D&D 5E Horn of Valhalla Berserkers

[ScuroNotte]

The Berserkers are loyal to the horn, and the one who sounded it.
But can they be charmed or magically compelled to act against the blower of the horn?

 

[jgsugden]

Yes. They use the statistics of a berserker, and berserkers have no special resistance to magical compulsion of any type. They are loyal, but magic can override non-magical loyalty.

 

[Croesus]

The Berserkers are loyal to the horn, and the one who sounded it.
But can they be charmed or magically compelled to act against the blower of the horn?

Makes me think you might be playing Out of the Abyss, as this happened to us. A character summoned in the berserkers, the opponent (no spoilers) was able to dominate a bunch of them, the fight suddenly became much, much harder. We won the battle, but it was a near-run thing. Very memorable.

 

[ScuroNotte]

Yes. They use the statistics of a berserker, and berserkers have no special resistance to magical compulsion of any type. They are loyal, but magic can override non-magical loyalty.

They use the statistics, but they are "warrior spirits from the plane of Ysgard" and they "follow your command."

Also

If they are not humanoid but spirits, are they not affected by enchantment (charm) spells that specify humanoids. Maybe charm monster (XGtE).

 

[ScuroNotte]

Makes me think you might be playing Out of the Abyss, as this happened to us. A character summoned in the berserkers, the opponent (no spoilers) was able to dominate a bunch of them, the fight suddenly became much, much harder. We won the battle, but it was a near-run thing. Very memorable.

Me thinks you are correct. I know what will happen next, just planning it out.

Trying to determine if
1.) they are completely loyal
and/or
2. if they are considered humanoids as they are spirits as per description. Because if they are not humanoids, then they would not be affected by certain spells.

 

[jgsugden]

They use the statistics, but they are "warrior spirits from the plane of Ysgard" and they "follow your command."

Also

If they are not humanoid but spirits, are they not affected by enchantment (charm) spells that specify humanoids. Maybe charm monster (XGtE).

RAW: They use the statistics, including creature type, of Berserkers. The description of them as spirits doesn't override their stat block. There are many examples where they include additional language, such as changing the type for familiars, but they did not do that here. They are described as spirits, but they are humanoids from a rules perspective under the RAW.

 

[ScuroNotte]

RAW: They use the statistics, including creature type, of Berserkers. The description of them as spirits doesn't override their stat block. There are many examples where they include additional language, such as changing the type for familiars, but they did not do that here. They are described as spirits, but they are humanoids from a rules perspective under the RAW.

OH. I thought statistics only referred to the numerical stats, not their creature type.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

The Berserkers are loyal to the horn, and the one who sounded it.
But can they be charmed or magically compelled to act against the blower of the horn?

Interesting thing about the charmed condition and Charm Person is that it would not automatically cause someone to attack their allies. It makes the caster appear as an ally to the target. Most often, the target affected by something like Charm Person may have an inner conflict. They may not act because they are confused who is right or who to attack. Or, it may be like when you see your friends fighting and you try to intervene without hurting anyone.

Now Dominate Person would be a spell more likely to cause the Berserkers to attack the horn and its wielder. That spell specifically states that the target follows the caster's commands to the best of their ability, and even allows the caster to take complete control of the target.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

There is a line in conjure animals that "Each beast is also considered fey, and it disappears when it drops to 0 hit points or when the spell ends", so things like the banishing effect of divine word, protection from evil and good affect them. I would also consider the conjured animals to be immune to dominant beast, although being a kind DM, I would let any spell that affects beasts that the caster wanted to affect the beasts (like beast sense or beast bond) affect the conjured critter (also being the key word in the description).

Of course, there isn't a "spirit" type in 5e, so RAW there is nothing to compete with the "any humanoid" part of the description of berserker. I would go with RAI (and RAF), and since the DMG says there are elves and dwarves that are celestials (or to borrow the idea from conjure animal, they also have the celestial type in addition to the humanoid type) running around the Upper Planes, the berserkers are probably celestial versions of humanoids as well (if the horn holder's player had an inspiration point, he/she could request the berserkers be celestial goliath berserkers, celestial half-orc berserkers, or celestial any other humanoid race berserkers).

 

[toucanbuzz]

If the designers intended for them to be immune to any condition, they would have specifically said so. Valhalla berserkers are like the Conjure Animal spell in that spirits are summoned into a form and consequently we don't have to feel so bad if they're immediately sent into battle as fodder. In both cases, they operate exactly as the form they become (beast/humanoid) for purposes of what affects them, unless otherwise specified (Conjure Animals says they're fey beasts).