Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Question about Bard charming spells

From what I have seen there seems to be a cantrip called "friends" and a level 1 spell called "Charm Person".

Friends: https://imgur.com/a/GDjylz7

Charm Person: https://imgur.com/a/JFBw28y

Does it make any sense to pick both of them? Or is one redundant if you pick the other?

In PnP, there is a big difference. In BG3, we won't know until we see them in action.

I think I've experienced the difference but I'd have to go do some verification and I am out of juice today and it is only one more day after that for us all to see the final version.

IIRC, using the Friends spell actually led to a -5 reputation with the target after the conversation ended and Charm Person didn't. It could be that those were different builds though.

In PnP Friends makes people upset, while charm person makes them annoyed/offended. Bottom line difference is that friends is more likely to get you punched, so be careful using it on people you would like to stay friends with (oh the irony).

I've used Friends a fair bit in EA. Typically, if you use it on an NPC, and you are still in sight when the duration wears off, there is a good chance they will turn red and attack you. Note that Animal Friendship has the same effect, but on animals.

If you use it on a companion, they don't attack you but your reputation with that character is lowered.

I haven't tried Charm Person, but a major difference is you can use it in combat to turn the target non-hostile to you.

Only time I ever use Charm Person is when the dice roller gives me the option to add it in.

In my experience during EA, the only benefit of Charm Person is that it can be cast in combat, whereas Friends cannot. However, given Charm Person's underwhelming effects, I don't see why anyone would bother casting it.