D&D 5E Monsters charming PCs during combat

[jayoungr]

I found out recently that the harpy's charm is pretty powerful and has a 300' range.

Yeah, it is pretty powerful. A harpy's song at least grants a saving throw every round, though. The dryad and vampire versions of charm don't.

 

[iserith]

The trick with harpies is you have to put them in an area with a lot of hazardous terrain between them and the PCs. Razorvine works well as does quicksand.

 

[Weiley31]

It is if you have multiple dryads.

Unfortunately for you and your party, you've encountered the Boss Encounter Dryad. Therefore as the Elder sister of the three Dryads you've met, her mastery of her charm ability is much greater than her other two younger sisters. So sucks for three of your party members who just got charmed by the Elder Dryad sister.

 

[jayoungr]

3. WHY give the suckers an even break? Yes Bob can punch Judy to snap her out of it.

So you houserule it, then?

 

[Weiley31]

So you houserule it, then?

Paladin accidently takes Judy out because he mistakenly turned his itchslap into a Smite Slap.

 

[jayoungr]

What I mean is, as written, a PC cannot snap another PC out of being charmed by a dryad or vampire. Only the one who cast the charm effect, or its allies, can do that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you run it by the book, do you find that this leads to combats ending in a TPC (Total Party Charm)?

Remember that Dryads are usually capricious, not evil. In the event of TPC the players may simply find themselves chained to a lamppost in a neighbouring country.

 

[jasper]

So you houserule it, then?

No you party ally can punch you, aka do damage to you and you get a save.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

No you party ally can punch you, aka do damage to you and you get a save.

That depends on the charm, doesn't it? For succubus and harpy, any damage breaks charm is explicitly true by RAW.
But that's not how the charm spell, or the vampire and dryad charm powers seem to be written. In those cases, only damage from the charmer or its allies prompts another save. I could be wrong, but that's how I read the statblocks.

 

[MarkB]

That depends on the charm, doesn't it? For succubus and harpy, any damage breaks charm is explicitly true by RAW.
But that's not how the charm spell, or the vampire and dryad charm powers seem to be written. In those cases, only damage from the charmer or its allies prompts another save. I could be wrong, but that's how I read the statblocks.

No, you're correct. No matter how much you're damaged by anyone who isn't the vampire or its allies, you won't get a save against the charm.