Greetings! Chris Hunt has been brought in for questioning by the Empire. He assures me it’s a routine matter and we shouldn’t be concerned. In the meantime, Kim Frandsen has agreed to step in and continue his Finding the Path series.
“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for.”
Hello everyone, and welcome to the fourth in a series of 9 articles covering the basics of each of the various schools of spells for a Sorcerer, Wizard or other Arcane caster in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, focusing on the spells available in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook (and possibly any that stand out from elsewhere). The goal for each of these is to provide you with a quick overview of useful spells at each level as well as the people who use these spells.
That said, welcome to this week’s article on the arcane school of Enchantment.
So what is Enchantment? But what exactly does an Enchanter do? Well according to the Pathfinder Core Rulebook “The enchanter uses magic to control and manipulate the minds of his victims.” – So we get someone who can control people, making them do what he wants. It is important to note though, that here is where the name is misleading, as one would expect the Enchanter to have Enchanted or magical items, but no, that is more often the purview of the Transmuter (who we’ll get to in an upcoming installment).
Subschools
In the school of Enchantment you’ll find that spells are divided into two subschools:
Charm
Charm is defined as changing how the subject views you, typically making it see you as a good friend (as stated in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook). This is slightly misleading as there are only 4 Charm spells in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, ALL of which make them see you as a good friend. So saying that they “typically” do so isn’t correct. At least when it comes to the core, that is always the case.
Compulsion
Compulsion is the art of making someone else do specifically what you want, or make them lose control altogether. This can be as implanting an idea in a victim’s head or as direct as having them submit to your will and dancing like a puppet on your strings. Compulsion is very powerful as it can make a victim do something that is strictly against their best interest, which might not always be the case for the Charm subschool. It is also a much bigger subschool than charm, and has a great range of spells from the humble daze to power word, kill.
One final, and very important thing to note for many Enchantment spells is that the lower level ones only work on HUMANOIDS. But they work on ANY humanoid, i.e. everything from humans and orcs, all the way up to Giants, as long as they have the humanoid type. (It also means that things like Aasimar, or Tieflings, who are native Outsiders, are NOT affected).
And speaking of, let’s dive into the spells themselves now:
Daze
Daze is a humble 0-level spell, but with a great and very effective result. It dazes the opponent so that they cannot take any action for 1 round. That means no attacking, no spellcasting, and no moving. A great crowd controller for a low-level party. Now it does say that it only affects creatures with 4 HD or less. That is, in most cases, a monster with a Challenge Rating of 3, or to put it another way, a monster classed as a “very difficult” encounter for a group of four 1st level PCs. Shutting such a monster down for a round, at the expense of a 0-level spell has got to be worth it.
Charm Person
Charm Person is, or should be, part of every enchanter’s arsenal. It’s described as making the target believe that you’re a trusted friend or ally. Now mechanically it allows you to lower the DC of the Diplomacy checks, but this is where a GM can get creative. After all, what would you do for a “trusted friend”?: Well, that’ll probably depend on your alignment, so for Game Masters looking for something beyond the mere mechanics of a better Diplomacy check, here are some things to keep in mind.
We’ll take an example of a PC who’s been accused of a crime, which she did not commit. (In principle this wouldn’t matter, but it could well do).
Lawful Good: A Lawful Good friend would likely try to get to the bottom of the case, interviewing witnesses, donating to get a lawyer, brush up on legal codes and so on. They’ll likely try to crack down and have the real culprit imprisoned and would go out of their way to help you, even putting themselves in danger, provided they’re not endangering other innocents.
Lawful Evil: A Lawful Evil friend would, if the legal codes allow it, bribe officials or “donate” generously to causes that he/she supports. He’d likely have social pressures put on the judge, to either go with innocent or dismiss the case, or try to do so with the lawyer. If he’s placed above them in the ranks, he might even directly order them to drop it, or if he’s below, he’ll find every loophole in the law that he can, to help you out.
Chaotic Good: A Chaotic Good friend wouldn’t bother with the niceties of the trial. He’d bust you out of prison instead, arranging for hideouts and helping you leave the city or country. He’d lie and misdirect anyone investigating the case to cover you, though he’d stop shy of endangering others. He’d likely not be above sending the investigating team into a den of criminals for a good beating, or if he believes that they can do some good by being sent against a different target, even if that target is innocent of that particular crime.
Chaotic Evil: A Chaotic Evil friend is likely to straight up murder any victims, torch the place holding the evidence, making it all look like accidents. After all, no witnesses and no evidence is the same as no crime in his mind. If that fails, he’s also likely to bust you out, and help you escape, but if any investigators come calling at his door, they’re likely to disappear.
The above examples should give you, the player or the GM some ideas on what to do. As a guideline though, it’s a good idea to remember that a Good character is more likely to put themselves in harm’s way for you, than an Evil one, but the Evil one is more likely to ignore the facts and help you, even if you’re evidently in the wrong.
Sleep
Sleep is a fairly decent spell for a 1st level spell, in that it put creatures to sleep. However, it only works on 4 HD of creatures, and it affects them in ascending order, starting with the lowest HD creature first. So it’s great for crowd control, but not against villains, especially if that villain has any minions hanging around, as they’ll likely be affected first.
Daze Monster
This is simply daze writ large, in that it affects more HD, and it allows you to affect any living creature, and not just humanoids (unlike daze). It still only allows for living creatures, so no constructs or undeads are affects.
Hideous Laughter
Again, in many ways hideous laughter is daze writ large. It affects ALL creatures (though those with a different type gain a +4 bonus to their save, and some creatures are immune to mind affecting spells), and it lasts for a number of rounds in which the target cannot do anything. So, if your spell DC is high enough, you can effectively shut down the target for the duration of the entire combat.
Touch of Idiocy
One of my own favorite spells, it is a very handy tool against any type of spellcaster, especially as your opponent becomes more powerful. The reason for this is simple: The spell causes 1d6 Points of Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma damage. Now that doesn’t sound so bad, until you realize that a spellcaster’s maximum spell level is defined as 10+spell level and that their casting stat must be of the same number or higher to cast it. (I.e. for a caster to cast a 5th level spell, their casting stat has to be 15 or higher). If the caster’s stat drops below that level, then he or she cannot cast those spell, until they recover. That could effectively shut down a caster completely or at least severely limit their ability to hurt you. For example, it’s must easier to kill a level 18 wizard with 19 INT who can only cast 3rd level spells after having his intelligence reduced to 13, rather than facing all his 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level spells. And even if he can still access the higher-level ones, you’ll have reduced the DC of them.
Heroism
Heroism is the first “buffing” spell that the enchanter runs into, giving a +2 morale bonus on attack rolls, saves, and skill checks. The important part of this one isn’t the bonus (though it is very nice, since it applies to so many things), it is the duration of the spell. Lasting 10 minutes per level, this spell will last almost a full hour, even for the enchanter who only just picked it up (or 30 minutes in the case of a bard). This will allow multiple combats or skill checks, depending on the circumstances, though it only allows for one creature to be affected.
Hold Person
Hold Person is yet again limited to humanoid targets, but this one leaves the target paralyzed, i.e. completely helpless, apart from being able to take purely mental actions (like certain occult casters being able to still use spells). However, being helpless means that a target can be on the receiving end of a coup de grace, which can take out even the toughest target in a single full-round action.
Rage
Rage, works a lot like heroism in that it provides a morale bonus, though in this case it’s a +2 to Strength and Constitution (and a +1 to Will saves). That means you CAN stack it with the ones from heroism as they apply to different stats. Just be warned of the -2 to your AC.
Suggestion
This particular spell does well in the hands of a creative caster. As described in the spell “ifluence the actions of the target creature by suggesting a course of activity (limited to a sentence or two). The suggestion must be worded in such a manner as to make the activity sound reasonable.” So, in this case the recipient won’t do anything suicidal like “Go kill the Red Dragon,” but you could make it far more reasonable by saying “Could you distract the dragon a moment? Then we’ll handle it for you.” That means that with a bit of creativity you can make most things sound reasonable. Caught stealing? “Could you do me a favour and say you were with me? You know I had nothing to do with it.” Need the goblin scout to lie to his chieftain and say he didn’t see you? “Could you claim you never saw us? We won’t bother your tribe, HONEST!” And I’d be amiss if I didn’t mention one of those all-time movie moments, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. These aren’t the droids we’re looking for.” – Creative players and GMs: Have fun 😉
Confusion
Okay, this is one of those spells, where we must look at in a bit more of a meta-gaming sense. The reason for this? The fact that you’re taken away player agency. By this I mean that confusion does not allow for your players to control their own actions, in 75% of the cases. That, to most players, is not FUN, and we’re at the game table to enjoy ourselves. This is one of those very effective spells that you should limit to the players and “end-bosses” only. Otherwise players are likely to get very tired of their Game Master.
Crushing Despair
In effect, this is the opposite of heroism, giving a -2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, ability checks, skill checks, and weapon damage rolls. What is important to note here though is that this is an UNTYPED penalty, meaning that you can stack it with a multitude of other spells. It is highly effective at shutting down high “to hit and damage” style monsters like giants, and with a reasonably long duration, you can use it as part of the 1st round casts, to ensure that it lasts throughout the combat itself. I would advise stacking it with other penalty spells though, to get the most effect out of it, as well as sticking it on the “combined” highest damage/health combo character you can find who is not a spellcaster (as it does not do a great deal to them).
Lesser Geas
This is a bit of an odd spell, in that I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used in an actual game. However, it’s seen great use in the plot-setup for various adventures. This is likely because most players are unlikely to use this as a spell themselves, as the goal of the lesser geas is long term, but when applied to player characters it has a life of its own. For example, one PC encounters the villain on his own. The villain uses lesser geas and instructs the PC to bring the rest of the party to a certain point, at a certain time, and that he IS NOT ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT IT AT ALL. That means that the player should do their utmost to lure the others there (or suffer some nasty penalties) and that he wouldn’t be allowed to explain why. GM, this is where you’re supposed to shine. Be creative in what an NPC might do, and allow the NPC to use their level of intelligence to at least shut down some of the loopholes that the players might use. (In my example above, the player cannot TALK about it, but the villain did not specify that he couldn’t WRITE about it for instance. That would give the player an out, if he takes the time to consider it. Of course, you should put some time pressure on, just to mess with it, as it makes for a better narrative).
Dominate Person
In many ways, this is like charm person, except this time you can CONTROL the actions, without them being able to resist it, as they would under charm person. That means that they can act directly against their own will. The only limit is language, so while you can cast it on any humanoid, sharing a language makes this much more powerful and versatile as you can give them very exact instructions to do.
Feeblemind
This is like touch of idiocy, except it reduces the target’s abilities to 1. In the case of Intelligence, that means he’s reduced to being an animal, with all that entails. And it is even more powerful against spellcasters who take a -4 to the check. (Meaning that for them, considering your stat has to be 15 to cast the spell as a 5th level spell, that the DC would be a MINIMUM of 21).
Mindfog
Say hello to a -10 penalty on Will Saves and Wisdom checks. Combine it with a will save spell and they become extremely powerful. (To use feeblemind from above as an example, that would increase the save DC to 31, making it very difficult to overcome). Just be careful with placement as it’ll affect allies too.
We’re going to skip many spells here, as many of them are simply lower-level spells but with greater effects, and the same principles would apply to them (symbol of sleep, geas/quest, greater heroism, mass suggestion, symbol of persuasion, mass hold person, insanity, symbol of stunning, mass charm monster, demand, irresistible dance, power word stun, symbol of insanity, dominate monster and mass hold monster).
Power Word Blind
This is one of those spells that’s just nasty in and of itself. For creatures with low hit points (important note: this is CURRENT hit points, not maximum hit points, so you can arrange for a creature to drop low on hit points first), the effect is permanent. For others not so, but it’s still nasty. And that is due to the blinded condition itself. Unless you have some other sense, you’re blinded as per the condition. Blinded reads as follows: ”it takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength– and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks. All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail. All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) against the blinded character. Blind creatures must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them.”
And remember TOTAL concealment means Stealth, which means SNEAK attacks 😊
Antipathy
This is a great spell for those occasions where you want to scare someone or something away from a location, without necessarily resorting to violence. In many ways, it would be a perfect spell for burglar in that it would have any guard turn their back and go away, never to return for the duration of the spell. It can be used to prevent reinforcements from arriving or for forcing an opponent out of hiding if you so wish.
Binding
Binding is a spell with many uses. While most of these boil down to having an effect like the ones already described above, the strength of this spell is that it can combine a number of them, when there are multiple casters involved in the casting of binding. And of course, the main effect of imprisoning someone in a predetermined state, either permanently or for a very long time indeed. Great for taking out the villain in an adventure if you’re a PC, and great for resurrecting old villains if you’re a GM.
Sympathy
Sympathy is quite simply the opposite of antipathy. It attracts someone to an area almost irresistibly, so it would be great for getting witnesses where there would otherwise be none, or for ensuring that someone stays in a specific area while you accomplish some sort of task. For GMs, it’s also a great tool to ensure that your players stay put, when there’s something they need to watch, especially if you have players who tend to wander.
Power Word Kill
And finally, we have power word kill. Like power word blind, it only affects creatures of a certain amount of hit points, but instead of blinding them, it instantly slays them. No discussions and no saving throw. They are dead. The only limitation being that they need to be alive. For those who can remember this is also one of those iconic abilities from Dragonlance, possessed by Lord Soth, and used when he kills Tanis Half-elven. (During Tasselhoff Burrfoot’s trip to an alternate timeline).
And this concludes our look at Enchantment. Next week we look at everyone’s favorite explosive school: EVOCATION. Expect fireballs. 😊
Kim Frandsen
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