Crown of Madness, an anti-charm spell?

[ChubbyRain]

So I've been thinking, Crown of Madness doesn't have to target a hostile creature.

If your resident Fighter/Barbarian is charmed by a creature, they could get next to it as is a normal action when you are fighting along with a creature or trying to figure out why your friends are fighting your other friends.

Or if they start within striking distance of the charmer....

The Warlock/Sorcerer can just cast Crown of Madness on the ally. Mentally tell it to attack the charmer, repeat and rinse. The charmed barbarian/fighter will stay next to the target trying to talk to them asking them what's going on... And the caster will use their action so they can continue to attack them.

This is niche, and it works primarily when you have a debuff/buff caster rather than a damage dealing caster.

So question time...

What other effects can Crown of Madness override when cast on an ally?

Or

What's the best use of Crown of Madness when cast on an ally?

Also random note, my spell card says that it forces a melee attack, does the PHB (which I left in the west coast and waiting for it to return) say "melee weapon attack"? Because a melee spell attack is a melee attack after all.

Edit:

Wizard is charmed by an enemy (say succubi or something) and is acting all puppy love. Sorcerer is a buff/debuff type and can't really damage the enemy that well. The others are dealing with fiends of their own and can't get to the succubi. Sorcerer casts " Crown of Madness: Wizard" and the wizard can decide that since they have no weapons they must perform the attack to the best of their ability (like a fighter or beasts would use extra attack or multi attack) and uses a vampiric touch. If the sorcerer knows the wizard spells this makes a bit more sense as the Sorcerer could will the wizard to use it specifically I guess.

Also the save says the target can make a save, it doesn't say it must...

[Chronos]

It might work against just plain old Charm (depending on how one interprets "must" vs. "cannot"), but plain old Charm isn't a big deal anyway. Even if the charmed fighter can't attack the wizard who charmed him, he can still attack anyone else he wants. What makes charm a big deal isn't the condition itself, but the riders that usually go along with it (i.e., if the charm comes from anything more than the Charm Person spell). Too often, it's "while the subject is charmed, it is incapacitated", or something of that sort.

[ChubbyRain]

Command is another such spell that could be negated as it is a 1st level spell and CoM is a 2nd level spell.

Friendly raging barbarian gets a Command to flee? Place a CoM on her, she attacks due to your influence, she flees due to Command's influence. And she still has her rage.

I've seen command used quite a bit to make a barbarian lose rage and take some OA.

Hahaha... Just had a thought for an interesting in world "sport".

You could have two teams that has Command and Crown of Madness (At-Will, through an item?). Each team gets a fighter or barbarian (maybe two for each team).

As a castet you can only target melee members of your own team with command and CoM, you may also move on your turn. The first team to KO the other team wins. Perhaps the melee ones can't attack each other.

You get two of the three melee types, barbarian, fighter, and rogue?

I'm sure with some work and the right trap infested battlefield you could make this become D&D's Blitzball :smallcool: