How do YOU handle Speak with dead

[garhkal]

In regards to
A) can opposed aligned spirits/souls of the dead, be evasive with answers/
B) can it compel someone to give up the dirt on magic items it HAD (Or knew about), such as "what is the command word for the wand we took of your group's witch doctor", or "Hw many charges does this rod have"..

[Halaster Blackcloak]

According to the spell description, a dead spirit of different alignment can refuse to answer. But it's oh so much more fun for the dead to give false information or confusing information rather than simply refusing to answer.

As for the second part of the question, remember that according to the spell description the spirit can only answer those things that it actually knew in life. So using your witch doctor/wand analogy, unless for some reason the spirit actually knew the command word in life, he would not somehow know it after death so he wouldn't be able to answer that question. Likewise for how many charges. Even if it was an item possessed by the spirit in life, unless he somehow actually knew how many charges the item had, he couldn't answer that question.

I like evasive or cryptic answers from opposite aligned spirits rather than simple refusal to answer because it makes the game more fun and more exciting (as well as more challenging!). When it comes to beings of similar alignment - and even more so if it is a friend or ally being spoken with - then I allow answers to be a lot clearer and more direct and helpful.

[Tawnos76]

I like evasive or cryptic answers from opposite aligned spirits rather than simple refusal to answer because it makes the game more fun

This is exactly what I like to do. Make it cryptic and possibly false info with a hint of truth.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

I agree, but I'm careful though, not to purposely screw the players. I despise DMs who, for example, always feel the need to "warp" wishes. My stance if, if the only choices you see are "a wish will unbalance my campaign or I have to wreck their wish and twist it", that person isn't good enough to be a DM. But that's a whole other rant.

So I generally go with this. If the dead was an enemy, he will definitely give you some level of false information. If the dead is of opposite alignment (say any evil being being spoken to by a priest of any good alignment), then the dead will likely give false information as well, though not necessarily. He might just be extremely cryptic. If the dead is of neutral alignment he will tend to give relatively direct but curt answers, never offering much more than yes or no answers, or short, brief ones. A chaotic dead spirit will give chaotic answers, sometimes making no sense. A lawful dead spirit will give the best, most accurate answers, especially if lawful good.

I try to vary it a bit, so that not all dead respond equally well, but I don't purposely try to give false info just for the sake of it. Players expect the spells to do what they're supposed to do, so I don't ever go out of my way to purposely warp a spell. But I do go by the adage "be careful what you wish for"! Though in my games, greedy wishes usually bite you in the least expected way, in a manner that isn't designed to screw the characters but that still makes them more careful next time.