[.11] Charm potions (and coatings)

[Ken]

Charm appears in the Potions list now. So what does a Charm potion do?

The use with most obvious effect I can think of is to use it like a Charm coating if you've got Potion Coating on your weapon. In which case presumably whoever swings the weapon is the caster. But potions are normally intended to be consumed, so:

• If I feed someone a Charm potion, does that make them charmed by me?
• If I trick someone into drinking a Charm potion, are they charmed by me or just by themselves?
• If I happen to drink a Charm potion while already Charmed by someone else, does my self-Charm provide any protection against the existing Charm?

Slight tangent into Charm poison coatings: There's a note in the packet that a trap with Charm gas/scroll basically has no effect since there's no caster. Would the same apply for a non-weapon object coated in Charm poison? Or would it work the way that Dominate elixirs used to work when mixed into food, in that the person who applied it is the caster even if they're not currently around?

 

[Sage of Legaia]

Hmm... Not 100% sure on all of these answers, but my best guesses are:

1) The person you fed the Charm Potion to would be Charmed by you.

2) The only way I can think of to trick someone into drinking a Charm Potion is to lie to them about what it is and have them drink it themselves; I would say they are Charmed by you, but they would have to remember that you were the one who gave them the Potion in the first place to RP this properly, which may or may not be feasible to enforce.

3) Charming yourself wouldn't do anything, I don't think, since part of Charm is more or less to do everything in your power to follow the orders you're given, so you couldn't order yourself to disobey.

4) I'm fairly sure it follows the 1.3 food rules, althought since no Marshal is around to tell people who poisoned the food and it's only the first bite or drink that causes the effect, I can't imagine there's any reason to poison something edible and then walk away from it entirely. It's also worth noting that applying a Charm Coating to anything other than edible things or a weapon is pointless, since the only deliveries for coatings are ingestion or Body damage; theoretically, an object that is written to damage you if you touch it could have a poison applied to it, but I don't think the coating would be triggered by that damage.

 

[Ken]

It's also worth noting that applying a Charm Coating to anything other than edible things or a weapon is pointless, since the only deliveries for coatings are ingestion or Body damage; theoretically, an object that is written to damage you if you touch it could have a poison applied to it, but I don't think the coating would be triggered by that damage.

Per the 11c packet: "Weapon coatings have been combined with contact gels," plus the addition that contact gels can now be used in the same way that weapon coatings were. It doesn't appear to invalidate the previous function of contact gels, which is to affect anyone touching it without gloves. If that delivery method was intended to be removed, it should be called out.

 

[Sage of Legaia]

Oh, right; I forgot about that. Looking back in the 1.3 ARB, though, it differentiates between Contact Gels that can be applied to objects other than weapons (which are Alchemical Solvent, Liquid Light, Oil of Slipperiness, and Paste of Stickiness), and Contact Gels that can be applied to weapons only (every other coating); they use two different symbols in the Effects section, and only those four use the one that indicates it's not a weapon coating.

This being the case... I'm really not sure how any coating applied to an object would function, honestly. Paste of Stickiness is the only really 'detrimental' effect in 1.3 that can be used that way, and it just glues whatever touches it to the object for 10 minutes; Oil of Slipperiness prevents it from being picked up for 10 minutes after first contact, Alchemical Solvent removes any Contact Gel present, and Liquid Light (generally represented by a glowstick or other chemical reaction) probably isn't something you want to be touching in the first place, but also doesn't do anything in-game if you do. None of these can be Resisted or pop a Poison Shield, although Paste and Oil can negate each other and Solvent removes any of them.

If I have to guess, based on the above... Charm Coating applied to a non-weapon object functions the same as a Charm Scroll or Gas Trap: the object becomes the caster, and the effect fades after 3 seconds, so this particular application wouldn't be terribly useful. However, Paralysis or Berserk Coatings would be great.

 

[Draven]

Reason I’d use a Charm Potion.

Step 1) Beat someone into unconsciousness.

Step 2) Feed them Charm.

Step 3) Heal them up.

Bonus points if it’s someone who can Resist Command.