Very loosely inspired by the famous Gene Wolfe character, I was thinking about making a character whose profession is that of a torturer in the service of a king, or maybe a church. Whether he keeps that job and goes on adventures to pursue the crimes he is tasked to solve/punish and the people he must execute, or he leaves the job behind to go adventuring isn't really super important. Neither is optimisation super relevant (though it would be nice if he wasn't completely useless across the board). What is relevant is that his choice of race/class(es?)/feats should be oriented towards being able to do the job that's on his business card.. so I am thinking spells that play with the mind, tools/skills that would be applicable... Flavour would be a big thing Yes, I am aware that I could just go wizard and pick the right spells, or maybe cleric and pick the right spells.. but those are really generic ways to go aobut it and nothing in that choice particularly screams what this character is about...so.. combinations of multiple things may actually do better. Variant human for the feat? warforged for the lack of expressions and "human" compassion?? a changeling to trick the prey? Maybe an artificer and his tools and ticks?? an alchemist of sorts with poisons and potions? a cleric.. a zealot of some kind?
How would you go about building a torturer?.. and what would you have him be good-decent at outside of the exercise of his profession? (or rather, how would he use his talents outside of that scenario and still be effective?)
There's really very little in core 5e besides taking Intimidation and possibly using a class or feat to get Expertise with it that supports that particular field. There's the Cruel feat in the Tal'Dorei Reborn book that leans into it a little, and I suppose the Inquisitive Rogue subclass in Xanathar's is helpful with the questioning, but that's about it as far as features besides the obvious spells. At the end of the day "extracting information" is not something that gets much hard support outside of spells; you'll note that there's no material on torture tools or methods in the PHB.
Frankly, "torturer" is very limited baseline background for a character, and the associated skills don't stand up well for an adventurer in and of themselves. A torturer specializes in hurting someone who is already defenseless, and it might surprise you to learn that is a state of being that is rarely applicable for the creatures your party will need to hurt during a typical campaign. Might be better to go a bit wider as a general-purpose black ops type whose repertoire includes torture, possibly with a personal fondness for it.
Oh, the other very important thing you need to do is check what everyone at your table is comfortable with. Some people either won't enjoy listening to you go into detail about the techniques you want to apply to a victim or just won't be comfortable with someone bringing the concept to the table in the first place. You really need to read the room before trying to bring something like this into a game. Not saying it's inherently bad, just that it's the sort of thing people might have strong opinions about, and respecting such opinions is a part of a healthy table dynamic.
oh, this is mostly a thought exercise.. not a character I am actually thinking of playing... I am mostly looking for the spells, feats and abilities that would sort of give the right flair or vibe to a character with such a background. I understand they would be mostly decorative on top of a build that has a wider range than just that... I should have thought of the inquisitor rogue... then again, I opened the thread precisely to see how others would come at it from different angles than mine.
Oh, the other very important thing you need to do is check what everyone at your table is comfortable with. Some people either won't enjoy listening to you go into detail about the techniques you want to apply to a victim or just won't be comfortable with someone bringing the concept to the table in the first place. You really need to read the room before trying to bring something like this into a game. Not saying it's inherently bad, just that it's the sort of thing people might have strong opinions about, and respecting such opinions is a part of a healthy table dynamic.
All of the above, but especially this.
Also, torture is very ineffective at its purported goal. Great for getting people to say what you want them to, awful at actually extracting information. In a world where charm person is trivially available to most or all spellcasters, it's going to be even more about forced confessions, fake conversions, outright punishment, and the like than it is in the real world. You're talking about making a character whose entire purpose is wanton cruelty, and that's probably not going to be fun for the other players, and pretty likely to lead to interparty conflict. (Thinking over all my recent characters, the best reaction I can come up with is "get the hell away from you", and "beat the crap out of you" and "kill you outright" are also in the mix. Even the particularly sociopathic NPC would give you a wide berth.)
There is a fundamental lore / mechanical problem in 5e w.r.t. torture, in that it is pretty much unnecessary because Zone of Truth exists. All you need to be a good interrogator, is Zone of Truth and maybe Charm Person or Suggestion, or perhaps if you want to be super deceptive Disguise Self. So basically, a level 3 Trickery Cleric is already by itself the best interrogator you can be, and they have no need to torture anyone at all - actually they're probably much more effective than any possible torture.
Eh, exactly how much compliance you get from something like Suggestion or Charm Person is up in the air. Charm Person specifically only puts you in "friendly acquaintance" territory; few people who know state secrets or about a criminal organization's operations would share them with someone they just enjoy chatting with over coffee. Suggestion is more within the realm of possibility, but it depends how the DM interprets "must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable"; personally I wouldn't make a 2nd level spell a reliable way to make someone spill their guts when Zone of Truth- also a 2nd level spell- only prevents outright lies. And the subjects affected by Zone of Truth know they're being compelled to not lie, so I'm not sure how a disguise would help.
Eh, exactly how much compliance you get from something like Suggestion or Charm Person is up in the air. Charm Person specifically only puts you in "friendly acquaintance" territory; few people who know state secrets or about a criminal organization's operations would share them with someone they just enjoy chatting with over coffee. Suggestion is more within the realm of possibility, but it depends how the DM interprets "must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable"; personally I wouldn't make a 2nd level spell a reliable way to make someone spill their guts when Zone of Truth- also a 2nd level spell- only prevents outright lies. And the subjects affected by Zone of Truth know they're being compelled to not lie, so I'm not sure how a disguise would help.
Real interrogation relies on building a rapport with the person being questioned. At least until it wears off, charm person jumpstarts that process no end. To vaguely return to the original topic, sorcerers with subtle spell and the extend duration metamagic would be great at interrogation, as long as they can afford to burn the rapport at the end of it.
Eh, exactly how much compliance you get from something like Suggestion or Charm Person is up in the air. Charm Person specifically only puts you in "friendly acquaintance" territory; few people who know state secrets or about a criminal organization's operations would share them with someone they just enjoy chatting with over coffee. Suggestion is more within the realm of possibility, but it depends how the DM interprets "must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable"; personally I wouldn't make a 2nd level spell a reliable way to make someone spill their guts when Zone of Truth- also a 2nd level spell- only prevents outright lies. And the subjects affected by Zone of Truth know they're being compelled to not lie, so I'm not sure how a disguise would help.
Disguise Self lets you appear to be someone that could plausibly be an ally of your target, Charm Person ensure they quickly see you as their friend, then Zone of Truth ensure they are telling you the truth. All you need beyond that is something they want to offer them in exchange for their cooperation. The only way to get reliable information from someone is to convince them they want to help you.
The above answers for why a torturer isn't strictly necessary are right, I'd agree. But, as a thought exercise, I'd go with someone with access to healing spells. They can do whatever they do to the person, then if the victim passes out, give them a cure wounds, and they're back up again for another round. Regenerate could be particularly awful.
Eh, exactly how much compliance you get from something like Suggestion or Charm Person is up in the air. Charm Person specifically only puts you in "friendly acquaintance" territory; few people who know state secrets or about a criminal organization's operations would share them with someone they just enjoy chatting with over coffee. Suggestion is more within the realm of possibility, but it depends how the DM interprets "must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable"; personally I wouldn't make a 2nd level spell a reliable way to make someone spill their guts when Zone of Truth- also a 2nd level spell- only prevents outright lies. And the subjects affected by Zone of Truth know they're being compelled to not lie, so I'm not sure how a disguise would help.
Disguise Self lets you appear to be someone that could plausibly be an ally of your target, Charm Person ensure they quickly see you as their friend, then Zone of Truth ensure they are telling you the truth. All you need beyond that is something they want to offer them in exchange for their cooperation. The only way to get reliable information from someone is to convince them they want to help you.
The thing about Charm Person is that it’s not an additive effect; all it does is make them regard you as a friendly acquaintance. If the information is something they do not want to share, period, then it won’t make a difference. And since people become aware that they’re being affected by Zone of Truth, that’s a red flag for anyone with important intel. You’re really trying to make low-level spells punch above their weight class here. Really, the only spell that’s good for prying real sensitive intel from a subject at this tier is Detect Thoughts. The rest of this is based on favorable interpretations of the written spell effects and how a character would respond that border on unreasonable imo.
There is a fundamental lore / mechanical problem in 5e w.r.t. torture, in that it is pretty much unnecessary because Zone of Truth exists. All you need to be a good interrogator, is Zone of Truth and maybe Charm Person or Suggestion, or perhaps if you want to be super deceptive Disguise Self. So basically, a level 3 Trickery Cleric is already by itself the best interrogator you can be, and they have no need to torture anyone at all - actually they're probably much more effective than any possible torture.
You nailed it with all the spells and magic available torture would be useless and unnecessary unless the goal isn't to gain information and it's just being done because an evil NPC enjoys being pure evil. If it's the later the spare the dying cantrip would be the most diabolical tool available. I can see a captive being held in terrible conditions like that being an incentive a DM can use to encourage players to conduct a rescue as fast as possible, but a lot of tables don't like going that dark. For actual interrogations I imagine the authorities would have magic items such as a chair that casts zone of truth and potions that would give advantage on insight and intimidation checks so that the interrogator doesn't even need to bother a busy cleric to burn spell slots. This makes me think of the Martians from the expanse series bragging that they don't need to torture people to get information out of them.
There is a fundamental lore / mechanical problem in 5e w.r.t. torture, in that it is pretty much unnecessary because Zone of Truth exists. All you need to be a good interrogator, is Zone of Truth and maybe Charm Person or Suggestion, or perhaps if you want to be super deceptive Disguise Self. So basically, a level 3 Trickery Cleric is already by itself the best interrogator you can be, and they have no need to torture anyone at all - actually they're probably much more effective than any possible torture.
You nailed it with all the spells and magic available torture would be useless and unnecessary unless the goal isn't to gain information and it's just being done because an evil NPC enjoys being pure evil. If it's the later the spare the dying cantrip would be the most diabolical tool available. I can see a captive being held in terrible conditions like that being an incentive a DM can use to encourage players to conduct a rescue as fast as possible, but a lot of tables don't like going that dark. For actual interrogations I imagine the authorities would have magic items such as a chair that casts zone of truth and potions that would give advantage on insight and intimidation checks so that the interrogator doesn't even need to bother a busy cleric to burn spell slots. This makes me think of the Martians from the expanse series bragging that they don't need to torture people to get information out of them.
There is another purpose for torture in D&D and that's slavery. Lots of D&D villains are slavers, and torture can be effective to psychologically break slaves to prevent rebellion or to terrorize them into obedience. In these instances, you don't actually care about accuracy or honesty, you want to make the slave say what you want them to say regardless of the truth. Similar to the torture in 1984 or brutally used in oppressive regimes. Efficacy varies subject to subject though. One could make a decent character as an ex-torturer / ex-slaver who has become disillusioned with the oppression they used to work to maintain and is now seeking redemption or to over throw that system of oppression.
For this kind of torturer you'd want spells/abilities like Hold Person / Phantasmal Killer, or the Rune Knight's Fire Chains, also divination spells like Locate Creature, Scrying, or another good one would be Dream. Though other options include Transmute Rock, Spike Growth, Malestrom, Forecage, Sickening Radiance, Phantasmal Force, and especially Gaes.
If the information is something they do not want to share, period, then it won’t make a difference.
If someone has information they do not want to share, period. Then there is no way to get that information except maybe with Dominate Person (depending on DM interpretation). People with key intel will be trained to resist / work around Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts, and will find a way to trick / mislead / deceive you thus making any info you get from them unreliable at best. I had an interesting time as a DM when a bunch of my players tried to torture a senior cultist to get info from them, and the cultist just started praying to their god until their god rescued them. The players were so frustrated, but I mean.. in a world like the Forgotten Realms that's absolutely what a cultist would do.
If the information is something they do not want to share, period, then it won’t make a difference.
If someone has information they do not want to share, period. Then there is no way to get that information except maybe with Dominate Person (depending on DM interpretation). People with key intel will be trained to resist / work around Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts, and will find a way to trick / mislead / deceive you thus making any info you get from them unreliable at best. I had an interesting time as a DM when a bunch of my players tried to torture a senior cultist to get info from them, and the cultist just started praying to their god until their god rescued them. The players were so frustrated, but I mean.. in a world like the Forgotten Realms that's absolutely what a cultist would do.
Good interrogation tries to work around this sort of thing. Yes, if you say absolutely nothing, there's not much they can do. There's a reason why any lawyer will tell you to never talk to the police, and the police aren't good interrogators. But it's really easy to say something that incriminates you (even if you're not guilty), or confirms something they suspected, or lets them goad you into saying more "just to clear this whole thing up".
Imagine the following scenario: You're locked up in the dungeons, alone and desperate. Somebody you don't know comes into the cell, casts a spell, says "There. now the guards can't hear anything. Your situation came to my attention, and the king listens to my advice. I can help you, but you need to tell me what really happened."
Obviously, this is a setup, and you shouldn't tell them anything. But you are not in your right mind, and you don't know it. You think they're a friendly face. You're gonna talk. There's a reason why Charm Person is one of the creepiest spells in D&D.
To be fair, not everybody is a badass criminal mastermind. There's a reason we have persuasion, intimidation and deception skills. Most people, tell them half a lie, slap them around a bit and nail a skill roll, and they will surrender info, especially if they're not main villains
Again, this isn't meant for actual effective purposeful torture, but as a starting point, a background, a way to flavour the character, not much different from how a soldier background might give you some situational perks, so could this profession
If the information is something they do not want to share, period, then it won’t make a difference.
If someone has information they do not want to share, period. Then there is no way to get that information except maybe with Dominate Person (depending on DM interpretation). People with key intel will be trained to resist / work around Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts, and will find a way to trick / mislead / deceive you thus making any info you get from them unreliable at best. I had an interesting time as a DM when a bunch of my players tried to torture a senior cultist to get info from them, and the cultist just started praying to their god until their god rescued them. The players were so frustrated, but I mean.. in a world like the Forgotten Realms that's absolutely what a cultist would do.
Good interrogation tries to work around this sort of thing. Yes, if you say absolutely nothing, there's not much they can do. There's a reason why any lawyer will tell you to never talk to the police, and the police aren't good interrogators. But it's really easy to say something that incriminates you (even if you're not guilty), or confirms something they suspected, or lets them goad you into saying more "just to clear this whole thing up".
Imagine the following scenario: You're locked up in the dungeons, alone and desperate. Somebody you don't know comes into the cell, casts a spell, says "There. now the guards can't hear anything. Your situation came to my attention, and the king listens to my advice. I can help you, but you need to tell me what really happened."
Obviously, this is a setup, and you shouldn't tell them anything. But you are not in your right mind, and you don't know it. You think they're a friendly face. You're gonna talk. There's a reason why Charm Person is one of the creepiest spells in D&D.
You might talk; there’s no guarantee either by RAW or by reasonable role play. Again, Charm Person only puts your relationship in their eyes at “friendly acquaintance”. And that is the entire effect of the charm. It does not suspend their common sense or awareness of the larger situation, or at least there’s no hard language to that effect. You sit a hard case down and hit them with it, I still wouldn’t have them tell you anything they know is critical just on the power of the spell; yeah, they like you, but not to the point they’re gonna just up and confess to a felony or tell you where their hideout is. You’ll have advantage on persuasion checks and they might be more open to deals, but a 1st level spell is not an instant win in this scenario, nor should it be.
If the information is something they do not want to share, period, then it won’t make a difference.
If someone has information they do not want to share, period. Then there is no way to get that information except maybe with Dominate Person (depending on DM interpretation). People with key intel will be trained to resist / work around Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts, and will find a way to trick / mislead / deceive you thus making any info you get from them unreliable at best. I had an interesting time as a DM when a bunch of my players tried to torture a senior cultist to get info from them, and the cultist just started praying to their god until their god rescued them. The players were so frustrated, but I mean.. in a world like the Forgotten Realms that's absolutely what a cultist would do.
Good interrogation tries to work around this sort of thing. Yes, if you say absolutely nothing, there's not much they can do. There's a reason why any lawyer will tell you to never talk to the police, and the police aren't good interrogators. But it's really easy to say something that incriminates you (even if you're not guilty), or confirms something they suspected, or lets them goad you into saying more "just to clear this whole thing up".
Imagine the following scenario: You're locked up in the dungeons, alone and desperate. Somebody you don't know comes into the cell, casts a spell, says "There. now the guards can't hear anything. Your situation came to my attention, and the king listens to my advice. I can help you, but you need to tell me what really happened."
Obviously, this is a setup, and you shouldn't tell them anything. But you are not in your right mind, and you don't know it. You think they're a friendly face. You're gonna talk. There's a reason why Charm Person is one of the creepiest spells in D&D.
You might talk; there’s no guarantee either by RAW or by reasonable role play. Again, Charm Person only puts your relationship in their eyes at “friendly acquaintance”. And that is the entire effect of the charm. It does not suspend their common sense or awareness of the larger situation, or at least there’s no hard language to that effect. You sit a hard case down and hit them with it, I still wouldn’t have them tell you anything they know is critical just on the power of the spell; yeah, they like you, but not to the point they’re gonna just up and confess to a felony or tell you where their hideout is. You’ll have advantage on persuasion checks and they might be more open to deals, but a 1st level spell is not an instant win in this scenario, nor should it be.
They are far more likely to tell you using Charm Person than any other means. Which is the point we are making. Being a torturer to get information is pointless because Charms & Illusions are more effective than torture for getting information. It doesn't matter if they they 100% effective, 75% effective or 30% effective in your interpretation, they are still more effective than torture is, a likely outcome of torture is false or misleading information which you will not be able to distinguish from true / helpful information, whereas when Charms / charisma checks work they will always get you honest and helpful information.
The main effective use of torture is as a mechanism of subjugation & oppression.
To be fair, not everybody is a badass criminal mastermind. There's a reason we have persuasion, intimidation and deception skills. Most people, tell them half a lie, slap them around a bit and nail a soul roll, and they will surrender info, especially if they're not main villains
Again, this isn't meant for actual effective purposeful torture, but as a starting point, a background, a way to flavour the character, not much different from how a soldier background might give you some situational perks, so could this profession
There is no reason to have it as a background occupation unless you want to use a skill or two from it. Plus in order to get to the point of being an effective torturer or interrogator you need to have quite a bit of experience in many areas. Unless all you want is to be the guy inflicting pain on or with the various devices. And then you do not need any real skill at all. Your just a thug who likes to watch someone getting hurt.
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Very loosely inspired by the famous Gene Wolfe character, I was thinking about making a character whose profession is that of a torturer in the service of a king, or maybe a church.
Whether he keeps that job and goes on adventures to pursue the crimes he is tasked to solve/punish and the people he must execute, or he leaves the job behind to go adventuring isn't really super important. Neither is optimisation super relevant (though it would be nice if he wasn't completely useless across the board).
What is relevant is that his choice of race/class(es?)/feats should be oriented towards being able to do the job that's on his business card..
so I am thinking spells that play with the mind, tools/skills that would be applicable... Flavour would be a big thing
Yes, I am aware that I could just go wizard and pick the right spells, or maybe cleric and pick the right spells.. but those are really generic ways to go aobut it and nothing in that choice particularly screams what this character is about...so.. combinations of multiple things may actually do better.
Variant human for the feat? warforged for the lack of expressions and "human" compassion?? a changeling to trick the prey?
Maybe an artificer and his tools and ticks?? an alchemist of sorts with poisons and potions? a cleric.. a zealot of some kind?
How would you go about building a torturer?.. and what would you have him be good-decent at outside of the exercise of his profession? (or rather, how would he use his talents outside of that scenario and still be effective?)
There's really very little in core 5e besides taking Intimidation and possibly using a class or feat to get Expertise with it that supports that particular field. There's the Cruel feat in the Tal'Dorei Reborn book that leans into it a little, and I suppose the Inquisitive Rogue subclass in Xanathar's is helpful with the questioning, but that's about it as far as features besides the obvious spells. At the end of the day "extracting information" is not something that gets much hard support outside of spells; you'll note that there's no material on torture tools or methods in the PHB.
Frankly, "torturer" is very limited baseline background for a character, and the associated skills don't stand up well for an adventurer in and of themselves. A torturer specializes in hurting someone who is already defenseless, and it might surprise you to learn that is a state of being that is rarely applicable for the creatures your party will need to hurt during a typical campaign. Might be better to go a bit wider as a general-purpose black ops type whose repertoire includes torture, possibly with a personal fondness for it.
Oh, the other very important thing you need to do is check what everyone at your table is comfortable with. Some people either won't enjoy listening to you go into detail about the techniques you want to apply to a victim or just won't be comfortable with someone bringing the concept to the table in the first place. You really need to read the room before trying to bring something like this into a game. Not saying it's inherently bad, just that it's the sort of thing people might have strong opinions about, and respecting such opinions is a part of a healthy table dynamic.
oh, this is mostly a thought exercise.. not a character I am actually thinking of playing... I am mostly looking for the spells, feats and abilities that would sort of give the right flair or vibe to a character with such a background. I understand they would be mostly decorative on top of a build that has a wider range than just that... I should have thought of the inquisitor rogue...
then again, I opened the thread precisely to see how others would come at it from different angles than mine.
All of the above, but especially this.
Also, torture is very ineffective at its purported goal. Great for getting people to say what you want them to, awful at actually extracting information. In a world where charm person is trivially available to most or all spellcasters, it's going to be even more about forced confessions, fake conversions, outright punishment, and the like than it is in the real world. You're talking about making a character whose entire purpose is wanton cruelty, and that's probably not going to be fun for the other players, and pretty likely to lead to interparty conflict. (Thinking over all my recent characters, the best reaction I can come up with is "get the hell away from you", and "beat the crap out of you" and "kill you outright" are also in the mix. Even the particularly sociopathic NPC would give you a wide berth.)
again, this is not for the purpose of actual play
There is a fundamental lore / mechanical problem in 5e w.r.t. torture, in that it is pretty much unnecessary because Zone of Truth exists. All you need to be a good interrogator, is Zone of Truth and maybe Charm Person or Suggestion, or perhaps if you want to be super deceptive Disguise Self. So basically, a level 3 Trickery Cleric is already by itself the best interrogator you can be, and they have no need to torture anyone at all - actually they're probably much more effective than any possible torture.
Eh, exactly how much compliance you get from something like Suggestion or Charm Person is up in the air. Charm Person specifically only puts you in "friendly acquaintance" territory; few people who know state secrets or about a criminal organization's operations would share them with someone they just enjoy chatting with over coffee. Suggestion is more within the realm of possibility, but it depends how the DM interprets "must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable"; personally I wouldn't make a 2nd level spell a reliable way to make someone spill their guts when Zone of Truth- also a 2nd level spell- only prevents outright lies. And the subjects affected by Zone of Truth know they're being compelled to not lie, so I'm not sure how a disguise would help.
Real interrogation relies on building a rapport with the person being questioned. At least until it wears off, charm person jumpstarts that process no end. To vaguely return to the original topic, sorcerers with subtle spell and the extend duration metamagic would be great at interrogation, as long as they can afford to burn the rapport at the end of it.
Disguise Self lets you appear to be someone that could plausibly be an ally of your target, Charm Person ensure they quickly see you as their friend, then Zone of Truth ensure they are telling you the truth. All you need beyond that is something they want to offer them in exchange for their cooperation. The only way to get reliable information from someone is to convince them they want to help you.
The above answers for why a torturer isn't strictly necessary are right, I'd agree. But, as a thought exercise, I'd go with someone with access to healing spells. They can do whatever they do to the person, then if the victim passes out, give them a cure wounds, and they're back up again for another round. Regenerate could be particularly awful.
The thing about Charm Person is that it’s not an additive effect; all it does is make them regard you as a friendly acquaintance. If the information is something they do not want to share, period, then it won’t make a difference. And since people become aware that they’re being affected by Zone of Truth, that’s a red flag for anyone with important intel. You’re really trying to make low-level spells punch above their weight class here. Really, the only spell that’s good for prying real sensitive intel from a subject at this tier is Detect Thoughts. The rest of this is based on favorable interpretations of the written spell effects and how a character would respond that border on unreasonable imo.
You nailed it with all the spells and magic available torture would be useless and unnecessary unless the goal isn't to gain information and it's just being done because an evil NPC enjoys being pure evil. If it's the later the spare the dying cantrip would be the most diabolical tool available. I can see a captive being held in terrible conditions like that being an incentive a DM can use to encourage players to conduct a rescue as fast as possible, but a lot of tables don't like going that dark. For actual interrogations I imagine the authorities would have magic items such as a chair that casts zone of truth and potions that would give advantage on insight and intimidation checks so that the interrogator doesn't even need to bother a busy cleric to burn spell slots. This makes me think of the Martians from the expanse series bragging that they don't need to torture people to get information out of them.
There is another purpose for torture in D&D and that's slavery. Lots of D&D villains are slavers, and torture can be effective to psychologically break slaves to prevent rebellion or to terrorize them into obedience. In these instances, you don't actually care about accuracy or honesty, you want to make the slave say what you want them to say regardless of the truth. Similar to the torture in 1984 or brutally used in oppressive regimes. Efficacy varies subject to subject though. One could make a decent character as an ex-torturer / ex-slaver who has become disillusioned with the oppression they used to work to maintain and is now seeking redemption or to over throw that system of oppression.
For this kind of torturer you'd want spells/abilities like Hold Person / Phantasmal Killer, or the Rune Knight's Fire Chains, also divination spells like Locate Creature, Scrying, or another good one would be Dream. Though other options include Transmute Rock, Spike Growth, Malestrom, Forecage, Sickening Radiance, Phantasmal Force, and especially Gaes.
If someone has information they do not want to share, period. Then there is no way to get that information except maybe with Dominate Person (depending on DM interpretation). People with key intel will be trained to resist / work around Zone of Truth or Detect Thoughts, and will find a way to trick / mislead / deceive you thus making any info you get from them unreliable at best. I had an interesting time as a DM when a bunch of my players tried to torture a senior cultist to get info from them, and the cultist just started praying to their god until their god rescued them. The players were so frustrated, but I mean.. in a world like the Forgotten Realms that's absolutely what a cultist would do.
Good interrogation tries to work around this sort of thing. Yes, if you say absolutely nothing, there's not much they can do. There's a reason why any lawyer will tell you to never talk to the police, and the police aren't good interrogators. But it's really easy to say something that incriminates you (even if you're not guilty), or confirms something they suspected, or lets them goad you into saying more "just to clear this whole thing up".
Imagine the following scenario: You're locked up in the dungeons, alone and desperate. Somebody you don't know comes into the cell, casts a spell, says "There. now the guards can't hear anything. Your situation came to my attention, and the king listens to my advice. I can help you, but you need to tell me what really happened."
Obviously, this is a setup, and you shouldn't tell them anything. But you are not in your right mind, and you don't know it. You think they're a friendly face. You're gonna talk. There's a reason why Charm Person is one of the creepiest spells in D&D.
To be fair, not everybody is a badass criminal mastermind. There's a reason we have persuasion, intimidation and deception skills. Most people, tell them half a lie, slap them around a bit and nail a skill roll, and they will surrender info, especially if they're not main villains
Again, this isn't meant for actual effective purposeful torture, but as a starting point, a background, a way to flavour the character, not much different from how a soldier background might give you some situational perks, so could this profession
You might talk; there’s no guarantee either by RAW or by reasonable role play. Again, Charm Person only puts your relationship in their eyes at “friendly acquaintance”. And that is the entire effect of the charm. It does not suspend their common sense or awareness of the larger situation, or at least there’s no hard language to that effect. You sit a hard case down and hit them with it, I still wouldn’t have them tell you anything they know is critical just on the power of the spell; yeah, they like you, but not to the point they’re gonna just up and confess to a felony or tell you where their hideout is. You’ll have advantage on persuasion checks and they might be more open to deals, but a 1st level spell is not an instant win in this scenario, nor should it be.
Look up this guy. Tomas de Torquemada
He sounds just like what your looking for.
A religious investigator who went as far as torture and murder.
They are far more likely to tell you using Charm Person than any other means. Which is the point we are making. Being a torturer to get information is pointless because Charms & Illusions are more effective than torture for getting information. It doesn't matter if they they 100% effective, 75% effective or 30% effective in your interpretation, they are still more effective than torture is, a likely outcome of torture is false or misleading information which you will not be able to distinguish from true / helpful information, whereas when Charms / charisma checks work they will always get you honest and helpful information.
The main effective use of torture is as a mechanism of subjugation & oppression.
There is no reason to have it as a background occupation unless you want to use a skill or two from it. Plus in order to get to the point of being an effective torturer or interrogator you need to have quite a bit of experience in many areas.
Unless all you want is to be the guy inflicting pain on or with the various devices. And then you do not need any real skill at all. Your just a thug who likes to watch someone getting hurt.