but This still doesn't really explain, your action is taken up by maintaining the gaze, so what can you physically do? example, can you say, 'That sword looks very heavy, let me carry it for you' Can you take the sword away since you have already used up your action to maintain the gaze.
The answer is going to be "It depends."
The target is charmed, which means very little if you can't actually interact with them. So by all means you can make ability checks to convince them to (In your example) hand over their weapon. The guidelines for speech during combat are different (the rules say short gestures or sentences,) so one GM might not allow you to make such skill checks if you don't have your action available. If there are rules about certain skills requiring an action to use during combat, I can't find it.
As far as actually taking the sword, that should fall under the rules about things that can happen in tandem with your movement or action. (See the box about "Interacting with objects around you.")
Besides, this is exactly the sort of thing the ability was designed to facilitate: Using your hypnosis to get someone to do something advantageous to you. It's high reward for disarming someone, and high risk because if they make their save, you're in convenient stabbing range.
The charmed creature has the condition of incapacitated so they can't do anything like hand over a weapon.
To the previous comment about whether or not it's worth using your action to keep this going. You can cast a spell and maintain your concentration on that spell prior to applying hypnotic gaze. So for example you could cast Hold Person on one or more creatures via upcast or split enchantment. You can then wander up to another enemy and put it under your hypnotic gaze. Now you're maintaining your concentration to control the enemy and controlling a bonus creature without using a spell slot.
The charmed creature has the condition of incapacitated so they can't do anything like hand over a weapon.
Incapacitated is not unconscious or paralyzed, though; it only says you can't take actions, not that you can't move. So, is handing over an item an action, a move, or something else? I'm not sure, and the rules don't read straight-forward to me.
Hypnotic Gaze is a useful way to force an enemy spellcaster that has War Caster and/or proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws to lose concentration on a spell.
With Hypnotic Gaze, one failed Wisdom Saving throw and they lose concentration on the spell. They don't get to do a constitution save to maintain concentration, they immediately lose concentration when they become incapacitated.
(This advice might be more useful to DMs than it is to players)
The charmed creature has the condition of incapacitated so they can't do anything like hand over a weapon.
Incapacitated is not unconscious or paralyzed, though; it only says you can't take actions, not that you can't move. So, is handing over an item an action, a move, or something else? I'm not sure, and the rules don't read straight-forward to me.
Your move is also reduced to 0 from hypnotic gaze so I'd say you can't move and don't have a move action to make a object interaction with. I am curious to see if you can hold on a conversation with them though as I am about to play an enchanter.
I just checked out enchantment wizards and saw Hypnotic Gaze
first thought? lead someone to the edge of a cliff, walk up behind them and boot them off
I don't know if that is something you can do mechanically on your own, but it is still a terrifying potential if you can coordinate with your party
Because their speed drops to 0, they can't go there with their own movement. I suppose you could pick them up and carry them to the edge of the cliff, but that wouldn't be easy.
I just checked out enchantment wizards and saw Hypnotic Gaze
first thought? lead someone to the edge of a cliff, walk up behind them and boot them off
I don't know if that is something you can do mechanically on your own, but it is still a terrifying potential if you can coordinate with your party
The spell hypnotic pattern is pretty much the same but it effects a group and requires concentration instead of an action. But with speed 0, you can't lead them but you can potentially manacle them, or pick them up and drop them off a cliff etc.
The charmed creature has the condition of incapacitated so they can't do anything like hand over a weapon.
Incapacitated is not unconscious or paralyzed, though; it only says you can't take actions, not that you can't move. So, is handing over an item an action, a move, or something else? I'm not sure, and the rules don't read straight-forward to me.
It's not super easy to find, but it's there. On page 190 in the PHB under "Other Activity on Your Turn":
"You can interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action... If you want to interact with a second object, you need to use your action."
So as part of the action that you are using to maintain the hypnotic gaze, you can take objects freely from them one at a time, and because it doesn't specify that they lose their move action, only that their speed is reduced to zero, they should be able to do one object interaction as well. If the GM rules that they can't move to meaningfully interact with anything, i doubt they'd be able to do anything while you "interact" with their money pouch or the sword in their scabbard.
I think the Enchanter wizard is the weakest. Running all spells with [score]Charisma[/score] instead of using Intelligence is like " I have tea but I gonna use beer ".
I think the Enchanter wizard is the weakest. Running all spells with [score]Charisma[/score] instead of using Intelligence is like " I have tea but I gonna use beer ".
Enchanters still use Intelligence for their spells.
They can dominate/paralyse/control two enemies at once without having to upcast. They can erase memories from their spell targets and prevent targets knowing magic was used on them - allowing consequence free use of Friends and Charm Person.
They're not the strongest by any means, but I can't agree they're weakest.
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Enchanters are really awesome! Hypnotic Gaze is by far one of the best low-level abilities of any Wizard school, and can even be useful at higher levels.
Hypnotic Gaze doesn’t use spell slots, which is particular good by levels 1-4. Since it’s not a spell, you don’t need to worry about losing Concentration. Yes the range of 5 ft is crap, but you know what’s the most exciting part of Hypnotic Gaze? Different from Charm Person, you are not restricted to Humanoid targets. So yeah.. with a bit of luck, you can completely disable a Dire Troll with a humble level 2 ability.
With a little preparation and planning, you could easily start the fight with a good bonus action-driven spell like Flaming Sphere. Boldly move yourself directly to the face of the most dangerous enemy and hypnotize him. Then just keep it up with your action and clean the battlefield with your Flaming Sphere.
I think I’ll run an Enchanter as my next Wizard, heheh.
I'm playing an enchanter right now! It's fantastic for battlefield control. I've all but forced the DM to include at least two enemies in every combat because hypnotic gaze is so effective at completely locking one of them out of the fight until the other one is taken care of. Start the combat with a concentration spell such as Tasha's hideous laughter or web, then shut someone else down with hypnotic gaze and keep it up with your action each round. There's no need to use my action for anything else once I have my control spells up, as I'm not a damage dealer (like, at all - I haven't taken any damaging spells - but the point is that we have two rogues and a barbarian to dish out the damage instead).
I thought enchanter looked pretty good until I saw this thread and noticed the 5ft limitation on Hypnotic Gaze. Not so interested any more.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I thought enchanter looked pretty good until I saw this thread and noticed the 5ft limitation on Hypnotic Gaze. Not so interested any more.
That's no big deal, honestly. If the enemy fails their save, they're completely shut down and can't hurt you. If they succeed, misty step out of there as a bonus action and you're fine.
I'd rather not have to get that close to try and use a core ability. Not saying it's bad...just saying it doesn't look interesting anymore. I'd rather play a diviner, illusionist or abjurer. I really really want to do a diviner (portent looks so fun). So many interesting wizard subclasses...
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I'd rather not have to get that close to try and use a core ability. Not saying it's bad...just saying it doesn't look interesting anymore. I'd rather play a diviner, illusionist or abjurer. I really really want to do a diviner (portent looks so fun). So many interesting wizard subclasses...
But this is the beauty of Hypnotic Gaze. You shouldn’t deliberately move towards your enemies. Stay safe and at range (wearing your mask), and give a hard to your enemies. If someone dare to threaten you at close-quarters, shut them down with Hypnotic Gaze.
I'd rather not have to get that close to try and use a core ability. Not saying it's bad...just saying it doesn't look interesting anymore. I'd rather play a diviner, illusionist or abjurer. I really really want to do a diviner (portent looks so fun). So many interesting wizard subclasses...
But this is the beauty of Hypnotic Gaze. You shouldn’t deliberately move towards your enemies. Stay safe and at range (wearing your mask), and give a hard to your enemies. If someone dare to threaten you at close-quarters, shut them down with Hypnotic Gaze.
And there are still times you may decide its worth the risk to run in and try it. Probably not at high levels, but I've used it repeatedly at low levels when my spells lots are fairly few. Run in, freeze one ogre while the party dog piles the other. No spell slots used. Sure its a risk, if it makes the save you may get clobbered or have to use misty step to get away defeating the whole purpose of running in. But as long as you know how to pick good targets, which as a enchanter you are going to have to get good at, its a solid choice. And if you are 6th level you might just hang in melee if the other ogre or whatever is within reach of the first.
I guess its campaign dependent. If you are never or rarely feeling like you have to conserve slots something that helps you conserve slots isn't that great. But even then while it takes your action, the target does not get additional saves. There are times when that is big. Your action may very well may be worth the cost of taking that 1 creature out of the fight for long enough.
I'd rather not have to get that close to try and use a core ability. Not saying it's bad...just saying it doesn't look interesting anymore. I'd rather play a diviner, illusionist or abjurer. I really really want to do a diviner (portent looks so fun). So many interesting wizard subclasses...
But this is the beauty of Hypnotic Gaze. You shouldn’t deliberately move towards your enemies. Stay safe and at range (wearing your mask), and give a hard to your enemies. If someone dare to threaten you at close-quarters, shut them down with Hypnotic Gaze.
And there are still times you may decide its worth the risk to run in and try it. Probably not at high levels, but I've used it repeatedly at low levels when my spells lots are fairly few. Run in, freeze one ogre while the party dog piles the other. No spell slots used. Sure its a risk, if it makes the save you may get clobbered or have to use misty step to get away defeating the whole purpose of running in. But as long as you know how to pick good targets, which as a enchanter you are going to have to get good at, its a solid choice. And if you are 6th level you might just hang in melee if the other ogre or whatever is within reach of the first.
I guess its campaign dependent. If you are never or rarely feeling like you have to conserve slots something that helps you conserve slots isn't that great. But even then while it takes your action, the target does not get additional saves. There are times when that is big. Your action may very well may be worth the cost of taking that 1 creature out of the fight for long enough.
I'd rather not have to get that close to try and use a core ability. Not saying it's bad...just saying it doesn't look interesting anymore. I'd rather play a diviner, illusionist or abjurer. I really really want to do a diviner (portent looks so fun). So many interesting wizard subclasses...
But this is the beauty of Hypnotic Gaze. You shouldn’t deliberately move towards your enemies. Stay safe and at range (wearing your mask), and give a hard to your enemies. If someone dare to threaten you at close-quarters, shut them down with Hypnotic Gaze.
And there are still times you may decide its worth the risk to run in and try it. Probably not at high levels, but I've used it repeatedly at low levels when my spells lots are fairly few. Run in, freeze one ogre while the party dog piles the other. No spell slots used. Sure its a risk, if it makes the save you may get clobbered or have to use misty step to get away defeating the whole purpose of running in. But as long as you know how to pick good targets, which as a enchanter you are going to have to get good at, its a solid choice. And if you are 6th level you might just hang in melee if the other ogre or whatever is within reach of the first.
I guess its campaign dependent. If you are never or rarely feeling like you have to conserve slots something that helps you conserve slots isn't that great. But even then while it takes your action, the target does not get additional saves. There are times when that is big. Your action may very well may be worth the cost of taking that 1 creature out of the fight for long enough.
Enchanter is top tier IMO.
Amazing points. 100% agreed.
Yep, I 100% agree as well. Hypnotic gaze is fantastic for a "divide and conquer" approach to combat, especially when paired with control spells. The fewer enemies that the party has to deal with at once, the easier the fight will be. You're obviously not going to be running into a group of enemies to use your gaze, but if you can single one out that will be one less combatant for the rest of the encounter, until your teammates are finished with the other enemies and can dogpile the one you're locking down.
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The answer is going to be "It depends."
The target is charmed, which means very little if you can't actually interact with them. So by all means you can make ability checks to convince them to (In your example) hand over their weapon. The guidelines for speech during combat are different (the rules say short gestures or sentences,) so one GM might not allow you to make such skill checks if you don't have your action available. If there are rules about certain skills requiring an action to use during combat, I can't find it.
As far as actually taking the sword, that should fall under the rules about things that can happen in tandem with your movement or action. (See the box about "Interacting with objects around you.")
Besides, this is exactly the sort of thing the ability was designed to facilitate: Using your hypnosis to get someone to do something advantageous to you. It's high reward for disarming someone, and high risk because if they make their save, you're in convenient stabbing range.
The charmed creature has the condition of incapacitated so they can't do anything like hand over a weapon.
To the previous comment about whether or not it's worth using your action to keep this going. You can cast a spell and maintain your concentration on that spell prior to applying hypnotic gaze. So for example you could cast Hold Person on one or more creatures via upcast or split enchantment. You can then wander up to another enemy and put it under your hypnotic gaze. Now you're maintaining your concentration to control the enemy and controlling a bonus creature without using a spell slot.
Incapacitated is not unconscious or paralyzed, though; it only says you can't take actions, not that you can't move. So, is handing over an item an action, a move, or something else? I'm not sure, and the rules don't read straight-forward to me.
Hypnotic Gaze is a useful way to force an enemy spellcaster that has War Caster and/or proficiency in Constitution Saving Throws to lose concentration on a spell.
With Hypnotic Gaze, one failed Wisdom Saving throw and they lose concentration on the spell. They don't get to do a constitution save to maintain concentration, they immediately lose concentration when they become incapacitated.
(This advice might be more useful to DMs than it is to players)
Your move is also reduced to 0 from hypnotic gaze so I'd say you can't move and don't have a move action to make a object interaction with. I am curious to see if you can hold on a conversation with them though as I am about to play an enchanter.
I just checked out enchantment wizards and saw Hypnotic Gaze
first thought? lead someone to the edge of a cliff, walk up behind them and boot them off
I don't know if that is something you can do mechanically on your own, but it is still a terrifying potential if you can coordinate with your party
Because their speed drops to 0, they can't go there with their own movement. I suppose you could pick them up and carry them to the edge of the cliff, but that wouldn't be easy.
The spell hypnotic pattern is pretty much the same but it effects a group and requires concentration instead of an action. But with speed 0, you can't lead them but you can potentially manacle them, or pick them up and drop them off a cliff etc.
It's not super easy to find, but it's there. On page 190 in the PHB under "Other Activity on Your Turn":
"You can interact with one object or feature of the environment for free, during either your move or your action... If you want to interact with a second object, you need to use your action."
So as part of the action that you are using to maintain the hypnotic gaze, you can take objects freely from them one at a time, and because it doesn't specify that they lose their move action, only that their speed is reduced to zero, they should be able to do one object interaction as well. If the GM rules that they can't move to meaningfully interact with anything, i doubt they'd be able to do anything while you "interact" with their money pouch or the sword in their scabbard.
I think the Enchanter wizard is the weakest. Running all spells with [score]Charisma[/score] instead of using Intelligence is like " I have tea but I gonna use beer ".
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk
Enchanters still use Intelligence for their spells.
They can dominate/paralyse/control two enemies at once without having to upcast. They can erase memories from their spell targets and prevent targets knowing magic was used on them - allowing consequence free use of Friends and Charm Person.
They're not the strongest by any means, but I can't agree they're weakest.
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Enchanters are really awesome! Hypnotic Gaze is by far one of the best low-level abilities of any Wizard school, and can even be useful at higher levels.
Hypnotic Gaze doesn’t use spell slots, which is particular good by levels 1-4. Since it’s not a spell, you don’t need to worry about losing Concentration. Yes the range of 5 ft is crap, but you know what’s the most exciting part of Hypnotic Gaze? Different from Charm Person, you are not restricted to Humanoid targets. So yeah.. with a bit of luck, you can completely disable a Dire Troll with a humble level 2 ability.
With a little preparation and planning, you could easily start the fight with a good bonus action-driven spell like Flaming Sphere. Boldly move yourself directly to the face of the most dangerous enemy and hypnotize him. Then just keep it up with your action and clean the battlefield with your Flaming Sphere.
I think I’ll run an Enchanter as my next Wizard, heheh.
I'm playing an enchanter right now! It's fantastic for battlefield control. I've all but forced the DM to include at least two enemies in every combat because hypnotic gaze is so effective at completely locking one of them out of the fight until the other one is taken care of. Start the combat with a concentration spell such as Tasha's hideous laughter or web, then shut someone else down with hypnotic gaze and keep it up with your action each round. There's no need to use my action for anything else once I have my control spells up, as I'm not a damage dealer (like, at all - I haven't taken any damaging spells - but the point is that we have two rogues and a barbarian to dish out the damage instead).
I thought enchanter looked pretty good until I saw this thread and noticed the 5ft limitation on Hypnotic Gaze. Not so interested any more.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
That's no big deal, honestly. If the enemy fails their save, they're completely shut down and can't hurt you. If they succeed, misty step out of there as a bonus action and you're fine.
I'd rather not have to get that close to try and use a core ability. Not saying it's bad...just saying it doesn't look interesting anymore. I'd rather play a diviner, illusionist or abjurer. I really really want to do a diviner (portent looks so fun). So many interesting wizard subclasses...
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
But this is the beauty of Hypnotic Gaze. You shouldn’t deliberately move towards your enemies. Stay safe and at range (wearing your mask), and give a hard to your enemies. If someone dare to threaten you at close-quarters, shut them down with Hypnotic Gaze.
And there are still times you may decide its worth the risk to run in and try it. Probably not at high levels, but I've used it repeatedly at low levels when my spells lots are fairly few. Run in, freeze one ogre while the party dog piles the other. No spell slots used. Sure its a risk, if it makes the save you may get clobbered or have to use misty step to get away defeating the whole purpose of running in. But as long as you know how to pick good targets, which as a enchanter you are going to have to get good at, its a solid choice. And if you are 6th level you might just hang in melee if the other ogre or whatever is within reach of the first.
I guess its campaign dependent. If you are never or rarely feeling like you have to conserve slots something that helps you conserve slots isn't that great. But even then while it takes your action, the target does not get additional saves. There are times when that is big. Your action may very well may be worth the cost of taking that 1 creature out of the fight for long enough.
Enchanter is top tier IMO.
Amazing points. 100% agreed.
Yep, I 100% agree as well. Hypnotic gaze is fantastic for a "divide and conquer" approach to combat, especially when paired with control spells. The fewer enemies that the party has to deal with at once, the easier the fight will be. You're obviously not going to be running into a group of enemies to use your gaze, but if you can single one out that will be one less combatant for the rest of the encounter, until your teammates are finished with the other enemies and can dogpile the one you're locking down.