So looking at mystic aura i have a couple questios regarding hiring henchmen.
mystic aura modifies your reaction roll, and generally “stacks” with everything, unlike say diplomacy and seduction.
if a reaction roll for someone with mystic aura is 12+, they behave as though charmed by the spell “Charm Person”, which describes how that person behaves. For a henchman, the period of service is likely to outlast the duration of the charm except possibly for very dumb henchmen.
In places where the text explicitly describes different modifiers to reaction rolls, it usually sounds as though the modifiers don’t stack. For example, in the section on Interpleaders it says “Add the Charisma modifier of the domain ruler, plus an additional +2 if the interpleader has Diplomacy, Intimidation, or Mystic Aura.” I’d read that “or” as meaning you don’t add the bonus multiple times.
If the intention really is to add them, then having both Mystic Aura and another similar ability would essentially eliminate all adverse reaction roll results.
it depends on how militantly the judge/DM wants to police the way the players interact with others. Mystic Aura only offers the bonus when the character is trying to “impress and intimidate” their target while diplomacy only works when “attempting to parley”. Perhaps the DM feels that there are few or no situations where both would be applicable.
A strict approach also keeps the bonuses in check. A +7 or +9 bonus to reaction rolls just might be a bit too much for some games.
So jard you’re saying that they behave as if charmed does this mean that when the charm wears off they will be offended by the use of magic (i forget how the book words it im on my phone). Essentially making this a detriment to hiring henchmen?
Is it possible that the book’s hyperlink is incorrect, and we should be using the monster version of Charm, which renders victims confused and passive, rather than outright controlling them?
Sorry for the double-post but there’s no edit button and I hit enter too soon-
It just makes more sense to me that if you’re trying to impress/intimidate, and you use magic to go “LOOK AT ME I’M GREAT” your target reacts by being shocked and awed rather than instantly obedient.
Charm person explicitly doesn’t give you control, and thus seems by far the better option for Mystic Aura, to me: the subject perceives everything you say and do in the best possible way. You can give them orders that they could/would normally follow (thus, you probably can’t order them to commit suicide, kill a loved one, etc.).
The spell text doesn’t define what happens when the spell wears off, so it would be up to the individual DM to decide if that’s the case. being charmed by charm person simply means, as others have pointed out, that the charmer is regarded as a trusted friend and ally and their words and actions are perceived in the most favorable way possible. I think any conjecture about how people respond to being charmed beyond what’s written is something that should be decided on the campaign level, as either interpretation could work.
I’m not sure which version you’re looking at, but I have the PDF published in August 2013 and it says charm monster, the arcane 4 spell, works just like charm person except it affects monsters (and then goes into detail into how many can be affected and the rate they save at).
I meant the monster attack type “Charm” such as what harpies have, as detailed on page 150
My mistake, let me go have a look at that.
Hm… personally that doesn’t make sense to me as a player proficiency, since that’s very clearly geared towards combat and doesn’t make interacting with targets you might not necessarily want to kill any better.
Any judge could certainly choose make mystic aura work that way, but that clearly makes it a combat focused proficiency. It ceases to be about influencing people and becomes a 1 in X chance of getting an easy fight in the dungeon, possibly a free win if they all fail the save.
All social proficiencies work that way though. You might parlay in the dungeon and talk your way out of a fight or even gain friends. Heck you can do it with just a high charisma.
No, they don’t. Read the descriptions for Reaction Rolls, Charm Person/Monster, and then the monster “Charm” ability; the latter is clearly different (and called out as such) from Charm spells, and those are clearly different from “Friendly” results for Reaction Rolls. The text for Reaction Rolls fairly clearly puts the kibosh on the idea of a “Diplomancer.”