Thralls

What is a Thrall?

Thralls are subservient living vessels of an enchantment caster's command. They are shells of what they once were living in complete obedience to the thrall-maker. They are the result of what happens when a creature's mind has been so shattered by the enchanter that it simply cannot mend on its own. The process of making such a creature can be done by any spellcaster with the Spell Focus (Enchantment) feat. Making a thrall is not a good act, nor can it really be done for good reasons. Breaking a creature's will in such a way is tantamount to extended and vicious torture. If you were good, at best you will become neutral and at worst your GM will shunt you to evil, with all penalties that that would entail.

An enchanter must tread carefully when making a thrall, as physical types are likely to have lower will saves and will be easier to break but pose grave danger to the enchanter should they mess up the process. Mage and Priest thralls would also be tempting but they have high saves, although if you take away their ability to cast they are all but helpless. Failure during any step releases the potential thrall from the effects of that step and the enchanter has to try it again. These setbacks can add days, weeks, and significant financial cost to the process.

Snaring the Mind

The creation of a thrall begins with a single spell. The enchanter must cast any compulsion designator spell that allows a saving throw on a target benefiting from its full Will Save bonus. If the target is immune to mind-affecting spells, that defense can (and must) be removed, but the target must have an unimpaired Will save and fail to resist this first spell. This initial failed save sets up the potential thrall's mind for the sensation of losing control that is vital to its ultimate surrender. The victim is now vulnerable, but the enchanter must move quickly, or the opportunity is lost. At any point during the duration of the compulsion, the enchanter must cast any charm designator spell that engenders friendship on the target and defeat its full Will save.

Again, it is important that the target has the benefit of an unimpeded saving throw. Breaking the targets willpower while it is at its strongest demonstrates the enchanter's superiority and puts him in a dominating position. Before the charm spell ends, the enchanter must now have the target accompany him alone to where the rest of the process will take place. Travelling with the enchanter is a decision the target will go with the enchanter, but the enchanter cannot use any further magic to force the target to comply. Use of Bluff or other skills is perfectly acceptable, however.

Once the target has returned with the enchanter, the capture stage is nearly complete. One final act is required. The enchanter must maneuver the target into some form of containment, such as into a cage or restraints. Even something as crude as grappling and forcing the victim into bondage will work. Once restrained the target must be freed of any enchantment spell affecting it, even the spells the enchantment did not cast. The victim's mind must be completely free of magical interference before the enchanter can proceed. This mental release brings with it sudden feelings of betrayal and vulnerability. The target has been lef into captivity by someone he viewed as a friend. Shock and anger are natural results of this betrayal and, unfortunately for the target, exactly what the enchanter needs him to feel. The capture is complete; the domination can begin.

Twisting the Will

Capturing the body of the target was the easy part. Now comes the truly difficult step, breaking down his thoughts and emotions until all that remains is his purest, most vulnerable self. This can take days, weeks, even months but, if the enchanter remains focused and the target cannot escape, success is nearly assured. Eventually, even the most rigid steel will bend. The enchanter must spend at least eight hours in the immediate company of the target. How this time is spent is up to the individual enchanter, but the basic process is always the same. During these eight hours, the enchanter must cast enchantment spells at the target in an attempt to wear down his resolve. Unlike the limitations of the capture stage, the target's Will save bonus need not be sacrosanct. The enchanter can use any means at his disposal to reduce it to a minimum of a third its full base score. The target must be left with enough Will to break, or the process cannot succeed. Thus, if a victim has a +9 base Will saving throw bonus, the enchanter can use spells, poison, or trauma to drop it to a minimum of +3. Any lower and the domination stage must begin again. The spells cast must alternate between charms and compulsions. Once the victim fails a save against a charm, the enchanter must switch to compulsion spells until the victim fails a save against one. Then the enchanter switches back and the series repeats.

The goal of this stage is to get the victim to fail his save three times in a row. Each time this happens the enchanter gets a hook into the target's mind. The enchanter is seeking to get three suck hooks, and this stage continues until this occurs. Any number of successful saves can be made between these triple failures but, once a hook happens it remains with the victim. Even if the target escapes captivity, each hook is considered a permanent compulsion effect that cannot be dispelled. In game terms each hook is a penalty the target suffers against any enchantment spell cast by the enchanter that put it there. The hook penalty equals 1/3 of the target's base Will save. It is possible to have multiple hooks from different enchanters, however hooks are only cumulative only if they come from the same source and no more than three can accumulate this way. When an enchanter creates three hooks in the target, the domination stage is complete. There is no limit to how long this can take to achieve. All that remains is to force submission.

Accepting the Leash

Once a victim has three hooks in his mind, he has essentially become the enchanter's property. A tiny amount of defiance remains, but it is easily brushed aside. Still, this too much resistance and must be crushed if the target is to become a true thrall. To force submission, the enchanter must be able to cast Dominate Person or Dominate Monster, whichever spell is needed to affect the target. If the enchanter cannot cast this spell, the victim must remain in captivity until he can do so. The dominate spell is absolutely essential to the thrall process and only a foolish or desperate enchanter begins it without one. The feeble Will left in the target rallies to try to fight the Dominate spell with everything it has left. The target gets to make this save with his full base Will save and gets a +5 circumstance bonus as well. If this save succeeds, one of the hooks is destroyed and enchanter must replace it before continuing. Once this last Will save fails, the target is lost. It immediately takes on the thrall template. and becomes slavishly devoted to the enchanter. This devotion is a permanent mind-affecting, enchantment effect and is not subject to dispelling, Mordenkainen's Disjunction, or Break Enchantment. Only a Wish or Miracle can undo the utter mental sundering that has occurred in a thrall.

Thrall Template

Thrall is a template that can be added to any living creature susceptible toto mind-affecting spells. Once applied, only powerful magic can remove this template from a being. Gaining an immunity to mind-affecting spells after this template is applied does not negate it, nor does that immunity exist against the creature's master. The creature's type does not change as a result of this template.

Hit Dice: Same as base creature

Speed: Same as base creature

AC: +1 natural armor bonus or creature's natural armor, whichever is better. This comes from the thrall's reduced ability to feel any form of pain or discomfort.

Damage: Same as base creature

Special Attacks: A thrall retains all of its previous special attacks unless the special attack in question was a mind-affecting one. Those attacks are lost when the creature becomes a thrall. In addition, a thrall gains the special attack listed below.

Mind Leech: Thralls possess a touch attack as a side effect of the process that makes them. If a thrall can make a melee touch attack on a creature susceptible to the mind-affecting spells, that target is at a -1 morale penalty to all Will saves until the thrall's next turn.

Spells: The creature can cast any spells it could cast before becoming a thrall with the exception of enchantment spells. A thrall cannot cast enchantment spells of any type.

Special Qualities

A thrall retains all of the creature's special qualities and the ones listed below.

Master: A thrall automatically considers the being that is forced this template upon him as his master. The thrall will obey any commands, even suicidal ones. In addition, any enchantment spells or effects that do not originate from his master, or an item in the master's possession cannot affect a thrall.

Damage Reduction: A thrall ignores minor wounds and can endure great hardship in the service of its master. This gives him damage reduction 5/+1

Limited Mindlessness: A thrall is a sentient creature but his broken will manifests itself in certain ways. Any Iron Will or similar feat possessed by the thrall is suspended while the template exists. The thrall also suffers a penalty on certain skills as listed below.

Tireless: A thrall receives the effects of Great Fortitude, Toughness, Endurance feats for free.

Saves: Same as the base creature; +2 to Fortitude saves due to the virtual Great Fortitude feat from Tireless ability above.

Abilities: A thrall gains a +2 to Dexterity but no longer has a functional Wisdom bonus. The Wisdom score does not truly change but it cannot be used to determine a Will save bonus or for additional spells.

Skills: The limited mindlessness a thrall suffers from has a detrimental affect on his skills. A thrall cannot add his Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma bonus to any skill rolls he makes. This does not affect actual skill ranks or virtual bonuses from other sources.

Alignment: Same as the base creature, but alignment poses no obstacle to the master's commands and compliance with these commands may result in alignment changes.