Charm Person vs Charm Montser.

[solo24601]

This may be a question that has already been addressed, but I couldn't find it.

Does Charm Monster affect a "Person"? Town guard, barkeep, etc. In other words, would the charm "Monster" spell have an affect on a group of NPC elves in their village, or NPC halflings in their shire, or NPC gnomes in their... wherever the gnomes are living?

Thanks, guys.

P.S. Please refrain from snide remarks. I won't even read the whole post.

[Elamdri]

Charm Person only works against Humanoid type creatures, which includes all PC races.

Charm Monster is not restricted by creature type, and can be used on Humanoids just like Charm Person. The benefit of this is that Charm Monster is a higher level spell, which means a harder DC.

Charm Monster includes all that Charm Person does and more, and is therefore a 100% better spell, but a higher spell slot.

EDIT: The same is obviously true of Dominate Person/Monster.

[Malachi Silverclaw]

There's also the small matter of duration!

Charm Person: 1hour/level
Charm Monster: 1day/level

One day per level! Even if you only cast this once per day you could have a number of monsters equal to your level as your retinue/ablative armour!

[solo24601]

Makes sense to me. The semantics of the naming convention leave a bit to be amended but that seems periphery to the mechanics.I appreciate the help and the prompt response.

Thanks
-Rich

[Riuken]

As a matter of completeness, it simply comes down to this: the words "monster" and "creature" are equivalent in pathfinder, with both meaning "anything with stats".

[solo24601]

Cool. Thanks.