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Why is everyone so down on Charm Person?
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<blockquote data-quote="Gailbraithe" data-source="post: 4465242" data-attributes="member: 39048"><p>I have always run <em>Charm Person</em> as follows:</p><p></p><p>With a successful save that target knows that they have been the subject of a spell, but do not know what spell it was without a Spellcraft check. Their reaction will depend on many factors. A city guardsman might be terrified and run for his comrades, while power wizard might simply laugh and say "Your feeble mind-tricks will not work on me, boy."</p><p></p><p>A target who fails their save has no idea a spell was cast on them. From their perspective, they lost their focus for second, their mind wandered, and they can't recall exactly what happened.</p><p></p><p>Under the influence of the spell, the target has new positive feelings about the caster, and views the caster as a trusted friend and confidant, but continues to hold all of their own beliefs and their original attitudes towards other friends. Thus it is almost impossible to use <em>Charm Person</em> to convince someone to attack their friends. It is simplicity itself to convince a <em>Charmed</em> person to break up a fight between their friends.</p><p></p><p>After the spell wears off, the targets positive feelings fade. If the caster did not cause the subject to take any actions that the subject would not have taken normally in the course of helping a friend, or any action that has long term negative consequences, then the subject will have no lasting animosity towards the caster. Though they <em>might</em> observe in future encounters that the caster doesn't seem so fascinating and exciting to be around anymore.</p><p></p><p>Here are some examples:</p><p>1) Upon arriving in town, an attractive female sorceress casts <em>charm person</em> on a city guardsman, and asks him to give her a free tour of the city. When the spell wears off, the guard only has a pleasant memory of spending the day with the most amazing woman he ever met. Should he meet her again, he might observe that she seems different, maybe he notices she's sort of haughty and arrogant, and wonders why he didn't notice that before. He never suspects that he was the victim of a spell.</p><p></p><p>2) A group of adventurers need to arrange a meeting with the King. The speak to his major domo, who is reluctant to arrange the meeting. The party wizard casts <em>charm person</em> the major domo, and he arranges the meeting. The <em>major domo</em>, if asked, will only remember that he was initially suspicious of these adventurers, but that their mage seemed a good fellow. He would never consider that he might have been charmed.</p><p></p><p>3) A wizard needs a new spellbook, but has no money. He goes to a bookseller and asks if he can advance him a blank book, which gets a laugh. A bit angry now, the wizard casts <em>charm person</em> and convinces the bookseller to give him the most expensive blank spellbook in the store as a gift. A few hours later when the spell wears off, the bookseller's thoughts suddenly switch from "I hope my new friend is enjoying his book." to "By the gods! What was I thinking? That was a special project for Zarkon The Easily Annoyed! I'm ruined!" The more he thinks about it, the less sense his decision makes, and the more and more convinced he becomes that the wizard must have tampered with his mind.</p><p></p><p>4) A party of adventurers walks up to an orc outpost. The wizard casts <em>charm person</em> on the orc guard at the gate, and convinces the orc to let the party through. The orc returns to his post, happy he could help his new friend. An hour later he suddenly realizes he just let a group of humans into the lair, and immediately runs to get help. If he doesn't realize he was charmed, it's because he's got an INT 6.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gailbraithe, post: 4465242, member: 39048"] I have always run [I]Charm Person[/I] as follows: With a successful save that target knows that they have been the subject of a spell, but do not know what spell it was without a Spellcraft check. Their reaction will depend on many factors. A city guardsman might be terrified and run for his comrades, while power wizard might simply laugh and say "Your feeble mind-tricks will not work on me, boy." A target who fails their save has no idea a spell was cast on them. From their perspective, they lost their focus for second, their mind wandered, and they can't recall exactly what happened. Under the influence of the spell, the target has new positive feelings about the caster, and views the caster as a trusted friend and confidant, but continues to hold all of their own beliefs and their original attitudes towards other friends. Thus it is almost impossible to use [I]Charm Person[/I] to convince someone to attack their friends. It is simplicity itself to convince a [I]Charmed[/I] person to break up a fight between their friends. After the spell wears off, the targets positive feelings fade. If the caster did not cause the subject to take any actions that the subject would not have taken normally in the course of helping a friend, or any action that has long term negative consequences, then the subject will have no lasting animosity towards the caster. Though they [I]might[/I] observe in future encounters that the caster doesn't seem so fascinating and exciting to be around anymore. Here are some examples: 1) Upon arriving in town, an attractive female sorceress casts [I]charm person[/I] on a city guardsman, and asks him to give her a free tour of the city. When the spell wears off, the guard only has a pleasant memory of spending the day with the most amazing woman he ever met. Should he meet her again, he might observe that she seems different, maybe he notices she's sort of haughty and arrogant, and wonders why he didn't notice that before. He never suspects that he was the victim of a spell. 2) A group of adventurers need to arrange a meeting with the King. The speak to his major domo, who is reluctant to arrange the meeting. The party wizard casts [I]charm person[/I] the major domo, and he arranges the meeting. The [I]major domo[/I], if asked, will only remember that he was initially suspicious of these adventurers, but that their mage seemed a good fellow. He would never consider that he might have been charmed. 3) A wizard needs a new spellbook, but has no money. He goes to a bookseller and asks if he can advance him a blank book, which gets a laugh. A bit angry now, the wizard casts [I]charm person[/I] and convinces the bookseller to give him the most expensive blank spellbook in the store as a gift. A few hours later when the spell wears off, the bookseller's thoughts suddenly switch from "I hope my new friend is enjoying his book." to "By the gods! What was I thinking? That was a special project for Zarkon The Easily Annoyed! I'm ruined!" The more he thinks about it, the less sense his decision makes, and the more and more convinced he becomes that the wizard must have tampered with his mind. 4) A party of adventurers walks up to an orc outpost. The wizard casts [I]charm person[/I] on the orc guard at the gate, and convinces the orc to let the party through. The orc returns to his post, happy he could help his new friend. An hour later he suddenly realizes he just let a group of humans into the lair, and immediately runs to get help. If he doesn't realize he was charmed, it's because he's got an INT 6. [/QUOTE]
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