Voice of Power Sorc - Charm Help

[NorthHelix]

Hi All,

I'm working on a Drow "Voice of Power" for the pre-built selections. I currently have 22 Cha.
I'm looking for some help with the mechanic of the charm spell.
At Level 3, I was charming about 95% of the time (ignoring my attempts to charm those that were immune).
I hit Level 4, and since I'm following a "path" i just let it do it's thing and Leveled up. Now at Level 4, i'm only charming about 60-75% of the enemies. In both cases, i was doing quests my own level.

Two requests:
1) Can someone explain how charm works, specifically and details regarding success
2) Can anyone suggest how i can increase the effectiveness of this spell.

Thank you all, in advance for you suggestions
NorthHelix

Reference Links:
Me: http://my.ddo.com/character/sarlona/zazu/
Voice of Power - Drow: http://compendium.ddo.com/wiki/Path:...Elf_Profile%29

[TheBlueFox]

the Charm spell is actually broken down into two different spells

Charm Person charms humanoids. Humans and kobolds and Trogs apply here. Some other things too.

Charm Monster charms everything except oozes I believe, but it's a higher level spell.

Charm is a non damaging spell, and as such it must bypass your enemies spell resistance in order to affect it. Heighten spell and spell penetration will increase your chances to defeat their resistance.

After bypassing their resistance, the enemy must make a WILL save in order to shrug off the spell. Low will enemies are usually fighter types, Mages and Sorcerers often have high will.

The spell is of the school Enchantment, so If you take the Enchantment spell focus feat, youll have a higher chance for these to land

there are other spells you can use to increase your chances. Bestow curse gives enemies a -4 to their saves for example.



Edit* I just looked up Charm monster and Charm Person. It says Spell Resistance: No
Is that true? hmm...
If it IS true, then ignore penetration, you just need heighten for the highest DC. you get Heighten at level 9 with Voice of power I think

[Eronthar]

I am leveling an enchanter nowadays. First of all i love it more than my damage dealing sorcerer as it suits my style more.

I started with an elf with bard splash. He is currently Brd 1/ Sor 4. I have little problem with my both enchantment spells (charm person and resistable dance) on normal runs. On higher difficulty settings mobs have higher saves and they saves a lot. I have S.Focus Enchantment and Greater S. Focus with 20 charisma.

I think Voice of Power also gets those two feats during 1st and 3rd level.

As stated above different mobs have different high saves, Rogue/Melee/Archer ones have low will saves and easier to charm. Mage/Shaman types is harder, Clerics are the hardest ones I met so far... Funny thing is; during my WW runs i noticed something Shamans are easier to charm then kobold throwers.

Other than those two feats I think only way to make your charms/holds/dances harder to resist is looking out for + enchantment items which will boost your DC for enchantment school spells.

Have fun

[NorthHelix]

Thanks for the reply's and advice.
I guess it looks like I was just being spoiled by the ease of charming the really low level enemies.

Next Charm Related Question:
I found that if I close a door behind me the enemies don't come out when the charm wears off. Is this true or just that I've been lucky so far.

[Eronthar]

If you leave a charmed creature's LoS (Line of Sight), like venturing further in the quest or in your case closing the door they don't attack you. At least this is what I've observed so far.

Also I forgot the add before. Enervation is a spell you want to invest in as it lower's your enemies effective level which causes lower saves. Even Complete Mage advice for Bestow Curse I personally can't see a reason to get it. It is a will save spell just like your charms, so it won't help you to control mobs better. Also if you use Curse for charming an enemy, you will get a weaker version of critter with -4 to attack, saves and skill checks. IMO Enervation/Energy Drain is a better way to go as Enervation has no saves but target to SR.

[Phyrewire]

I like to add some to the discussion here.

Charm person can be replaced with Suggestion. Suggestion is an awesome spell that effects both humanoids, monsters, elementals and outsiders.

Suggestion can also provide immediate recast when Charm Monster fails on target.

Dominate Person is another interesting spell. You will want to have an +1 DC item and both spell focuses when using this one. I would use this spell wisely, and as needed, that following charmed lacky can break mid dungeon and poise to be bad timing for the party.

Complimentary feats for charming specialists would be Enlarge. Its an under rated feat but its incredibly useful to reach out and mez a mob under your thumb.

To answer one of your questions on improving your spell's effectiveness can be summed up into three parts.

Part 1 - Maximum Charisma and +Charisma items.

Part 2 - Spell / Greater Spell Focuses, Heighten (raises spell level for calculating DC)

Part 3 - Items that improve Enchantment school spell DCs (for example, +1 Enchantment Rod)

While you have optimized the best DC rating possible, you will also need to learn which mobs have better will saves than others. This will come over game play.

Edited:

If you decide to get Symbol of Persuasion, it tick activates every so often against non-charmed mobs in its area-of-effect. Charmed mobs with this spell are not broken with the break charm feat. The DC rating is high and it can turn an entire pull against itself, of course, this extra setup depends on how strategic the party wants to be.

[ddoer]

...

just one correction. heighten does not improve spell penetration. Spell penetration is rolled as:

Caster Level + Feat (Stackable) + Enhancement + Item Spell-Pen that matches the Spell Level + 1d20

As DDO only have spell penetration 8 but not 9 gears, heighten will probably lower your spell penetration.

besides, there is are suggestion and mass suggestion spell that work in a similar way as charm monster. suggestion could be used against orange named mob and have a fixed duration.

Edit* I just looked up Charm monster and Charm Person. It says Spell Resistance: No
Is that true? hmm...
If it IS true, then ignore penetration, you just need heighten for the highest DC. you get Heighten at level 9 with Voice of power I think

any charm/suggestion spell have spell resistance. Compendium may not necessarily be correct.

[richieelias]

As DDO only have spell penetration 8 but not 9 gears, heighten will probably lower your spell penetration.

A level 8 spell heightened to level 9 is still a level 8 spell as far as penetration/potency items are concerned. Heighten only increases the save.