Charm Person!

[BaconAwesome]

I had an NPC just completely nope out of a player character encounter with 2 charm person spells by charming two of the party leaders during a confrontation then persuading them to back down and leave. (To be fair, now the party is pretty mad at her, and they'll be more prepared in future.)

It's not a game breaker, but I hadn't appreciated how good it is for a first level spell.

1) Only one save, then it lasts for an hour with no additional saves as long as no one attacks the charm victim.

2) It's not concentration!

If you add subtle spell and/or play an enchanter, this spell could be even more awesome.

[NaughtyTiger]

My enchantment wizard was the laughing stock, especially against the divination wizard. At 14th level, i spammed charm person and auto-modified memories. now i end most encounters without a fight and the party actually ends up on good terms with the NPCs...

[Unoriginal]

I had an NPC just completely nope out of a player character encounter with 2 charm person spells by charming two of the party leaders during a confrontation then persuading them to back down and leave. (To be fair, now the party is pretty mad at her, and they'll be more prepared in future.)

It's not a game breaker, but I hadn't appreciated how good it is for a first level spell.

1) Only one save, then it lasts for an hour with no additional saves as long as no one attacks the charm victim.

2) It's not concentration!

If you add subtle spell and/or play an enchanter, this spell could be even more awesome.

Why didn't the rest of the party attack the NPC who just used mind-control magic on their allies? Or just slapped their allies to make then un-charmed?

[Keravath]

My enchantment wizard was the laughing stock, especially against the divination wizard. At 14th level, i spammed charm person and auto-modified memories. now i end most encounters without a fight and the party actually ends up on good terms with the NPCs...

Ummm ... it sounds cool but as far as I can tell it doesn't work that way.

"When you cast an enchantment spell to charm one or more creatures, you can alter one creature's understanding so that it remains unaware of being charmed."

"Additionally, once before the spell expires, you can use your action to try to make the chosen creature forget some of the time it spent charmed."

You can make it not realize it was charmed and you can try to have it forget something that happened when it was charmed.

You can't change its memories outside the time of the charm spell. So whatever reason they had to fight the party in the first place is likely to still be there when the charm ends. The NPCs attitude doesn't change. It does give you some time to try to convince them that you aren't actually bad folks and it does give you the opportunity to bypass an encounter and have them forget you were ever there but I don't see how the party can wind up being friends with the NPCs. The ability doesn't have that capability.

However, combine this ability with mass suggestion (which you would have at 11th level) and you can really make entire encounters go away if you are lucky enough :)

[Keravath]

Why didn't the rest of the party attack the NPC who just used mind-control magic on their allies? Or just slapped their allies to make then un-charmed?

Slapping your allies will not break the charm. If the caster or their allies attack him then the charm breaks but if you start attacking your friend he is likely to wonder why all his buddies except his new friend are turning on him. He may well think the rest of the party has been charmed and if they start to attack the caster he is quite likely to step in there and try to break it up. Depending on what the charmed character is like they could take a number of actions ranging from trying to save his new friend to attacking his former "friends".

However, casting the charm spell is noticeable. It involves verbal and somatic components. As soon as the NPC starts to cast, then it is time to roll for initiative since the encounter is no longer social but combat. At the least, the second casting of charm person should have had advantage on the save since combat had already started with the first casting unless the caster was a sorcerer with subtle metamagic in which case the spell would not be noticed and the charmed characters would simply strongly argue to leave their new friend alone.

[NaughtyTiger]

Ummm ... it sounds cool but as far as I can tell it doesn't work that way.

"When you cast an enchantment spell to charm one or more creatures, you can alter one creature's understanding so that it remains unaware of being charmed."

"Additionally, once before the spell expires, you can use your action to try to make the chosen creature forget some of the time it spent charmed."

You can make it not realize it was charmed and you can try to have it forget something that happened when it was charmed.

You can't change its memories outside the time of the charm spell. So whatever reason they had to fight the party in the first place is likely to still be there when the charm ends. The NPCs attitude doesn't change. It does give you some time to try to convince them that you aren't actually bad folks and it does give you the opportunity to bypass an encounter and have them forget you were ever there but I don't see how the party can wind up being friends with the NPCs. The ability doesn't have that capability.

However, combine this ability with mass suggestion (which you would have at 11th level) and you can really make entire encounters go away if you are lucky enough :)

we got along swimming during the charm spell or even friends (cuz it does make them friendly) and i erase the memory of the casting... all they remember is that we got along for the last hour. and suddenly they are going back to forgetting that?

[stoutstien]

we got along swimming during the charm spell (cuz it does make them friendly) and i erase the memory of the casting... all they remember is that we got along for the last hour. and suddenly they are going back to forgetting that?
the charm condition is up there with illusions as far as vagueness of rules.
It's the one thing I've never seen ruled the same way twice.

[BaconAwesome]

Why didn't the rest of the party attack the NPC who just used mind-control magic on their allies?

Mostly tactical mistakes by the party. They were in a three sided fight, and got stung out between two rooms in an effort to end the encounter, so some of them were in a standoff with the NPC while others were engaged in combat in the next room with the flunkies. Most of the party was used to following their leader's instructions and weren't really sure which side of the combat the party was going to end up on, and the one or two members who saw spell casting didn't know what spell was cast or who was the target. Her argument that they should stand down and leave wasn't crazy.

Finally, I think they may have been worried about metagaming, since the PCs knew the character was charmed. I'll try to whisper charms in the future, but it really slows down the game in Roll20 to have me texting players.

As I said, it's situational and has a lot of drawbacks, but I didn't appreciate it's one hour with no saves after the first and not concentration. Against a single enemy or the BBEG, it could easily be as encounter breaking as Banishment or Polymorph, especially if cast by a Cha-heavy character. (Like about half the spellcasting classes)

[Chronos]

The charm condition itself is quite clear about what it does (frankly, not much). The problem is that almost all effects that impose the charm condition also tack some rider onto it, and it's often vague just how those riders are supposed to work. For instance, the Charm Person spell charms the target, and also makes them think you're a "friendly acquaintance". Just how does that work? Exactly how the DM thinks it works.