[RPG] Does someone realize they were charmed after the effect of the Glamour bard’s Enthralling Performance wears off

bardcharmedclass-featurednd-5e

I have been playing a College of Glamour bard in the Tomb of Annihilation module. They get the Enthralling Performance feature at 3rd level when they choose the subclass (Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 14):

If you perform for at least 1 minute, you can attempt to inspire wonder in your audience by singing, reciting a poem, or dancing. At the end of the performance, choose a number of humanoids within 60 feet of you who watched and listened to all of it, up to a number equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one). Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be charmed by you. […] This effect ends on a target after 1 hour, if it takes any damage, if you attack it, or if it witnesses you attacking or damaging any of its allies.

If a target succeeds on its saving throw, the target has no hint that you tried to charm it.

According to the description, the target does not become aware of the fact that someone attempted to charm them if they succeed at their saving throw. However, it doesn't say anything about what happens if they fail their save and the charm wears off.

Once the effect of Enthralling Performance wears off, do those that were previously affected by it know they were charmed?

Best Answer

The intent of this ability is kind of joyfully goofy — the bard's personality and performance are so bewitching that the listeners become super fans. From a designer interview:

Also, aesthetically, Mike [Mearls] and I early on talked about essentially having figures like Freddie Mercury in mind, so this Bard, it was just crazily fabulous and beguiling [....]

We felt there was a place for a Bard that instead was all about the beguiling magic of the Feywild, and so the College of Glamour play testers really liked it, and we refined it to really just enhance what they liked about it and that is: this Bard who is able to beguile people using their class features and not just using spells, a Bard who once they’re high enough level, can make it difficult for people to even attack them because essentially, the people have become their fans because again, full disclosure, in addition to being inspired by stories of Fey creatures and their beguiling abilities, we were also again inspired by the idea of the College of Glamour sort of being a pop star and so there’s a little thread in some of the class features of basically people becoming the College of Glamour’s, that Bard’s fans. We’re going to do what you say. We’re not going to hurt you.

Emphasis mine. Some punctuation added to the official transcript, as it is rather breathless.

With other charm abilities, like the spell friends (as NathanS notes), the "victims" become hostile after the effect ends. That doesn't really play well with the trope here. It may be possible that some rare stubborn person shakes off the influence, but in general, you can't have a pop-rock star with a (possibly slightly literally) crazy fanbase if that fandom wears off when the effect does.

Therefore, I think it's intentional that the ability doesn't mention any negative aftereffects.