How to 'Subtly' influence a duel?

[1Pirate]

So, two barbarians(berserkers) are going to have a one-one fight to the death.

Spells are not allowed, however as a CG 12th-level Divine Soul sorcerer with Subtle, Twin, and Quicken, Keeping your friend alive>Obeying rules.

What spells would be best to tip the balance in your friend's favor without getting caught( let's assume no one's actively using Detect Magic on the fight, but the crowd is savvy enough to tell when someone's being Hasted or paralyzed)?

Edit: Note they are Berserkers, so charm effects and their ilk won't work.

[DMThac0]

Toss out a bless, aid, or other non-visual buff that can give your buddy an edge. If your DM allows it, Calm Emotions could be used to make the opponent prematurely drop Rage. Warding Bond for AC/Saving throws. Just a few that popped into my head from the Cleric side.

[Ventruenox]

Subtle cast any of: Command, Phanstasmal Force, Enhance Ability.

Phantasmal Force in particular would work wonders with its psychic damage and undetectable mind games.

[Deathtongue]

So, two barbarians(berzerkers) are going to have a one-one fight to the death.

Spells are not allowed, however as a CG 12th-level Divine Soul sorcerer with Subtle, Twin, and Quicken, Keeping your friend alive>Obeying rules.

What spells would be best to tip the balance in your friend's favor without getting caught( let's assume no one's actively using Detect Magic on the fight, but the crowd is savvy enough to tell when someone's being Hasted or paralyzed)?

I'd just suggest a Subtle Spell: Suggestion to spend every other round taunting the opponent, but you mentioned Berserker -- and if it's a frenzied berserker, they'll be immune to charm.

Bane and Bless are suitable choices, but the problem is that Barbarians will probably be recklessly attacking their low AC selves anyway and it won't matter. Bestow Curse, sadly, won't apply disadvantage to the other Barbarian's attack roll. And the half-chance of doing nothing might be too obvious -- same problem as Confusion.

If you think Slow obvious, there's always Phantasmal Force; something like believing that the ground they're fighting on is unstable. Requires a lot of cooperation from the DM.

If you're feeling confident, you can always use Greater Invis and then tap the opponent with Contagion.

If you can pose as a harmless spectator, you can always Subtle-cast the Command spell while cheering/taunting. Make sure your command word you use is within some other phrase that won't draw suspicion. Something like, "C'mon, Thog, DROP this fool! Drop them like a phat beat! Drop 'em!" while they're wailing on their opponent with an axe. Or something.

[Unoriginal]

Who is making sure the rules of this duel are respected?

[Man_Over_Game]

Heal is a Cleric spell. 60 feet, heals 70 HP, removes some minor conditions.

A level 12 Barbarian probably has about 120 HP. Heal the Barbarian when he's at half HP, and his opponent will feel like he's fighting a mountain. Best part is, since they have such massive HP pools, you only need a split second to cast it due to its Instantaneous casting time, and it might not be detectable by Detect Magic.

Giving your Barbarian 50% more HP in a split second is not only going to be hard to witness/prove, but it's also ludicrously effective with the Barbarian's Rage.

[1Pirate]

Technically there are four guards to prevent interference, but the crowd would turn on anyone who appeared to be cheating or getting supernatural assistance(it's a "You Wanna Be the Chief, You Gotta Beat the Chief"-type scenario).

[Galithar]

Technically there are four guards to prevent interference, but the crowd would turn on anyone who appeared to be cheating or getting supernatural assistance(it's a "You Wanna Be the Chief, You Gotta Beat the Chief"-type scenario).

I would avoid massive amounts of healing in a burst then, large wounds suddenly closing is obvious. Small continous healing would be better. Subtle healing word each round may not be a lot, but it will definitely add up, especially with damage resistance in play. And your action economy isn't important here, his is.

[Unoriginal]

Technically there are four guards to prevent interference, but the crowd would turn on anyone who appeared to be cheating or getting supernatural assistance(it's a "You Wanna Be the Chief, You Gotta Beat the Chief"-type scenario).

No one with magic around to check for cheats? No spirits overseeing the procedure?

[dragoeniex]

Your helpers here could probably get more creative if you'd kindly supply your list of known spells. :)

[1Pirate]

No one with magic around to check for cheats? No spirits overseeing the procedure?
Well, you can never be 100% certain can you, but we're certain enough to take the risk.

[Segev]

Is there anybody on the other guy's side who would be an obvious suspect if the other guy were "cheating with magic?" You could cast a really obvious buff on the other guy, and attempt to make it look like he has somebody cheating on his behalf, or is using magic of his own (somehow).

If you have time before hand, disguise yourself as the other guy and go around using friends to intimidate or cajole or even nicely ask people to support you, to consider "the greater good of the tribe" and how horrible for it your guy would be. By the time the duel comes around, they'll all be furious with him for having tried to influence them with dirty, stinking magic.

If there's an official count-down to the start, or anything otherwise preventing "early starting" and making that a cheat, a good use of phantasmal force would be to have an illusion of your guy kick up a huge cloud of dust and charge, making an attack, early. The other guy will likely immediately attack back (so make the illusion retreat back to your guy's space), and he'll be the one that everybody else sees attack first. Now all you have to do is have the illusion overlapping your guy keep making attacks.

Another possible phantasmal force would be a portion of the crowd - especially if any are on the fence about the guy - booing and hissing and throwing rocks and things (for the 1d6 psychic damage). His reaction to the crowd turning on him and "blatantly cheating" will have those he's accusing of it more offended, the refs going, "What cheating?" and him convinced everyone must be in on it.

Magic weapon should be pretty subtle. Though it won't help if they're actively unarmed.

Does false life work on others?

[Wildarm]

So, two barbarians(berserkers) are going to have a one-one fight to the death.

Spells are not allowed, however as a CG 12th-level Divine Soul sorcerer with Subtle, Twin, and Quicken, Keeping your friend alive>Obeying rules.

What spells would be best to tip the balance in your friend's favor without getting caught( let's assume no one's actively using Detect Magic on the fight, but the crowd is savvy enough to tell when someone's being Hasted or paralyzed)?

Edit: Note they are Berserkers, so charm effects and their ilk won't work.

Heroism just keeps giving a small amount of temp HP. Would not be that noticeable assuming your DM plays it representing heroic might to shrug off attacks. Would go a long way in an even fight between two barbarians. Don’t think it’s on your list though.

Aid perhaps could be precast. Inspiring Leader would work too.

[Yunru]

Was going to suggest Heroism, but someone beat me too it.

[Man_Over_Game]

You could ask about the ways that the arena prevents cheating, under the guise of being worried that the other guy is going to cheat (because your guy is so famous where you're from).

That way, you can get an idea to determine if casting a long-term spell would be beneficial (Heroism) or a short-term one (Heal), or go a safe route of inefficiently spammed spells (Healing Word).

[JackPhoenix]

How likely is your friend will punch you and stop being your friend once he finds out you've made him cheat unknowingly?

BSFs tend to take that "honor" stuff seriously, even if they're barbarians. *Especially* if they are barbarians.

[1Pirate]

How likely is your friend will punch you and stop being your friend once he finds out you've made him cheat unknowingly?
Not too likely, but the character wouldn't care as long as their friend survived the duel.

[jh12]

If the fight is during a sunny day, there's always bringing something shiny to reflect the sun in the bad barbarian's eye. Sure, it might not take advantage of all your fancy magic, but things like that have been known to be effective.

[sophontteks]

You can cure wounds all day given that HP damage doesn't equal actual wounds sustained. It should not be noticeable, because its not healing big wounds. Your friend doesn't have any unless he's actually in danger of dying.

The question is an odd one because you can't change your spells though. What spells do we have to work with?

[Rukelnikov]

Well, there are 2 main methods someone can tell you or your friend are cheating, either noticing you casting spells, or noticing auras on your friend or his opponent.

To prevent the second one, don't cast any spell with a duration, to prevent the first one, you need subtle MM, which you have, and Nondetection, which IDK if you have or can get.

Assuming those two things, doing something to the opponent, runs the risk of him saying stuff("Get out of my head!") And getting people suspicious.

So subtly healing your friend seems the safest route possible, and as others said, small healings have a better chance of going unnoticed than Heal.

[Misterwhisper]

I would just subtle cast a spell on the opponent that is a buff with a visual effect so it looks like they cheated.

[mephiztopheleze]

Depending on the situation, and what sort of anti-cheating counter-measures are in place, subtle heals, 'guidance' cantrips and small buffs may get through.
You also might want to keep an eye out for someone doing the same for the opponent.

[Mercurias]

I'd start the day off right for your friend with Heroes Feast.

If you can get close enough, you could probably use Prestidigitation to make your barbarian's opponent look like he soiled his leather loincloth.

If you had Gust, would could blow dirt or sand up into the opponent's eyes.

This would be a good time to use Shield of Faith, if you have it, for a small AC boost that could mean all the difference.

Waiting for the right moment in the fight (e.g., during a flashy exchange of blows) and then casting Blindness/Deafness (Blind) on the enemy might work.

Maybe you could use Message and whisper distracting messages like "Duck!" or "Block now!" to the opponent?

If you took Telekinesis, I'd work with the DM to see if you couldn't find repeated ways to make the opponent slip, stumble, trip, and fall.

[Lord8Ball]

A good nonmagical way to increase the battle in your allies favor is using both the inspiring leader feat and bardic inspiration flavored as words of encouragement. Technically you are following the rules but you can get the results without tipping off opponents or anti spellcaster defenses.

For the magical method, the best thing to do would be to stack multiple buff spells through the use of glyphs of warding.
First, you would need a bag of holding and then you would cast spells inside it so not to have 10 ft movement break the magic on the plane you are on. Just set the trigger to insert name of player puts his hand in the bag then spells go off on him. If the people notice the bag it is not likely they will find the glyphs and you could try to convince the people who set up the duel or arena battle that he will pull his weapon out for showmanship. If that doesn't work the nonmagical plan will still be intact.

[Droodicus]

Find out the tribes spiritual beliefs. Subtle spell spirit guardians. Use your high chair to deception the tribe that the spirits are possessing you to aid your contender as that's who the spirits believe should lead. If the other guy doesn't back down the tribe will see him fighting the wishes of their spirits.
When your dude wins he's divinely mandated to be chief which can't hurt