on charm person II
On my previous analysis type post, I said that Charm Person is the best low-level spell in OD&D. There’s obviously way more to say about the best spell in all of OD&D, so I’ll do just that.
I’m referencing the Charm Person spell in its original form as it appeared in the White Box Set (1974):
Charm Person: This spell applies to all two-legged, generally mammalian figures near to or less than man-size, excluding all monsters in the “Undead” class but including Sprites, Pixies, Nixies, Kobolds, Goblins, Orcs, Hobgoblins, and Gnolls. If the spell is successful, it will cause the charmed entity to come completely under the influence of the Magic-User until such time as the “charm” is dispelled (Dispel Magic). Range: 12”.
The spell was immediately tamed down by Gary Gygax in Greyhawk, more than likely after realizing its dominance across gaming tables. We’ll ignore that because this is OD&D RAW, which means that we get to abuse the shit out of spells. (All in good fun, obviously.)
Charm Person is the best low-level spell in OD&D (1974)…
but it’s not quite a win od&d card…
It only works with man-type creatures
That means it doesn’t work with anything in Chainmail’s fantasy combat table:
- Lycanthropes
- Dragons
- Elementals
- Treants
- Giants
- Heroes
- Superheroes
- Rocs
- Troll, Ogre
- Wright, Ghoul
- Wizard
- Wraith
It’s a passed reaction roll
I interpret it as real-world hypnosis on steroids. The spell puts the target in a state where inhibitions and defenses are lowered.
Like I mentioned on my previous post, the spell grants you a passed reaction roll against a humanoid. The creature will respond positively to you: it sees you as a valuable asset. It’ll treat you as such: it’ll help you as long as it doesn’t think you are asking to act against its own self-interest or alignment.
You must be able to talk to it
You’ve ensorcelled the target, now you need to be able to communicate with it. You both need to know the same language. I would imagine that this isn’t a big deal in most settings, because of the existence of common.
I don’t use common in my games. This is where intelligence and careful language selection come into play. If all else fails; use alignment languages.
It must be able to understand you.
The creature must be somewhat intelligent to be able to understand you. This is implied by the spell description, but it is worth repeating here.