I am playing a Fiend-patron warlock. A vampire has charmed my fighter buddy and I wish to use my Hurl Through Hell feature to make the vampire briefly go to the lower planes, resulting in the charm being broken.
The description of the Hurl Through Hell feature says:
Starting at 14th level, when you hit a creature with an attack, you can use this feature to instantly transport the target through the lower planes. The creature disappears and hurtles through a nightmare landscape.
At the end of your next turn, the target returns to the space it previously occupied, or the nearest unoccupied space.
However, I am not sure if the “hell” part is supposed to be merely fluff, with no actual planar travel happening.
Does Hurl Through Hell cancel a vampire's charm effect?
Best Answer
Yes; Hurl Through Hell will remove the Charm Effect
The description of the Hurl Through Hell ability starts with the following description:
The feature says it "transports the creature through the lower planes", the "lower planes" in this context definitely being various alternate planes of existence. The Player's Handbook is direct about what the Lower Planes are, in its description of the various planes of existence, starting on page 301:
So in this case, being "transported through the lower planes" is not merely fluff: by any literal interpretation of this feature (spells and features generally should be interpreted literally) the target creature must, between the attack that took place, and the end of your next turn, exist in the lower planes, and thus be on another plane of reality.
So with the Charm feature of the Vampire being explicitly ended if the Vampire and their victim are on separate planes of existence, it's therefore logical that being on another plane of existence, even briefly, will end the effect:
So if you're looking for a way to instantly end the Charm effect on your fighter friend, and don't have a ready-made way to end Charm effects, you'll be able to attack
your Fighter friendthe Vampire*, invoke this ability, deal 10d10 damage (55 damage) to them, and end the Charm effect once the fighter and Vampire are in separate planes of existence.* Of course, because no Warlock would ever attack their own friend, right? ;)