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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Benjamin Olson" data-source="post: 8060287" data-attributes="member: 6988941">I've told this story before, but it's a favorite. My Bard once successfully Suggestioned the massive Devil the big bad summoned with his dying breath to think we weren't worth his trouble and he should just go back through the portal he came out of.  Now certainly we all felt bad for the DM for having bought and painted a spectacular Devil and getting to plop it down on the mat for less than a round, but it is one of my all time favorite D&D moments and probably more memorable for everyone there than the fight would have been. At first blush, stories like this make the spell seem ridiculously overpowered. But looking at the details from all sides it seems much more balanced. There was no way "just go home, we're not worth the bother" would be a "reasonable" suggestion if battle was actually joined, or even if the Devil had a real dog in the fight rather than being semi-unwillingly brought in. After that round the portal would have closed and there would be no chance for this to work so simply. My Bard had to win initiative and then forgo all violent action and use her last spell slot on a save or suck spell with no idea what this Devil was, whether he was immune, whether the DM would deem the suggestion reasonable, or whatever. I think since I was using the magic lute that gave +1 to her spell save DC that she even had to drop her dual magic daggers while staring down a Devil. It was a complete hail mary that I wouldn't have even tried if I thought we stood a real chance against that Devil. Then the Devil had to fail the roll, which in this case required I think getting less than a 4 on the die, but the dice were with us that day, clearly.And look at the opportunity costs, because they chose this instead of any other spell they could have chosen. Out of combat Suggestion is liable to start combat or at least make enemies if someone succeeds the save, and if they fail you still might fail to come up with something reasonable or phrase it in a way where it is actually effective. There is often simply no useful Suggestion to make. It only works "in combat" under narrow circumstances, based entirely on the DM's subjective reading of the target's psychology, and is a concentration spell which may then require hours of concentrating. My character kept a spell as one of her spells known that while very powerful every time she successfully used it, actually only got successfully used a grand total of 3 times in the campaign, and the Devil was the only time where it went off 100% without a snag. The reason it often does not go off without a snag is that, per the spell, "if the suggested activity can be completed in a shorter time, the spell ends when the subject finishes what it was asked to do". It is hard to both word a suggestion to be reasonable and ensure that it will not be technically completed prematurely, and hence break the spell. "Leave" is a pretty good combat suggestion when there is a closing portal for the enemy to then no be able to return through, but had it been a stable one the Devil would have left through it, thus completing the spell, and then immediately been free of the spell and able to change his mind and come straight back.It is an absolute favorite spell of mine because, when the stars align, it is incredibly powerful and can completely shake up the narrative. But that doesn't mean the stars are often in alignment, just that it is very memorable when they are.</blockquote>

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