Charm

Charm enchants the emotions and intentions of others. The Charm theme focuses on utility and controlling the actions of others.

Spells from the Charm theme allow you to magically befriend creatures, induce sleep, cause awe, compel a creature to a duel, cause irresistible laughter, appease tension, charm the feelings of creatures, draw the attention of creatures, convince creatures to take a course of action, cause creatures to move as you wish, overwhelm a creature’s emotions with logic, cause a creature to dance uncontrollably, enchant with eloquence, write glyphs of sleep, attract creatures, and cause creatures to slumber for ages.

Power sources

Divine, Music, Occult, and Psionic

Table of contents

Charm feats

You can take each feat only once, unless the feat’s description says otherwise. You must meet any prerequisite specified in a feat to take that feat. If you ever lose a feat’s prerequisite, you can’t use that feat until you regain the prerequisite.

You become capable, or proficient if you are already capable and are 5th level or higher, with the Persuasion skill.

Additionally, you can add half your Aptitude Bonus (min 1) to any Charisma check to calm violent emotions or to counsel peace that doesn’t already use your Aptitude Bonus. You must make this entreaty in good faith; it doesn’t apply if proficiency in the Deception skill applies to your check.

Your confidence propels you into battle. You have advantage on initiative checks.

This does not stack with other advantages to your initiative

Prerequisites: The ability to cast at least one spell

You gain the ability to make a creature unaware of your magical influence on it. When you cast a spell that charms or confuses one or more creatures, you can alter one creature’s understanding so that it remains unaware of being charmed or confused.

Additionally, once before the spell expires, you can use an action to try to make the chosen creature forget some of the time it spent charmed or confused. The creature must succeed on a Will saving throw against your spell save Difficulty or lose a number of hours of its memories equal to 1 + the mana expended to cast the spell. You can make the creature forget less time, and the amount of time can’t exceed the duration of your spell.

Charm concoctions

1 hour/catalyst

As an action, you can create a philter of rose-hued, effervescent liquid that contains one easy-to-miss bubble shaped like a heart. A creature can drink the contents as an action so the next time it sees a creature within 10 minutes, it becomes charmed by that creature for the duration. If the creature is of a species and gender the drinker is normally attracted to, it regards it as its true love while it is charmed.

1 hour/catalyst

As an action, you can create a vial of liquid that contains three easy-to-miss bubbles shaped like Zs. A creature can drink the contents as an action. The creature must make a Fortitude saving throw.

On a failure, it is falls unconscious for the duration.

This effect ends for a creature if it takes damage or someone uses an action to shake or slap it awake. Additionally, a creature can repeat the saving throw each minute or if it hears an extraordinarily loud noise such as the thunderwave spell, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Undead and creatures immune to being charmed aren’t affected by this spell.

Augment

Sleeping Gas. You can expend 1 additional catalyst to so the potion is in gas form. As an action, a creature can throw this vial at a point within 5 meters, shattering it on impact. Each creature in a sphere centered on that point must make the Fortitude saving throw.

unstable, 1 minute/catalyst

As two actions, you can create this vial of pink swirling gas. As an action, a creature can throw the vial at a point within 5 meters, shattering it on impact. Each creature in a sphere centered on that point must make a Will saving throw.

On a failure, a creature becomes mellow and relaxed, indifferent to all creatures it is hostile towards. This indifference ends if the target is attacked or harmed by a spell or if it witnesses any of its friends being harmed. When the effect ends, the creature becomes hostile again, unless the GM rules otherwise.

1 hour/catalyst

As two actions, you can create this vial with a sugary taste. A creature can drink the contents as an action to gain the gift of glibness. When the creature makes a skill check using Charisma to make a social skill, it can replace the number it rolls with a 15. Additionally, no matter what it says, magic that would determine if it is telling the truth indicates that it is being truthful.

Charm maneuvers

1 minute/stamina die

As an action, make a melee weapon attack to goad the creature into attacking you.

On a hit, add the stamina die to the attack’s damage and the creature must succeed on a Will saving throw or it has disadvantage on attacks made against a creature other than you for the duration.

On a critical hit, add twice as much damage.

On a miss by 4 or less, add half as much damage.

The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Enhance

You can increase the damage for each additional stamina die expended.

1 minute/stamina die

As an action, your charm becomes extraordinarily disarming to a creature that you can touch or see within 5 meters. Make a Persuasion check contested by the creature’s Insight check. The creature must be able to hear you, and the two of you must share a language.

If you succeed on the check and the creature is hostile to you, the creature is repelled by you for the duration or until you are incapacitated. While repelled by you, it has disadvantage on attacks made against you, and must make a Will saving throw each time it attempts to move into a space that is within 5 meters of you; if it succeeds on this saving throw, the target’s movement isn’t restricted for that turn. The effect ends if you attack or damage the creature or if you cast a spell or use a maneuver or concoction that targets the creature.

If you succeed on the check and the creature isn’t hostile to you, it is charmed by you for the duration. While charmed, it regards you as a friendly acquaintance. This effect ends immediately if you or your companions do anything harmful to it.

Charm spells

As an action, you charm a creature that you can touch or see within 5 meters. The creature must make a Will saving throw, which it does with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it.

On a failure, it is charmed by you until the end of your next turn.

The spell ends if you or your allies attack, damage, or attempt to negatively effect the charmed creature in any way.

When the spell ends, the creature knows it was charmed by you.

As an action, you can detect the surface emotions of a creature that you can touch or see within 5 meters of you.

You learn the surface emotions of the creature. You can sense basic needs, drives, and emotions. Thirst, hunger, fear, fatigue, pain, rage, hatred, uncertainty, curiosity, friendliness, and many other kinds of sensations and moods can all be perceived.

As an action, you sing a lullaby to a creature that you can touch or see within 10 meters. The creature must make a Will saving throw. If the creature is a construct or an undead, can’t hear you, or is immune to being charmed, the spell has no effect on it.

On a failure, it becomes tired and delirious as its speed is reduced by 2 meters, it can’t take reactions, and it has disadvantage on skill checks until the end of its next turn.

This spell ends for a creature if it takes damage or someone uses an action to shake or slap it awake. Additionally, the creature can repeat the saving throw if it hears an extraordinarily loud noise such as the thunderwave spell, ending the effect on itself on a success.

concentration, 1 minute/mana

As an action, you beguile a creature within 10 meters who can hear you to ignore an ally. The creature must make a Will saving throw, which it does with advantage if the ally is fighting it.

On a failure, it is charmed by one of your allies within 5 meters of it for the duration.

The spell ends if the chosen ally attacks, damages, or attempts to negatively effect the charmed creature in any way.

1 hour/mana

As an action, you charm a creature that you can touch or see within 10 meters. The creature must make a Will saving throw, which it does with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it.

On a failure, it is charmed by you and friendly to you for the duration.

The spell ends if you or your allies attack, damage, or attempt to negatively effect the charmed creature in any way.

When the spell ends, the creature knows it was charmed by you.

Augment

You can target two additional creatures for each additional mana expended. The creatures must be within 5 meters of each other when you target them.

concentration, 1 minute/mana

As an action, you exert an aura of sympathetic power. Each creature other than you in a sphere twice as big as normal centered on you must make a Will saving throw, which it does with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it.

On a failure, it is charmed by you and friendly to you for the duration.

A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

concentration, 1 minute/mana

As an action, make a weapon attack.

On a hit, if the creature is within 20 meters it must make a Will saving throw.

On a failure, the creature is drawn to you, compelled by your demand. While compelled, it has disadvantage on attacks made against creatures other than you, and must make a Will saving throw each time it attempts to move into a space that is more than 5 meters away from you.

A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

The spell ends if you attack or damage any other creature, if you cast a spell that targets a hostile creature other than the target, if your allies attack, damage, or attempt to negatively effect the charmed creature in any way, or if you end your turn more than 5 meters away from the target.

Augment

You can target one additional creature for each additional mana expended. The creatures must be within 5 meters of each other when you target them.

As a reaction, which you use when you make a Persuasion check, your words become more enticing. You make the roll with advantage. You can do so after the roll but before any effects of the roll occur.

If the roll already has advantage or disadvantage, you cannot apply another instance of advantage or disadvantage and you must use this before the roll to cancel out any advantage or disadvantage.

As an action, your soft words can magically enthrall a creature that you can touch or see within 5 meters of you. If the target can see or hear you, it must succeed on a Will saving throw or be charmed until the end of its next turn. The charmed creature is immobilized, it cannot speak, and the creature is incapacitated and visibly dazed.

The effect ends for the creature if you move more than 5 meters away from it, if it can neither see nor hear you, or if it takes damage.

Augment
You can augment this spell with the following options, expending mana for each option.
  • You can target one additional creature for each additional mana expended. The creatures must be within 5 meters of each other when you target them.

  • You can expend 2 additional mana so the duration changes to 1 minute/mana, concentration and the creature is incapacitated for the duration. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

As a reaction, which you use when a creature that you can touch or see within 5 meters of you attacks you, you can try to divert the attack, provided that another creature is within the attack’s range. The attacker must succeed on a Will saving throw or it must target the creature that is closest to it, not including you or itself. If multiple creatures are closest, the attacker chooses which one to target.

You must choose to use this feature before knowing whether the attack hits or misses. Creatures that can’t be charmed are immune to this effect.

concentration, 1 hour/mana

As an action, you cause a creature that you can touch or see within 5 meters to fall asleep. The creature must make a Will saving throw. If the creature is a construct or an undead, can’t hear you, or is immune to being charmed, the spell has no effect on it.

On a failure, you lull it into a magical slumber, causing it to fall unconscious for the duration.

This spell ends for a creature if it takes damage or someone uses an action to shake or slap it awake. Additionally, the creature can repeat the saving throw each minute or if it hears an extraordinarily loud noise such as the thunderwave spell, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Augment

You can target one additional creature for each additional mana expended. The creatures must be within 5 meters of each other when you target them.

concentration, 1 minute/mana

As two actions, you attempt to suppress strong emotions in a group of creatures at a point within 10 meters. Each creature in a sphere centered on that point must make a Will saving throw. If the creature is immune to being charmed, the spell has no effect on it.

On a failure, it is indifferent about creatures of your choice that it is hostile toward for the duration.

A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

The spell ends if you or your allies attack, damage, or attempt to negatively effect the charmed creature in any way. When the spell ends, the creature becomes hostile again, unless the GM rules otherwise.

1 minute

As two actions, you make a calming gesture, and up to three willing creatures that you can touch or see within 5 meters fall unconscious for the duration. This spell ends for a creature if it takes damage or someone uses an action to shake or slap it awake. If a target remains unconscious for the full duration, that target gains the benefit of a short rest.

A character can’t benefit from a short rest more than once every four hours, can’t benefit from more than two short rests before they take a long rest, and a character must have at least 1 health at the start of the rest to gain its benefits.

Augment

You can target two additional creatures for each additional mana expended. The creatures must be within 5 meters of each other when you target them.

concentration, 1 minute/mana

As two actions, creatures of your choice within 5 meters that can hear you must make a Will saving throw. A target automatically succeeds on this saving throw if it can’t be charmed.

On a failure, a target is affected by this spell. Until the spell ends, you can use an action on each of your turns to designate a direction that is horizontal to you. Each affected target must use as much of its movement as possible to move in that direction on its next turn. It can take any actions before it moves. After moving in this way, it can make another saving throw to try to end the effect.

A target isn’t compelled to move into an obviously deadly hazard, such as a fire or a pit, but it will provoke opportunity attacks to move in the designated direction.

As two actions, you temporarily extinguish the violent impulses of a creature that you touch. The creature must make a Fortitude saving throw. If the creature is missing any of its health, the spell has no effect on it.

On a failure, it is charmed by you for the duration or until you or your allies attack it, damage it, or force it to make a saving throw or if the target witnesses any of those things happening to its allies. While charmed, it can’t attack, cast spells that deal damage, or spells that force someone to make a saving throw.

1 minute/mana

As two actions, you weave a distracting string of words, enthralling creatures of your choice within 10 meters. Each creature must make a Will saving throw, which it does with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it. If the creature is immune to being charmed or it can’t hear you, the spell has no effect on it.

On a failure, the creature has disadvantage on Perception checks made to perceive any creature other than you until the spell ends or until the target can no longer hear you. The spell ends if you are incapacitated or can no longer speak.

concentration, 1 minute/mana

As two actions, a creature that is made of flesh that you can touch or see within 5 meters must make a Will saving throw. Creatures that can’t be charmed are immune to this spell.

On a failure, the creature begins a comic dance in place: shuffling, tapping its feet, and capering for the duration.

A dancing creature must use all its movement to dance without leaving its space and has disadvantage on attacks and Reflex saving throws. While the target is affected by this spell, other creatures have advantage on attacks made against it.

As two actions, a dancing creature can make a Will saving throw to regain control of itself.

On a success, the spell ends.

concentration, 3 hours/mana

As two actions, you suggest a course of activity (limited to a sentence or two) and magically influence a creature within 5 meters that can hear and understand you. Creatures that can’t be charmed are immune to this effect. The suggestion must be worded in such a manner as to make the course of action sound reasonable. Asking the creature to stab itself, throw itself onto a spear, immolate itself, or do some other obviously harmful act automatically negates the effect of the spell.

The creature must make a Reflex saving throw.

On a failure, it pursues the course of action you described to the best of its ability. The suggested course of action can continue for the entire duration. If the suggested activity can be completed in a shorter time, the spell ends when the subject finishes what it was asked to do.

You can also specify conditions that will trigger a special activity during the duration. For example, you might suggest that a group of soldiers give all their money to the first beggar they meet. If the condition isn’t met before the spell expires, the activity isn’t performed.

The spell ends if you or your allies attack, damage, or attempt to negatively effect the charmed creature in any way.

Augment

You can target one additional creature for each additional mana expended. The creatures must be within 5 meters of each other when you target them.

6 hours/mana

As two actions, a creature that you can touch or see within 10 meters and that can hear you must make a Will saving throw, and it does so with advantage if you or your companions are fighting it.

On a failure, the creature is charmed by you for the duration. While charmed the target regards you as a trusted friend to be heeded and protected. Although the target isn’t under your control, it takes your requests or actions in the most favorable way it can.

The effect ends if you or your companions do anything harmful to it, you die, a remove curse spell is cast on it, the charmed condition is removed from it, you use this spell again, you choose to end the effect, or you are on a different plane of existence than the target.

1 hour/mana

As two actions, you gain the gift of glibness. When you make a skill check using Charisma to make a social skill, you can replace the number you roll with a 15. Additionally, no matter what you say, magic that would determine if you are telling the truth indicates that you are being truthful.

M (mercury, phosphorus, and powdered diamond and opal worth 1,000 sp, consumed)

As you spend 1 minute to cast this spell, you inscribe a harmful glyph either on a surface (such as a section of floor, a wall, or a table) or within an object that can be closed to conceal the glyph (such as a book, a scroll, or a treasure chest). If you choose a surface, the glyph can cover an area of the surface no larger than 2 meters in diameter. If you choose an object, that object must remain in its place; if the object is moved more than 2 meters from where you cast this spell, the glyph is broken, and the spell ends without being triggered.

The glyph is nearly invisible, requiring a Perception check against your spell save Difficulty to find it.

You decide what triggers the glyph when you cast the spell. For glyphs inscribed on a surface, the most typical triggers include touching or stepping on the glyph, removing another object covering it, approaching within a certain distance of it, or manipulating the object that holds it. For glyphs inscribed within an object, the most common triggers are opening the object, approaching within a certain distance of it, or seeing or reading the glyph.

You can further refine the trigger so the spell is activated only under certain circumstances or according to a creature’s physical characteristics (such as height or weight), or physical kind (for example, the ward could be set to affect hags or shapechangers). You can also specify creatures that don’t trigger the glyph, such as those who say a certain password.

Once triggered, the glyph glows, filling a sphere twice as big as normal with dim light for 10 minutes, after which time the spell ends. Each creature in the area when the glyph activates must make a Will saving throw.

A creature must also make this saving throw when it enters the spell’s area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there.

Sleep. On a failure, a creature falls unconscious for 10 minutes. A creature awakens if it takes damage or if someone uses an action to shake or slap it awake.

10 days

As you spend 1 hour to cast this spell, you attract creatures of your choice. You target something within 10 meters, either a Huge or smaller object or creature or an area that is no larger than a 20-meter radius sphere. Then specify a kind of intelligent creature, such as red dragons, goblins, or vampires. You invest the target with an aura that attracts the specified creatures for the duration. The enchantment causes the specified creatures to feel an intense urge to approach the target while within 10 meters of it or able to see it. When such a creature can see the target or comes within 10 meters of it, the creature must succeed on a Will saving throw or use its movement on each of its turns to enter the area or move within reach of the target. When the creature has done so, it can’t willingly move away from the target. If the target damages or otherwise harms an affected creature, the affected creature can make a Will saving throw to end the effect, as described below.

Ending the Effect. If an affected creature ends its turn while not within 10 meters of the target or able to see it, the creature makes a Will saving throw.

On a success, the creature is no longer affected by the target and recognizes the feeling of attraction as magical. In addition, a creature affected by the spell is allowed another Will saving throw every 24 hours while the spell persists.

A creature that successfully saves against this effect is immune to it for 1 minute, after which time it can be affected again.

As you spend 1 minute to cast this spell, you create a magical restraint to hold a creature that you can touch or see within 5 meters. The target must succeed on a Will saving throw or fall asleep and can’t be awoken; if it succeeds, it is immune to this spell if you cast it again.

While affected by this spell, the creature doesn’t need to breathe, eat, or drink, and it doesn’t age. Divination spells can’t locate or perceive the target.

Ending the Spell. During the casting of the spell, you can specify a condition that will cause the spell to end and release the target. The condition can be as specific or as elaborate as you choose, but the GM must agree that the condition is reasonable and has a likelihood of coming to pass. The conditions can be based on a creature’s name, identity, or deity but otherwise must be based on observable actions or qualities and not based on intangibles such as level, class, or health.

A dispel magic spell can end the spell only if it is cast using 5 mana.

Augment sizes

1 catalyst/stamina die/mana2 catalysts/stamina dice/mana3 catalysts/stamina dice/mana4 catalysts/stamina dice/mana5 catalysts/stamina dice/mana
Cone3 meters long5 meters long10 meters long10 meters long20 meters long
Cylinder1-meter-radius, 3 meters high2-meter-radius, 6 meters high3-meter-radius, 9 meters high4-meter-radius, 12 meters high5-meter-radius, 15 meters high
Line5 meters long, 1-meter wide5 meters long, 2-meter wide10 meters long, 2-meter wide10 meters long, 2-meter wide20 meters long, 2-meter wide
Sphere1-meter-radius2-meter-radius3-meter-radius4-meter-radius5-meter-radius
Wall5 meters long, 2 meters high, 1 meter thick5 meters long, 4 meters high, 1 meter thick10 meters long, 6 meters high, 1 meter thick10 meters long, 8 meters high, 1 meter thick20 meters long, 10 meters high, 1 meter thick