, since there is no change to their IQ that has unintended consequences, and because I'm lazy. But if consistency is the goal, one could grant elementals and animals levels of Indomitable (Hexagram 8) to give a bonus to IQ for the purpose of this sort of resistance roll.

Re: Talent/Spell of the Weak: Control Person
 

Maybe I'll do a hybrid house rule. The victim gets a 3/IQ save roll if the caster is a PC and an IQ contest if he's an NPC. Now, you might think that's unfair, but I'll remind the reader that the NPCs seem to be at a distinct disadvantage. They die by the dozen for every felled PC.