Does Hypnotism automatically start a combat?

[frankthedm]

I believe the default use is amongst those otherwise indifferent to you.

Problem is casting a spell around folks who don't have a reason trust you is going to be treated as a hostile act.

I think the only way to use hypnotism outside of combat would be by special DM fiat narration that the target doesn't notice anything unusual: "his droning words lull you and you find yourself getting very sleepy... very sleepy... it suddenly occurs to you that this might be a spell, but [rolls save] it's too late." That's what I'll try next time.

How about just house ruling the spell to be a standard action casting time so the spell is as viable as other spell options. "Hey guys, after seing how impratical a one round casting time for hypnotism is, I'm dropping it's casting time to a standard action. Any one who wants scrolls or wands of it now just deduct the GP from your coin totals."

Because making the components able to be disguised without making any announcements is giving an NPC caster a gotcha card when the players legitimately passed the spell by because of the tactically unsound one round casting time.

But, instantly pulling out your gun and shooting someone dialing a cell phone because they could be triggering an IED does seem a little hasty unless you're in a war zone. Is a dungeon that?

I am surprised and saddened that question has to be asked. Yes. A D&D dungeon is a warzone. The party is going into an underground bunker likely filled with potential hostiles belonging to an unknown number of factions.

 

[Noumenon]

A standard action works well enough for charm person.

I wouldn't mind telling the players the same thing goes for them... I want hypnotism to work for them too.

I am surprised and saddened that question has to be asked. Yes. A D&D dungeon is a warzone. The party is going into an underground bunker likely filled with potential hostiles belonging to an unknown number of factions.

I was thinking of a "hot" war zone with confirmed hostiles and sworn enemies. I'm running a big megadungeon (Castle Whiterock) and it's more like, say, Central America when Cortes arrived. You don't shoot every native on sight, and you can ally with some while declaring war on the others.

My players do a lot of this. They got captured and cut a deal with a duergar on level 2 to make him the orcs' new leader by killing the old leader for him. He gave them a writ of passage through to level three, where they slew the bugbears but made a deal with the orcish alchemist to sell them stinkpots. On level four, they agreed to free dissident troglodytes that had been imprisoned for abandoning their religion when their "god" went silent, in exchange for information about where to find a new party member.

They definitely could have treated with this dust mephit instead of going to combat. He was a spy trying to get word back about what the duergar had done to the orc leader, so they could have chosen to help him escape the level and betray their earlier ally. Or they could have been hypnotized to help, but thanks to hypnotism starting combats, both of those diplomacy options got missed.

 

[Vegepygmy]

Problem is casting a spell around folks who don't have a reason trust you is going to be treated as a hostile act.

I disagree. In a world where magic is commonplace, the mere act of casting a spell, by itself, should provoke no more alarm than someone in our world taking out a kitchen knife. That is to say, there's some potential for danger, but in appropriate circumstances (like when you're standing in a kitchen) it won't even raise an eyebrow, while in others (like when you're in the bathroom) you're likely to be asked: "What are you doing with that?" In any case, it's unlikely anyone is going to shoot you dead on the spot.

Yes. A D&D dungeon is a warzone.

Maybe. It depends on what the "dungeon" actually is. Some certainly will be. Others, not so much.

 

[Noumenon]

Actually, just about every other dungeon I've ever run has been a war zone, except that one of my players ran errands for the dragon in The Dragonfiend Pact. Megadungeons are a special case, maybe, where you bring the overworld inside of the dungeon so you aren't at war with the whole thing the whole campaign.