D&D 5E How to Use "Charm Person" Without Getting Caught

[nevin]

Hire someone to distract everyone, bard rogue etc. Then cast

 

[nevin]

Stand outside the door, maybe so you can peer through the crack, and cast.

Also, shouldn't all those people have to do Identify checks to know what you're casting?

I have also done the excuse yourself to the restroom and find a place outside their eyeline/hearing to cast.

Yes on the identify but if you see someone casting a spell at someone else, it's almost certain their up to no good. Even if they don't know what your casting their likely to call you out to the crowd

 

[jasper]

V and S components didnt seem to bother Obi Wan.

[waves hand] 'These aren't the droids you're looking for.'

Dar(BEEP) Flamestrike those were the droids. That wizard cast charm person on us. Lets go beat him up.

 

[Oofta]

Stand outside the door, maybe so you can peer through the crack, and cast.

Also, shouldn't all those people have to do Identify checks to know what you're casting?

I have also done the excuse yourself to the restroom and find a place outside their eyeline/hearing to cast.

How would that help? Nothing in the spell says they need to see you cast it, it's not like they're doing an arcana check. If you interact with the target, their thoughts are not their own. They are being magically influenced to consider you a friendly acquaintance. After they are no longer under the spell they realize there was no reason for them to feel that way. Most people would be rightfully pissed off by that.

But yes, technically if you charm someone and they don't see you doing it and then leave so they never interact with you may be able to get away with it in my campaign. Would still be a waste of a spell.

 

[MGibster]

One idea might be careful how you use it. Mark of Hospitality halflings in Eberron get Friends as a cantrip. Even though the spell states that the target becomes hostile when it ends, Keith Baker has stated House Ghallandra halflings don't use it to do anything bad to you. They turn on the charm, and when it ends, what do you have to be mad at them about? For making you feel better? So despite what a spell says, maybe consider what actions you take while they are under the spell.

Charm Person is one of those spells that I would find horrifying in real life. I'd be super pissed if someone cast Charm Person on me in real life, and even if it didn't result in any tangible harm, I'd turn hostile real quick once I found out it was cast or even attempted to be cast on me. I'd have to live in fear of losing my autonomy every time I was near that halfling.

But then a lot of people view spells in D&D a bit differently than I do. I've met many players who don't mind lobbing fireballs into a melee with other party members because they're confident that their friends won't take too much damage and they've got the heals to handle it if they do. And many times those players being fire balled are fine with it.

 

[Oofta]

Charm Person is one of those spells that I would find horrifying in real life. I'd be super pissed if someone cast Charm Person on me in real life, and even if it didn't result in any tangible harm, I'd turn hostile real quick once I found out it was cast or even attempted to be cast on me. I'd have to live in fear of losing my autonomy every time I was near that halfling.

But then a lot of people view spells in D&D a bit differently than I do. I've met many players who don't mind lobbing fireballs into a melee with other party members because they're confident that their friends won't take too much damage and they've got the heals to handle it if they do. And many times those players being fire balled are fine with it.

I'd actually be more okay with being fireballed under certain circumstances. That's what magical healing is for. Being charmed? As you said, that would piss me off and I'm not sure I'd ever trust the caster again.

 

[MGibster]

I'd actually be more okay with being fireballed under certain circumstances. That's what magical healing is for. Being charmed? As you said, that would piss me off and I'm not sure I'd ever trust the caster again.

It probably has a lot to do with how people view the nature of hit points. But for me, it's just one of those examples of meta thinking that throws me completely out of the game. If a party member deliberately throws a fireball into the middle of the scrum I'm hip deep in I'd be pissed. As a player, I know the fireball isn't going to do that much damage to me but is likely to significantly damage or kill the foes surrounding me. But as a character, I'd view it as a party member being sloppy or indifference to any harm he might cause me.

Charm Person, and other similar spells, have often been a point of contention in games I've run. And I've encountered plenty of players who had no problem using Charm Person to get better deals on merchandise or use it for other frivolous reasons to gain some small advantage for them. I start thinking that in real life we used to torture and execute people we believed had these kinds of powers. How the hell do you think we'd react to people who actually had those abilities? I imagine we'd have institutions designed to control that kind of behavior at the very least.

Ugh, I think I'm growing weary of D&Disms these days. I'm starting to find the worlds to be tedious and uninteresting.

 

[Oofta]

It probably has a lot to do with how people view the nature of hit points. But for me, it's just one of those examples of meta thinking that throws me completely out of the game. If a party member deliberately throws a fireball into the middle of the scrum I'm hip deep in I'd be pissed. As a player, I know the fireball isn't going to do that much damage to me but is likely to significantly damage or kill the foes surrounding me. But as a character, I'd view it as a party member being sloppy or indifference to any harm he might cause me.

Charm Person, and other similar spells, have often been a point of contention in games I've run. And I've encountered plenty of players who had no problem using Charm Person to get better deals on merchandise or use it for other frivolous reasons to gain some small advantage for them. I start thinking that in real life we used to torture and execute people we believed had these kinds of powers. How the hell do you think we'd react to people who actually had those abilities? I imagine we'd have institutions designed to control that kind of behavior at the very least.

Ugh, I think I'm growing weary of D&Disms these days. I'm starting to find the worlds to be tedious and uninteresting.

The right circumstances would have to be just that ... the right circumstances and highly unusual. I've had characters that were willing to risk death if he stakes are high enough or if the alternative is worse. As a house rule the caster has to ask permission first, so maybe that's why it's never been an issue.

Yeah, even "friends" can be problematic. Had a player use that now and then, my response was to simply note who they used it on and when. After a while nobody trusted them, put up posters with warnings in all the local shops. After all it just makes the caster a friendly acquaintance, it's not dominate followed by selective amnesia. I give NPCs realistic reactions when I can and charm spells are incredibly invasive. I can see it being illegal as well in most areas.

 

[Gadget]

I believe the OP is asking about how to use Charm Person with witnesses present, not how to avoid the largely unavoidable consequences of the target knowing they were charmed when the spell ends. The only way I know around the former part is the metamagic subtle spell (Note that even the oft quoted example of Obi-wan's "These are not the droids you're looking for" does not have verbal component in this context: he doesn't chant an incantation before influencing the storm trooper). The only way around the later issue is be out of reach when the spell wares off, or just wait until you can cast Suggestion, which doesn't have that particular down side.

 

[Krachek]

I wonder why charm person is considered useless if the target know it is charm after the spell.
you don’t use charm person to make friend and trusted relation! You use it to have access to information, privilege, some location, and in any cases you put yourself at risk, and using charm person again can be your best tool later on.