Lets take a specific example. Your party of 5 is working through a dungeon. You turn the corner and run into a group of 5 orcs who are guarding the dungeon killing any trespassers.
General melee breaks out. One orc runs at the wizard. Wizard fires off Charm Person and the orc fails his saving throw.
a) Will the orc attack any of his companions?
b) Will the orc just stand there if commanded while the Wizard attacks his companions?
c) Will the orc just stand there AFK as long as conversing with the Wizard about god knows what?
i go with (a) most of the time (assuming 'his companions' is talking about the wizard's companions). From there it depends on what else is happening. The idea that a 'friendly acquaintance' would break off a battle and leave his family/close acquaintances to die is silly. family > any relationship with a 'friendly acquaintance'.
The spell would have him simply regard you as a friend, but not your allies. So while people would figure that means the orc is basically an ally without question. It is also specifies 'you' that it regards as friend. So it could attack the party, but not the caster unless the caster did something to them after. Such as doesn't take hostile actions to them, maybe stops a killing blow if nearby by suggesting a non-lethal takedown of the party if stretching it a bit, thinking a big misunderstanding happened.
Granted the orc is still friendly to the other orcs so wouldn't attack them outright. Other spells have them stand idle. Spells like crown of madness would have them attack the orcs. Suggestion can suggest they stay out of this encounter.
The wizard after the fight can make use of advantage to tell the orc to get away so he could be safe or something. After an hour or concentration ended. Orc going to be really upset at the wizard.
A) While he might be convinced to break up the fight if asked to do so, possibly grappling one of them, he would definitely not attack his comrades. He knows them better than he now "knows" you. Put that to your own perspective. If a friendly acquaintance, say a coworker you don't have strong feelings about, asked you to do something against your other coworkers, would you?
In the real world, it would probably depend heavily on the specific coworker asking, and what they were asking, and against who they were being asked. The same considerations should apply here.
B) They might at first, but I'd imagine they would try to break up the fight on their own. Remember, the affected Orc knows the other Orcs better than he knows the Wizard. If the party is clearly out to kill the Orcs, rather than defending themselves, I feel like inactivity on the part of the targeted Orc would be short lived.
C) see B
D) I doubt it. That would be a pretty high Persuasion check. The Wizard would roll with advantage as per the Charmed condition, but... Let's remember that the squad of Orcs is in combat with the party. The targeted Orc cannot harm the Wizard, but that says nothing about the rest of the party.
The spell says it is friendly to you and has the charmed condition (details on that below) but none of that breaks their previous relationships. Basically if you were guarding this place and your best buddy got into a fight with your work friends how would that play out? The orc definitely won't fight the wizard, he's being magically compelled to not do so. But he's also not turning on his allies. He may attack the wizards allies but any persuasion will come from the angle of a friendly person, not a hostile one. Like the wizard could maybe talk him into surrendering or letting them pass as long as it won't cause him or his current allies harm.
This is versus something like making a thrall or dominate monster where you CAN force them to do your bidding. Charm just makes you their best friend.
Charmed
A charmed creature can't attack the charmer or target the charmer with harmful abilities or magical effects.
The charmer has advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature.
It helps to look at other spells to get context. A) (and the rest to a lesser extent) is much more in line with Dominate Person which is way costlier to cast. Podcasts and the like love to interpret Charm Person as way more powerful as it is because it makes for funny scenes. But it is a first level spell and its effects should be in line with other spells of that level.
I would say that if you used it on the leader of the orcs, you could possibly turn the combat into a social encounter. But it would depend on other factors like how smart/perceptive the other orcs were, how afraid of their leader they are, etc. And it would still require some fast talking to be successful.
It helps to look at other spells to get context. A) (and the rest to a lesser extent) is much more in line with Dominate Person which is way costlier to cast. Podcasts and the like love to interpret Charm Person as way more powerful as it is because it makes for funny scenes. But it is a first level spell and its effects should be in line with other spells of that level.
I would say that if you used it on the leader of the orcs, you could possibly turn the combat into a social encounter. But it would depend on other factors like how smart/perceptive the other orcs were, how afraid of their leader they are, etc. And it would still require some fast talking to be successful.
hmm, i took 'his companions' as the wizard's companions. this is 'his companions' as the orc's companions....but yeah, this too
I hope, due to the fight having already started, that the orc got advantage on his saving throw.
Assuming he still failed, then Keeroth quoted the rule. The orc can't attack the wizard. He can attack any other members of the wizard's party. You'll need to RP how this happens as the DM, but it doesn't just turn the orc from an enemy into a complete ally.
I would probably rule it this way (whether it is RAW or not) ...
Round 1 the orc stands there confused because he's not going to attack the wizard but his friends are fighting these strangers.
Round 2 the orc gets to roll again with advantage to break the spell because his friends are getting pounded by these strangers. If the orc succeeds he attacks whoever is closest. If the orc fails (and remains charmed), he attacks the closest enemy that isn't the wizard unless the wizard talks him out of it, which would require a roll against the wizards persuasion.
Round 3 - same as round 2 until the spell is broken.
Of course, if anyone attacks the 'charmed orc', the spell is immediately broken.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Lets take a specific example. Your party of 5 is working through a dungeon. You turn the corner and run into a group of 5 orcs who are guarding the dungeon killing any trespassers.
General melee breaks out. One orc runs at the wizard. Wizard fires off Charm Person and the orc fails his saving throw.
Orc should get advantage on the saving throw, but assuming it still fails, it treats the wizard as a "friendly acquaintance" until you or your companions do anything harmful to it.
RP way of looking at it: what is the orc thinking? This friendly acquaintance - the wizard - is somehow in the middle of a fight between the orc's friends and other enemies of the orc. The orc can't attack the wizard. The orc has no reason to attack its friends (who it's probably more attached to than the "friendly acquaintance wizard").
Reasonable things the orc might do - it might want to get its companions to target the rest of the enemies and not the wizard, figuring that once those other guys are out of the way, Wizardbuddy and guardbuddies will be friends and stop fighting. If it's diplomatic or intelligent, it might try and negotiate a truce, though that could be a stretch if it doesn't see how that's possible. It could try to break up the fight (but only if one of its friends actually attacks the wizard, it doesn't care about all the other partymembers.)
Power level way of looking at it: it's a first-level spell that's being used to disable a single enemy. I'd compare it to Tasha's Hideous Laughter - it probably should be less effective than that here, because this isn't really what it's meant for, and is being shoehorned an in-combat spell.
So I'd probably rule that on the first round, the orc tries to call out to everyone to break up the fight (wasting its action), and on future rounds would target the wizard's partymembers rather than the wizard. So action denial for one turn and a bit of aggro redirection away from the squishy which could be helpful, but not as powerful as something that just incapacitates the orc permanently.
So, to answer the specific questions:
a) Will the orc attack any of his companions?
No. The orc sees the wizard as a "friendly acquaintance", which is probably still a less meaningful connection than the connection the orc has to his companions.
b) Will the orc just stand there if commanded while the Wizard attacks his companions?
No. The orc would not listen to commands from a "friendly acquaintance".
c) Will the orc just stand there AFK as long as conversing with the Wizard about god knows what?
Probably not. After all, the orc's friends are being attacked by those other ruffians (not the wizard, wizard dude's cool).
I'd probably allow the wizard to keep spending his action to keep the orc occupied, with some RP.
Another spell to compare it with, especially if the wizard charms the leader is calm emotions, a 2nd level spell.
If the leader makes a persuasion check to stop the other orcs fighting the whole party then this has the same effect as a higher level spell.
You might get him to persuade the others to not attack the Wizard but be careful here as spell work the same both ways. When the BBEG charms the party face that could be a very cheap way to allow him to escape. I think it is best to rule that a spell was clearly cast (unless subtle spell was used) and the orc is clearly charmed, therefore his men will not follow his orders. With subtle spell I might give the men an insight check to notice his change in demeanour.
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Lets take a specific example. Your party of 5 is working through a dungeon. You turn the corner and run into a group of 5 orcs who are guarding the dungeon killing any trespassers.
General melee breaks out. One orc runs at the wizard. Wizard fires off Charm Person and the orc fails his saving throw.
a) Will the orc attack any of his companions?
b) Will the orc just stand there if commanded while the Wizard attacks his companions?
c) Will the orc just stand there AFK as long as conversing with the Wizard about god knows what?
d) Will the orc just leave if suggested?
Wh
i go with (a) most of the time (assuming 'his companions' is talking about the wizard's companions). From there it depends on what else is happening. The idea that a 'friendly acquaintance' would break off a battle and leave his family/close acquaintances to die is silly. family > any relationship with a 'friendly acquaintance'.
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
The spell would have him simply regard you as a friend, but not your allies. So while people would figure that means the orc is basically an ally without question. It is also specifies 'you' that it regards as friend. So it could attack the party, but not the caster unless the caster did something to them after. Such as doesn't take hostile actions to them, maybe stops a killing blow if nearby by suggesting a non-lethal takedown of the party if stretching it a bit, thinking a big misunderstanding happened.
Granted the orc is still friendly to the other orcs so wouldn't attack them outright. Other spells have them stand idle. Spells like crown of madness would have them attack the orcs. Suggestion can suggest they stay out of this encounter.
The wizard after the fight can make use of advantage to tell the orc to get away so he could be safe or something. After an hour or concentration ended. Orc going to be really upset at the wizard.
A) While he might be convinced to break up the fight if asked to do so, possibly grappling one of them, he would definitely not attack his comrades. He knows them better than he now "knows" you. Put that to your own perspective. If a friendly acquaintance, say a coworker you don't have strong feelings about, asked you to do something against your other coworkers, would you?
In the real world, it would probably depend heavily on the specific coworker asking, and what they were asking, and against who they were being asked. The same considerations should apply here.
B) They might at first, but I'd imagine they would try to break up the fight on their own. Remember, the affected Orc knows the other Orcs better than he knows the Wizard. If the party is clearly out to kill the Orcs, rather than defending themselves, I feel like inactivity on the part of the targeted Orc would be short lived.
C) see B
D) I doubt it. That would be a pretty high Persuasion check. The Wizard would roll with advantage as per the Charmed condition, but... Let's remember that the squad of Orcs is in combat with the party. The targeted Orc cannot harm the Wizard, but that says nothing about the rest of the party.
The spell says it is friendly to you and has the charmed condition (details on that below) but none of that breaks their previous relationships. Basically if you were guarding this place and your best buddy got into a fight with your work friends how would that play out? The orc definitely won't fight the wizard, he's being magically compelled to not do so. But he's also not turning on his allies. He may attack the wizards allies but any persuasion will come from the angle of a friendly person, not a hostile one. Like the wizard could maybe talk him into surrendering or letting them pass as long as it won't cause him or his current allies harm.
This is versus something like making a thrall or dominate monster where you CAN force them to do your bidding. Charm just makes you their best friend.
Charmed
It helps to look at other spells to get context. A) (and the rest to a lesser extent) is much more in line with Dominate Person which is way costlier to cast. Podcasts and the like love to interpret Charm Person as way more powerful as it is because it makes for funny scenes. But it is a first level spell and its effects should be in line with other spells of that level.
I would say that if you used it on the leader of the orcs, you could possibly turn the combat into a social encounter. But it would depend on other factors like how smart/perceptive the other orcs were, how afraid of their leader they are, etc. And it would still require some fast talking to be successful.
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hmm, i took 'his companions' as the wizard's companions. this is 'his companions' as the orc's companions....but yeah, this too
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I hope, due to the fight having already started, that the orc got advantage on his saving throw.
Assuming he still failed, then Keeroth quoted the rule. The orc can't attack the wizard. He can attack any other members of the wizard's party. You'll need to RP how this happens as the DM, but it doesn't just turn the orc from an enemy into a complete ally.
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I would probably rule it this way (whether it is RAW or not) ...
Round 1 the orc stands there confused because he's not going to attack the wizard but his friends are fighting these strangers.
Round 2 the orc gets to roll again with advantage to break the spell because his friends are getting pounded by these strangers. If the orc succeeds he attacks whoever is closest. If the orc fails (and remains charmed), he attacks the closest enemy that isn't the wizard unless the wizard talks him out of it, which would require a roll against the wizards persuasion.
Round 3 - same as round 2 until the spell is broken.
Of course, if anyone attacks the 'charmed orc', the spell is immediately broken.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
Orc should get advantage on the saving throw, but assuming it still fails, it treats the wizard as a "friendly acquaintance" until you or your companions do anything harmful to it.
RP way of looking at it: what is the orc thinking? This friendly acquaintance - the wizard - is somehow in the middle of a fight between the orc's friends and other enemies of the orc. The orc can't attack the wizard. The orc has no reason to attack its friends (who it's probably more attached to than the "friendly acquaintance wizard").
Reasonable things the orc might do - it might want to get its companions to target the rest of the enemies and not the wizard, figuring that once those other guys are out of the way, Wizardbuddy and guardbuddies will be friends and stop fighting. If it's diplomatic or intelligent, it might try and negotiate a truce, though that could be a stretch if it doesn't see how that's possible. It could try to break up the fight (but only if one of its friends actually attacks the wizard, it doesn't care about all the other partymembers.)
Power level way of looking at it: it's a first-level spell that's being used to disable a single enemy. I'd compare it to Tasha's Hideous Laughter - it probably should be less effective than that here, because this isn't really what it's meant for, and is being shoehorned an in-combat spell.
So I'd probably rule that on the first round, the orc tries to call out to everyone to break up the fight (wasting its action), and on future rounds would target the wizard's partymembers rather than the wizard. So action denial for one turn and a bit of aggro redirection away from the squishy which could be helpful, but not as powerful as something that just incapacitates the orc permanently.
So, to answer the specific questions:
No. The orc sees the wizard as a "friendly acquaintance", which is probably still a less meaningful connection than the connection the orc has to his companions.
No. The orc would not listen to commands from a "friendly acquaintance".
Probably not. After all, the orc's friends are being attacked by those other ruffians (not the wizard, wizard dude's cool).
I'd probably allow the wizard to keep spending his action to keep the orc occupied, with some RP.
No
cool thanks, good stuff
Another spell to compare it with, especially if the wizard charms the leader is calm emotions, a 2nd level spell.
If the leader makes a persuasion check to stop the other orcs fighting the whole party then this has the same effect as a higher level spell.
You might get him to persuade the others to not attack the Wizard but be careful here as spell work the same both ways. When the BBEG charms the party face that could be a very cheap way to allow him to escape. I think it is best to rule that a spell was clearly cast (unless subtle spell was used) and the orc is clearly charmed, therefore his men will not follow his orders. With subtle spell I might give the men an insight check to notice his change in demeanour.