Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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So some monsters like Vampires can impose the Charmed condition on PC's, which is very long lasting. If this happened in a boss fight, how would that be fun for the PC that got charmed? I'm just curious because I'm planning to run a game with these monsters and don't want my PC's to hate me.
In a boss fight against a Vampire, the character targeted by its Charm action has Advantage against the Charm Person spell. On a failed save, the target has the Charmed condition until the 24 hours or until the Vampire damage it, and is Friendly to it. The Charmed target is a willing recipient of the vampire’s Bite, the damage of which doesn’t end the spell. When the spell ends, the target is unaware it was Charmed by the vampire.
How fun it is subject to each and everyone, i think it's okay if you accept what's happening and don't metagame being unaware of it.
While the ethics of Charm effects are a hot-button topic unto themselves, I'm pretty sure a vampire is one of the creatures that has no ethical compulsions against such, and is thus is an appropriate creature to use them.
All you need to snap a creature out of a vampire's charm is 1 point of damage declared to be non-lethal damage before a rest. So it's easy enough to break.
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I'm not sure I understand this sentence. The vampire could easily just not damage the Charmed target.
The Charmed condition last until Charm Person ends or until you or your allies damage it, you here being the spellcaster. So if anyone else damage the target, the condition doesn't end.
While it’s not quite RAW, it’s also a reasonable DM call to say the effect ends after the vampire has been decisively killed.
I more meant in the boss fight itself, it would be really annoying to get Charmed and basically sit out the whole fight.
While they won't actively attack the vampire, they still perceive their allies as their allies as well. They can still do things to help them.
That said, it's a valid concern. Some players just really don't like losing their agency at all. Hopefully, you've played with them enough to know how they will take something like this. If not, you could throw a low level charm ability at them well before the boss fight to see how they react (something where the effect will wear off quickly). If it's negative with that, I'd scrap the vampire fight, or try to find a different mechanic for the vampire to use with a bit of homebrew.
It's okay it's not the end of the world if 1 player character can't contribute offensively in one encounter against solo monster. It'd be more annoying if it's recurrent.
It can even give for some funny moments where it help the vampire and the party in various way!
Yeah, being out of commission for the odd fight is just part of the game. IMO it’s only an issue if it becomes a consistently recurring thing.
That really depends on the duration of the fight. Being a bystander for half an hour is routine, being a bystander for an hour might be okay, being a bystander for three hours is generally not okay.
I don't think it is meant to be fun to be charmed by a monster that wants to eat you or drink your blood dry. Just because it's a fun game, doesn't mean it comes without risks.
But Charmed now, is not like it was in previous editions. You are just friendly with Vamp, and have no wish to fight it, until the condition ends.
The game should be fun for the players. This doesn't have to mean it's fun for the characters.
There are spells and powers, like calm emotions, which can end or at least suppress the charmed effect. Maybe try telegraphing to the players what they’re getting into, so they can have options like that ready.
Always have Dispel Magic ready.
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Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
Wonder if that's one reason they seem to have shifted more to straight spellcasting for 2024 rather than the more individualized powers like the 2014 Vampire's charm ability? Neither iteration of Dispel Magic works on that, since they only end spells.
If I'm not mistaken, an ally can cast Charm Person on the character which would override the Vampire's charm as it is the most recent application of the charmed condition.
I don't consider the effect from Charm Person cast by a character and the Vampire to be equally potent. Combining Spell Effects would instead have the most potent effect from those castings applies while their durations overlap, which would be the Vampire one.