There are times when life would be easier if you had the ability to turn an enemy into a friend. In Dungeons & Dragons, the way to make temporary friends is to use the Friends cantrip. My Kobold Sorcerer, Meepo, has tried to use it in battle.
Be careful when using Friends. It is always a gamble. If it works, the player who cast it temporarily gains a very devoted friend (whom they can attempt to manipulate). But if it fails, the caster can become the target of an extremely angry enemy.
Friends has a duration of one minute. While that minute lasts, you have advantage on all Charisma checks directed at one creature of your choice that isn’t hostile towards you.
When the spell ends, the creature realizes that you used magic to influence its mood and becomes hostile toward you. A creature prone to violence might attack you. Another creature might seek retribution in other ways (at the DM’s discretion) depending on the nature of your interaction with it.
Friends can be a life or death kind of cantrip. When it goes as hoped – with a party that works really well together – the results can be glorious!
During the Circulus campaign, the party accidentally ended up in a Colosseum that was created by Orcs. To their dismay, a large, feathered, T-Rex (that was making a honking noise) was ahead of them. The party decided to fight it. They probably should have run away.
The T-Rex decided to eat Vex the Ranger. This caused Meepo to freak out and want to help him. She could have used spells that involved fire, or magic missiles, or other things that might do damage. But, Meepo had a different idea.
Meepo ran closer to the T-Rex and cast Friends on it. She yelled, “Spit him out!” and put her hands on her hips, trying to look as fierce as a little Kobold could.
A very confused T-Rex laid down on the ground, with its head close to Meepo. She nearly got sucked into the T-Rex’s nostrils as it took a breath, but got away just in time. There was a tense moment as the party wondered what was going to happen. Meepo stood her ground, refusing to give up on “Mr. Vex”.
In the meantime, our Dragonborn Paladin, Fenix, took the opportunity to walk up the prone T-Rex’s tail. When he got to the dinosaur’s neck, he set his feet and stabbed his sword into the space where the head and neck connected.
Fenix quickly slayed the T-Rex. Vex was able to get out of the T-Rex’s mouth, and our party survived the battle.
Why did the Friends cantrip work this time? This particular T-Rex had been raised to fight smaller creatures in the Colosseum. It was used to taking orders from humanoids.
Friends gave the party a minute to do something before the T-Rex attacked. Our Paladin smartly took action and was able to kill the distracted dinosaur before the cantrip wore off.