Calm Emotions: This Aggression Will Not Stand, Man
Spell Level: 2
School: Enchantment
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V, S
You attempt to suppress strong emotions in a group of people. Each humanoid in a 20‑foot‑radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range must make a Charisma saving throw; a creature can choose to fail this saving throw if it wishes. If a creature fails its saving throw, choose one of the following two effects.
You can suppress any effect causing a target to be charmed or frightened. When this spell ends, any suppressed effect resumes, provided that its duration has not expired in the meantime.
Alternatively, you can make a target indifferent about creatures of your choice that it is hostile toward. This indifference ends if the target is attacked or harmed by a spell or if it witnesses any of its friends being harmed. When the spell ends, the creature becomes hostile again, unless the GM rules otherwise.
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
It is really easy to make people upset in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. It's a place to live out your wild fantasies when people irritate you. Somebody rude to the waiter? Well I guess I WILL go tell them to eat shit! Is a regal noble demeaning to their staff, and you’ve had just about enough? Kick him in the balls! Moments of spontaneous action very often lead to immediate consequences; rude mercenaries kick your chest in, demeaning nobles have you thrown in prison and declared an enemy of the state. Before those decisions are reached under boiling emotional fury, sometimes you need a spell to ease the tension and get everyone to calm down a bit. In those moments, you can turn to Calm Emotions.
This may be my top pick for the most underrated spell. Clam Emotions takes a huge area of hostile creatures and potentially turns them entirely neutral. Fights can be entirely circumnavigated with a simple 2nd level spell; if enough goblin bandits stop their assault and look at you and your party as just random travellers they don’t really need to murder for their stuff, whoever passes has to decide if their ambush is still a good idea, and if not, how to get the numbers advantage back.
Suppressing charmed or frightened effects is nifty, specifically for charms. Fey charms can be huge duration events with little means of counteracting them, especially in the early tiers. Calm Emotions is a temporary Dispel Magic for charm effects, no saves or contested checks required. Frightened effects typically dissipate quickly, so Calm Emotions tends to be less valuable at mitigating them, but sometimes you need to stir a bunch of hired guns to face down the dragon that’s scaring them senseless.
As a bard or cleric, if you’ve got an extra spell to learn or prepare and are unsure what to take, Calm Emotions can be exceptional. Few spells can change moods the way this does while also providing meaningful interaction for niche abilities. If you’re in a group that isn’t looking to dive into combat after combat, this tool can take a lot of potential encounters and dissipate them before they start.
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