I had an interesting situation come up the other day. A player was casting Suggestion on an NPC, who succeeded on their Wisdom save. Since the spell didn't work, the player immediately cast it again, this time successfully convincing the NPC to do the thing. This seemed a bit weird since the player could theoretically cast the spell again and again until the NPC rolled sufficiently low. Is this allowed RAW?
[RPG] Can Suggestion be cast multiple times on the same target until it fails its save
dnd-5espells
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Best Answer
Yes, it is allowed by RAW
When the designers want to restrict an effect to one use per X time, they say it explicitly. Take the following abilities from the Monster Manual, for example:
Or this one:
Or this one:
Suggestion does not have this specific clause, so you can use it on the same target until it fails its save.
However...
Casting a spell takes around 6 seconds. That's enough time to react
A full Cast A Spell action, which is what casting Suggestion takes, takes up your entire turn, meaning to complete it, it takes around 6 seconds. Even if the NPC could be targeted by a second casting of this spell, they have another 6 seconds to react and to avoid it. They shouldn't just stand there waiting until the spell is finished casting.
Otherwise, it's like they are saying "I punch the NPC" and then missed, and then they say "I punch him again!" until they kill the guy. The NPC shouldn't just be standing there waiting to get hit. The first time they targeted him, he should know he isn't in the presence of friendlies.
Casting Suggestion on someone can be considered a hostile action
When your player used Suggestion on that NPC, you should have considered that a "surprise round" for the purposes of combat. Following that, have them all roll Initiative. This gives the NPC a reasonable opportunity to escape, call the guards, etc., assuming he is able to beat the PC's initiative. If he doesn't, then it's justified that the PC is able to cast a second Suggestion before the NPC could react.