Reminds me of why torture as a means of information gathering is ridiculous.
I will absolutely tell you what I think you want to hear when you start stabbing me, whether its the truth or I ever knew it at all.
But I also hate you for torturing me, so If I do happen to know the thing then I also know enough about the thing to alter the answer to something false but plausible for a moment of relief while you act on it, because we all know if you’re torturing me, you have no intention of letting me out alive.
This is why the lets be pals/wine and dine approach is more effective.
This is why I liked the how Torture skill in Burning Wheel does just this: you decide what the victim says. It’s not true, it’s just what they admit to.
Well, real pros say:
“Thanks for finally providing some info. We are going to go corroborate it. If you lied, or if we can’t find convincing evidence your info was right, we will take this conversation up with your wife/kid/family”
Yeah but I have a friendly cleric. Zone of Truth doesn’t care about how you feel regarding your interrogation.
Zone of truth removes the need for torture. You can interrogate someone without causing physical or psychological harm.
You don’t torture for the truth, though… causing physical and psychological harm is the whole point.
They do still have the option to remain silent, though, as per the spell text. It doesn’t compel an answer, it only compels any spoken word to be the truth as you know it.
Speak with dead + zone of truth, I now have an incentive to kill you if you don’t cooperate
Reasons why I like systems that have rules for this sort of thing.
“Sure, you can torture the captive. That’s a rank 8 check against Violence, so go ahead and roll. Oh, you don’t want to risk any mechanical consequences for your horrible actions? Ok then”
I feel like there’s a lot of overlap between powergaming min/maxers and war crime doers. It really keeps players in check without having to resort to hand wave-y deus ex machina like “it turns out the bartender is a level 20 barbarian lol”
rank 8 check against Violence? huh
That’s from Unknown Armies (2e). A great game with a great rulebook. It really made me think about some assumptions I’d been making about how games work.
