You suggest a course of activity—described in no more than 25 words—to one creature you can see within range that can hear and understand you. The suggestion must sound achievable and not involve anything that would obviously deal damage to the target or its allies. For example, you could say, “Fetch the key to the cult’s treasure vault, and give the key to me.” Or you could say, “Stop fighting, leave this library peacefully, and don’t return.”
The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or have the Charmed condition for the duration or until you or your allies deal damage to the target. The Charmed target pursues the suggestion to the best of its ability. The suggested activity can continue for the entire duration, but if the suggested activity can be completed in a shorter time, the spell ends for the target upon completing it.
* - (a drop of honey)
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Posted Jul 8, 2025Imagine a town where all the people have a wand of suggestion that has 1 charge that recharges at dawn every day. They wake up, get their wand, suggest to do their job, come home and carry on.
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Posted Aug 9, 2025That's what command is for.
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Posted Aug 9, 2025That's what Command is for.
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Posted Aug 10, 2025hey, thats even better! thanks
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Posted Nov 24, 2025I don’t know whether the authors wanted to “simplify” the Suggestion spell or whether it was just a rushed description, but either way: this is not a spell you can afford to read at face value. Let me emphasize this clearly: Suggestion is a 2nd-level spell. It is not high-tier mind control. It should never function as a “do whatever I say, no questions asked” button.
DMs and players alike: just because WotC wrote something doesn’t mean you have to run it literally as written in your own campaign. Use logic. Use common sense.
“Harmful” should not mean “causes physical damage.” Harm can mean anything that clearly works against the target’s interests—financial loss, harming their goals, damaging their reputation, threatening their job, emotional distress, etc. And not all harm is equal. This spell needs degrees of harmfulness, not a binary “harmful/not harmful” label.
For example:
Casting the spell on an innkeeper and saying: “Step outside the inn for an hour.”
Casting it on a royal guard and saying: “Leave the treasury hall for an hour.”
Both technically avoid physical damage, but the consequences for the target are completely different. One is mildly inconvenient. The other is a catastrophic dereliction of duty.
A DM should absolutely reflect this difference - either by giving the target advantage, a flat bonus to the saving throw, or by ruling the suggestion outright unreasonable based on the level of harm involved. Suggestion should only work when the order is believable, safe, and fits within what the target could realistically be coaxed into doing.
Treat the spell with nuance, not as a low-level mind control exploit.
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Posted Dec 1, 2025"must sound achievable"
Holding your breath until you die doesn't sound achievable