Okay, here's the scenario: my buddies and I are eventually planning to play Serpent's Skull together, and we all want to play evil worshipers of Lamashtu. Our plans include befriending our allies and capturing our enemies (some of them at least), and basically using magic, torture, drugs, and other tactics to break their minds and make them slaves to use as breeding stock for monsters (we also plan to capture animals as well, and as a side option, we can also cook them for food and buffs too...cook people hex for the win, lol).
Now, each of our characters have a role to play, and because I am a witch (a scarred witch doctor half-orc no less), my job is to act as the enchanter/mind breaker/'diplomat'.
However, after getting my spells together and figuring out my build, I still can't decide if the 'Charm Hex' is worth it. My main problem is the 'duration' of course, because I'm not sure how useful it is outside of combat (or in combat for that matter). I realize that I can cackle for HOURS to keep someone under my 'control' but I don't really think that's the most effective thing to do.
Anyway, I was hoping you guys could help me out with this, cause to be honest...I'm not really sure if the charm hex is worth it. I mean, it would be nice if the target of the hex STAYED helpful after the duration ended, but aside from that, this hex only seems good to ask an npc for a VERY brief favor before the hex ends.
I mean, I guess I could politely 'ask' an npc to voluntarily 'fail a save' and simply use another 'charm spell' on them, but even then, I'm not exactly sure if such a request is possible. Thoughts?
For most witches it's an easy "no", because there's going to be some skill monkey in the party for whom charisma isn't a dump stat, and your witch stereotypically isn't going to be the smooth talker. But in the rare event that you somehow end up being the party's diplomat...
It strikes me as kind of worse than charm person, a level 1 spell. Maybe I'm missing the subtle benefits. I guess the advantage over charm person, is that nobody sees you casting a spell and gets a spellcraft check. It's kind of tricky using charm person in a social situation, since you're obviously trying to bewitch the target. If you fail you've just created an enemy, and even if you succeed, any neutral bystanders may have noticed what you did. With this, I would rule that nobody really knows what you're doing, so no hostility would be created, even if they shrug it off with a will save. Much safer and more usable in most social situations. Also it works on animals.
The other point of comparison would be diplomacy. Diplomacy is pretty useless in combat because it's too slow (1 minute of talking). There's no indication that charm takes more than a standard action, so you could possibly find some use for it to maybe put a stop to a fight. Also, it seems like it may stack with diplomacy. Each can only be used once per target, but the charm hex doesn't seem to indicate that it stops you from also using diplomacy. So you might be able to swing someone's attitude way up by using both. Maybe charm someone to get them to stop attacking long enough to try a diplomacy check and make them tolerate you.
I realize that I can cackle for HOURS to keep someone under my 'control' but I don't really think that's the most effective thing to do.
Why not? It's useful to cackle a lot to maintain your fortune buff anyway. If you're an evil witch trying to lead charmed people to your cook pot, why wouldn't you be cackling anyway? It's only a move equivalent action, so you can still get a lot done. You can even double cackle for a few minutes to save up extra rounds and free yourself up to not have to cackle for a bit. Ride a mule or a flying broom as mount and you can use the mount's move action to get around and your own move action to cackle.
No it is not fantastic.
You can even double cackle for a few minutes to save up extra rounds and free yourself up to not have to cackle for a bit. Ride a mule or a flying broom as mount and you can use the mount's move action to get around and your own move action to cackle.
See the Cackle FAQ
Witch, Cackle Hex: Can I use my standard action and move action to cackle twice in one round, extending another hex by two rounds?
No, you can only use cackle once per round.
This is being considered for clarification in a future printing of the Advanced Player's Guide.
/cevah
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No this hex is a stinker and is significantly worse then a simple charm person spell.
Remember it still requires you to use the Diplomacy rules to actually get a target to do anything. AND unlike the skill this gives the target a save (as opposed to just beating a target number) on top of all the normal restrictions built into the diplomacy skill.