Can I, as a player, attack another player in order to break his/her charmed condition?

Hi there!

So imagine we are fighting a criature that uses Charm Person against one of us and that person is successfully charmed. Can I attack that person in order to break his/her charmed condition?

Thanks in advance.

No because you're not an ally of the Charm Person caster. 

Charm Person: On a failed save, the target has the Charmed condition until the spell ends or until you or your allies damage it. 

Unfortunately not. Some higher-level charm spells, like Dominate Person allow a creature to repeat the saving throw whenever it takes damage; however, Charm Person says that, "On a failed save, the target has the Charmed condition until the spell ends or until you or your allies damage it." In this case, that means only the enemy caster or its allies can end the charm by attacking the charmed player.

That said, keep in mind that Charm Person doesn't mind control the player - it just makes them friendly toward the caster. They can still participate in combat, and they don't have to do anything harmful to the rest of the party.

Quote from Official_FBI >>

Unfortunately not. Some higher-level charm spells, like Dominate Person allow a creature to repeat the saving throw whenever it takes damage; however, Charm Person says that, "On a failed save, the target has the Charmed condition until the spell ends or until you or your allies damage it." In this case, that means only the enemy caster or its allies can end the charm by attacking the charmed player.

That said, keep in mind that Charm Person doesn't mind control the player - it just makes them friendly toward the caster. They can still participate in combat, and they don't have to do anything harmful to the rest of the party.

 

 Thank you both for your help! It's true, I forgot that part!

Thanks again!

JamieVonCarstein,

If an ally of yours is under the effects of the Charm Person spell or something similar, and you want to break the control of one of your enemies, a friendly caster can cast the same spell at the same level on them, and it will over-write the previous spell per the Combining Spell Effects section of the DMG:

"The most recent effect applies if the castings are equally potent and their durations overlap."

Cheers!

Quote from Laird_Denton >>

JamieVonCarstein,

If an ally of yours is under the effects of the Charm Person spell or something similar, and you want to break the control of one of your enemies, a friendly caster can cast the same spell at the same level on them, and it will over-write the previous spell per the Combining Spell Effects section of the DMG:

"The most recent effect applies if the castings are equally potent and their durations overlap."

Cheers!

 I never saw that coming. Hahaha

Brilliant idea, mate! Thanks for sharing it ❤️

Quote from Laird_Denton >>

JamieVonCarstein,

If an ally of yours is under the effects of the Charm Person spell or something similar, and you want to break the control of one of your enemies, a friendly caster can cast the same spell at the same level on them, and it will over-write the previous spell per the Combining Spell Effects section of the DMG:

"The most recent effect applies if the castings are equally potent and their durations overlap."

Cheers!

It should be noted that technically this only applies if it's exactly the same spell (not just any Charm effect) and monsters often use abilities that have spell-like effects but aren't actually spells (which the players will be unable to duplicate in this way). This trick is allowed under the rules, but the odds of it ever actually coming up in practice are pretty low.