Charmed Condition 5e
by Prince Phantom
There is perhaps no condition that is more misunderstood than the Charmed condition. This is a problem, as it’s also one of the most common conditions in the game. Obviously, there needs to be some clarification here.
What Does the Charmed Condition Do?
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.
Note, there is nothing here that states that a charmed creature must follow your orders or commands. The advantage on social checks like Persuasion can make them more likely to agree with you, but Persuasion and Deception are not mind control. A charmed creature will not jump off of a cliff because you told them to, nor will a charmed king give up the contents of his treasury to your party. Spells like Dominate Person are the exception, not the rule. A charmed creature will also not immediately swap sides in the middle of combat, unless perhaps they were already considering doing so. The creature will avoid attacking you, but they can still fight your friends. This makes the charmed condition pretty weak by itself, but it can still have uses, especially out of combat. A charmed creature likely won’t give you all the money from their pocket, but they might be more willing to help you on your quest, be it by providing guidance, direction, or supplies. A charmed guardsman won’t help you assassinate the king, but they will probably look the other way for a minor offense.
One thing I want to caution against concerning this condition is its potential use for romantic circumstances. Let’s not skirt around this; charming someone is basically equivalent to spiking someone’s drink at best, and straight up mind control at worst. Charming someone to pursue romance is both incredibly evil, and may make other players at the table uncomfortable for a variety of reasons. If you choose to use this condition for that purpose, have a talk with your table about it first, and know that your character should probably be listed as evil. Personally, I would just avoid this application entirely.
How Many Monsters are Immune to Charm?
569/2624 monsters are immune to charm. That’s a little over 1/5 of all monsters, and you’ll find immunity to be more common at higher CR levels. Notably, Celestials (63%), Constructs (77%), Oozes (87%) and Undead (53%) all have high percentages of their types immune to charm, so avoid trying to inflict it on those types.
How Many Monsters can Inflict Charm?
20 of the 350+ monsters in the Monster Manual can inflict the charmed condition, and many of which do so through the Charm Person spell. That being said, the ones who don’t use that spell frequently attach problematic effects to their charm, such as the Harpy’s ability to force you to move toward it, or the Succubus’ ability to take complete control of you. While these effects are rare, they con be devastating when they do come up. Also note, I only counted monsters from the Monster Manual, and while that book contains the most commonly used monsters, there are still about 2,000 other monsters in this game, so this is not a perfect sample size by any means.
How do we Resist Charm?
Racial Abilities:
Class Abilities:
Berserker Barbarian Mindless Rage (Immunity while Raging)
Bard Countercharm
Psi Warrior Fighter Guarded Mind
Monk Stillness of Mind
Oath of Devotion Paladin Aura of Devotion (Immunity)
Fey Wanderer Ranger Beguiling Twist
Aberrant Mind Sorcerer Psychic Defenses
Archfey Warlock Beguiling Defenses (Immunity)
There are a ton of ways to get either advantage to save against charm, or outright immunity, that if you want it, you can probably have it. The huge number of playable races with Fey Ancestry alone would be enough.
Spells that Impose the Charmed Condition
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | - |
| 1st | Animal Friendship, Charm Person |
| 2nd | Calm Emotions, Crown of Madness, Nathair’s Mischief* |
| 3rd | Fast Friends, Hypnotic Pattern, Incite Greed |
| 4th | Charm Monster, Dominate Beast |
| 5th | Awaken, Dominate Person, Geas, Modify Memory |
| 6th | - |
| 7th | - |
| 8th | Dominate Monster |
| 9th | - |
| (*Nathair’s Mischief can charm, but only randomly.) | |
The best of these spells charm while also doing something else to the target, such as Hypnotic Pattern also incapacitating targets, or the Dominate spells granting you full control over the target’s actions. Awaken and Modify Memory have neat utility uses, but aside from that, there’s not much here to be excited about. The two basic charm spells leave a lot to be desired when you realize how unimpactful the charmed condition really is.
Class Abilities that Charm:
Glamour Bard Enthralling Performance
Whispers Bard Shadow Lore
Nature Cleric Charm Animals and Plants
Order Cleric Order’s Demand
Fey Wanderer Ranger Beguiling Twist
Swashbuckler Rogue Panache
Archfey Warlock Fey Presence
Enchantment Wizard Hypnotic Gaze
Plenty of great low level options here for a wide variety of classes, so if you want your character to charm people, there’s probably some way to make it happen.
Synergies with the Charmed Condition:
Glamour Bard Mantle of Majesty
This is an interesting build-around feature. It lets us cast Command as a bonus action each turn for free, and if the target is charmed by us they automatically fail their save. We still face the usual rules regarding bonus action spellcasting, meaning we can only cast a cantrip as our action. It also requires our concentration, so we can’t be spending our concentration on a charm effect. This means we want to be a character who can charm without concentrating (or depend on another party member), and have something to do with our action when we can’t cast leveled spells. There’s a bunch of ways you can build around this, and the most obvious to me is to grab both Booming Blade and Paladin Smite, commanding opponents to grovel, giving you easy advantage on your big attack each turn. There’s definitely a bunch more ways to make this work, so go wild.
In Summary:
The Charmed condition, by itself, is one of the weaker conditions to be effected by in 5e. Its real power comes from the fact that it is often stapled to a rider effect that takes advantage of the charm to do something more devastating. It’s also one of the most commonly resisted conditions (both by players and monsters), so it’s wise to have a backup plan if you want to use charm spells frequently. Hopefully I’ve cleared up some misconceptions while also giving some inspiration for new ways to use this condition.
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