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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6434272" data-attributes="member: 4937">I think these sorts of counter-examples would be a lot more effective if they didn't usually depend on an overly generous DM and stupid NPCs.   While infiltrating a lair using a disguise might be something I'd allow, I can't imagine pulling that off unchallenged.  At the least, I'd expect 1 successful bluff (or other social skill) check and a wizard fluent in orcish to pull that trick - and that's if you successfully disguise yourself as a particular orc known to the guards and not a generic strange orc (for which you better roll well on disguise).  Something also will need to be done to hide the parties gear from casual inspection.  Etc. Fooling a evil mastermind that steals princesses with something like a minor illusion is ridiculous.  Seriously?  I'm sorry, but if that worked and the players were more than 10, I'd never play in that DMs game again.  A common drug dealer is more skeptical than that and knows better how to test the quality of his product.  How the heck do you rise to the leadership of an evil organization where backstabbing, treachery, and deceit are common and you can get scammed by the simplest lamest tricks in the book?   Seriously?  Our villains aren't even as smart and competent as Cobra Commander?  I'm done with that game.   Yes, scamming or deceiving a villain ought to be something you can pull off, but not so bloody casually and unskillfully.  50/50, the evil mastermind intended to scam and betray you anyway as soon as he got the foozle.Likewise, what you suggest for Charm Person can reasonably only be pulled for with something like Suggestion.  Charm Person makes the guard see _you_ as a friend.  That friendship does not extend to how he sees your comrades, whose presence will be baffling and distressful to him - why would you, his close friend, hang out with such scum.  Nor does it cause him to take potentially suicidal courses of action on your behalf or cause him to betray other friends.   It might work, depending on the guard, but charm person is not Suggestion - a spell two levels higher for a reason.  Only the Comprehend Languages suggestion doesn't seem overly generous to me, and it well, as a DM well acquainted with the mental processes of players, the note 95% of the time will not do what you think it does.  Most parties in fact will I think interpret that as a time limit - "In 2 days they are going to move the ancient relic to "the great gathering of tribes".  If we don't go in now, then it will be 5000 gnolls guarding the foozle rather than 50."   Conversely, if that is what the DM intended them to know, if they interpret the information as you suggest, they'll have exactly the wrong idea.  Hopefully your DM has learned by experience not to give such a vague clue.In short, all these examples of how powerful wizards are assume a lot of cooperation by the DM.   I don't think yours necessarily break the rules outright - as some counterexamples have - but they are hardly impressive counterexamples.  And that's not even getting into the fact that they don't address the OP's concerns.</blockquote>

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