Charm Monster: You’re Always Welcome Under My Bed
Usable By: Bard, Druid, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level: 4
School: Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 30 feet
Duration: 1 hour
Components: V, S
You attempt to charm a creature you can see within range. It must make a Wisdom saving throw, and it does so with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it. If it fails the saving throw, it is charmed by you until the spell ends or until you or your companions do anything harmful to it. The charmed creature is friendly to you. When the spell ends, the creature knows it was charmed by you.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 5th level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 4th. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
“Listen, teacher, I swear these are two separate papers. I didn’t copy him, I promise! Look, look, the spell level is different! And this one affects creatures, not just humanoids! This is totally a new spell, it's not just Charm Person!”
But actually, it is. Charm Person has the same text outside of the creature type it affects, and honestly, it's way better than Charm Monster. Both up-cast to affect more creatures, but one starts at 4th level and the other at 1st. Both have the same duration, neither require concentration. Sure, there will be some non-humanoid creatures in your games. In those situations, more often than not they are hostile, ready to become hostile, or have legendary resistance to shrug this off. Plus, should the thing you’re trying to charm pass the save, if it wasn’t already trying to kill before you it most certainly is now!
The charmed condition is at its best in social interactions. It adds to roleplay, and gives you a few fleeting minutes to get all the juicy details out of somebody about local gossip and politics. Charm Person thrives at low levels when you can convince that one guard to let you slip through or the busybody to spill the beans about the strange figure they’ve seen haunting the streets. By 9th level, there are dozens of spells that can get you in a more favorable position with entities. Would you rather charm the hill giant guard or banish it to another plane of existence? Why not turn invisible and stroll past?
Charm Monster is just too high level for the effect. A charm condition, even on the occasional dragon, isn’t worth a 4th level slot when an irritated trigger-happy ranger can end the condition with a twang of their bow. Even in the upper tiers, humanoid villains tend to be pretty common, making Charm Person a resource you’ll have ample time to work with. Charm Monster never really has a moment to shine; by the time you’re casting it, you could be doing any number of other things to said monster to get it to go away or convince it to help. There can be some funny moments and conversations to be had between a bard charming the dragon, but outside of that use case, you’ll probably want to steer clear.
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