[RPG] Do any charm spells stop working when the caster is in an Antimagic Field

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The question is:

  1. Which charm spells (Charm Person, Suggestion, Geas, Dominate,…) are affected when the caster of the charm is in an Antimagic field,
  2. what if somehow the effect became permanent somehow (via Wish or some future mechanism)
  3. how the spells are affected,
  4. would the caster be aware the charm was broken (Yes, Answered in the linked questions, but its not broken, see answers), and
  5. is this different from the caster dying?

Inspired by Do you know that Detect Magic is being suppressed if it intersects with Antimagic Field?, and Does a spellcaster know when concentration ends?

I am rather sure that in previous editions the charms would end and the caster would be unaware the charm ended, making for some interesting possibilities, unless that was just a previous house ruling of a DM.

How do the 5e edition mechanics handle these issues?

Best Answer

The Charm is not broken

The Antimagic Field spell explicitly states:

Any active spell or other magical effect on a creature or an object in the sphere is suppressed while the creature or object is in it.

The charming effect of the spell is on the target, not the caster. The antimagic field text says nothing about the caster. As long as the charmed creature stays out of the field, it will remain under the effects of the spell.

Jeremy Crawford rules similarly for concentration:

If you would like a more "word of the lord" answer, Jeremy Crawford said in this sage advice that:

Antimagic field has no effect on concentration. If it did, its description would say so.

All of this together makes it a safe bet that as long as the charmed creature stays out of the field, it will remain charmed.

Casters who die lose concentration

Note on PHB pg. 203:

You lose concentration on a spell if you are incapacitated or if you die

Death will cause you to lose concentration, but simply moving inside of the field will not.

So in the event of caster death on a concentration spell, like the examples provided, the charm will end. Regardless of if the caster is in the antimagic field or not.

Duration matters though

That being said, it is also confirmed by Jeremy Crawford that:

An effect created by a spell that's instantaneous isn't susceptible to antimagic areas or being dispelled. Additionally, if the caster doesn't have to concentrate on the spell, and then he later dies, the spell's effect will remain.

So if a spell causing a charm has a duration of instantaneous, the effect on the creature will remain, even if the caster dies. Additionally if the spell has a non-instantaneous duration, then the charm will be suspended if the creature moves into the antimagic field.

What about telepathic commands?

Some spells let you issue telepathic commands to the creature you have targeted. This is a slightly different effect. A link is defined in the oxford dictionary as:

A relationship between two things or situations, especially where one affects the other

Since the caster is on one end of this link, and the link is a magical effect (it originated from a spell), I would argue that the caster's link would be suspended while inside of the field, but the charm would not be. That is, the caster could not send requests out to the creature.

Would the caster realize he is in an antimagic field?

Hard to say for sure. There is no official ruling on this matter.

We already know the caster can continue to concentrate on the spells, so concentration won't help here. One of the answers in the related question suggests that because Antimagic Field states:

This area is divorced from the magical energy that suffuses the multiverse

a spellcaster, who frequently manipulates this magical energy, could potentially notice that something is wrong. But there is no mention in the rules, or in the spell text that this is the case.

The September 2016 rules answers clarify that a person would only know they were under a spell if there was some noticeable effect. If the charmer is aware that their target is no longer charmed, or that his telepathic commands are having no effect, then they would certainly know that something was wrong. But it seems like it's up to the DM if the act of intersecting with the antimagic field is a noticeable effect by itself.

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