Speak With Dead question

[Dragoslav]

The Speak With Dead ritual states, "You ask the corpse of an intelligent creature questions and receive answers." Is the corpse compelled to answer your questions directly to the best of its knowledge? I had been thinking not, until I reread the ritual text and saw that 1) it says nothing about the target possibly being reluctant to speak with you, and 2) it specifically states that the spirit itself has usually moved on, so you're not actually communicating with the spirit of the creature but its corpse.

So, with the ritual as written, if you kill someone and use the ritual on them, as long as you are able to ask a question, are you guaranteed an answer? How have you guys used it in your campaigns?

 

[Riastlin]

Haven't really ever had it come up yet. That being said, I would certainly allow the characters to actually have a conversation, but would also rule that the "corpse" is really talking via its spirit. I know in earlier editions for instance, Speak With Dead would be used to determine if somebody wanted to be resurrected (requires a willing target).

So, as a general rule, I wouldn't give the players any problems with the ritual (they are, in all likelihood, expending resources to cast it after all). The better question comes in as to whether or not the "corpse" needs to be completely honest with the party. Again, in general, I would say yes. After all, it will no longer have much loyalty to the "boss" at that point, though in certain instances, it could still make sense that the dead character is not completely cooperative. I would only sparingly (at most) mess around with the party on this though since frankly, they are expending resources and I do not particularly like to encourage them not to use all the resources at their disposal.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6690267]Dragoslav[/MENTION]
The DMG explicitly calls out this type of scenario on page 78 with the "Dead Witness" sample skill challenge involving a reluctant corpse. It seems to imply that Raise Dead does *not* force the corpse to answer questions, hence the need for a skill challenge to convince the corpse to cooperate. So that appears to be RAW/RAI.

As an aside, I've not seen social interaction work well with the skill challenge model, though the premise of involving the whole party in loosening a tight-lipped skeleton is intriguing and full of win. Were I to run such a scene, I'd just role-play it.