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Message: <blockquote data-quote="redrick" data-source="post: 6615781" data-attributes="member: 6777696">Since it takes a group of players at least half an hour to get through a 30 second combat, I don't put a whole lot of stock in table time as a measure of game time. Furthermore, I believe that, if you gave the professional actor at our table 30 seconds to improv an interaction with an NPC who is being magically suggested (even slightly), she could accomplish quite a bit. This is where the Charisma and the proficiency come in. And, of course, the check.In the case of the wagon, that's a 45 second head start until the guard knows that something is wrong. He doesn't immediately know what is wrong. He knows that the person driving that wagon magically suggested something to him, but he doesn't know what's in the wagon. So there is more lead time for the guard to figure out what actually happened and communicate that to somebody else. Guards are standing ready to defend a checkpoint, but it might take them longer to deal with a threat that has already passed. These are crucial rounds (8 or more) during which the players can be doing all sorts of things. If I were planning this break-in on the fly, I would say that, as soon as we got through the checkpoint, we would turn a corner and ditch the wagon. The driver would ditch his disguise. Now, once the guard has managed to figure out what's happened, communicated that to somebody else, sounded the alarm and sent somebody to investigate the wagon, the characters are a block away, trying to blend in with the crowd. Sounds like a fun action sequence to me.Alternatively, if the characters bum-rushed the checkpoint, they will be under fire before they even reach it. Even if they do successfully barrel through with their wagon and animals intact, there are now a number of guards who know exactly what they are chasing after. Guards beyond the checkpoint (if there are any) have already been alerted and streaming out weapons drawn. This has gone from an infiltration scene to a storming scene.I feel like you're needlessly applying a level of hyper-realism to one aspect of game time in order to shoot down potential uses of this cantrip. If you really can't imagine an interaction fitting into one minute, just amend the cantrip to last as long as a short interaction, saying that 30 seconds after the interaction is completed, the character will catch on to the magical suggestion. Or just extend the duration to 2 minutes. That keeps the spirit of the cantrip intact — short interactions — but allows you to maintain your idea of verisimilitude for the game. That's a totally legit thing to do — adjust the mechanics so that the intended outcome fits within your understanding of the rest of your world mechanics.</blockquote>

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