When fighting Sirines in the Lighthouse area, I counteracted their Dire Charm spells by using a charm spell of my own, but not Dire Charm to counteract it. Somehow, after one time, the Dire Charm effect disappeared from the main character being charmed by the enemy, but the Charm spell a party member had casted to nullify it was still in effect. When that effect wore off, my main character became hostile to the entire party, and I couldn't control him while my other party members attacked him. The last save I have before this effect took place is from before I entered the Lighthouse area; not all is lost, but I've lost a good chunk of painful progress if I can't resolve this somehow. Is there anything I could do without resorting to utilities, and if not, which one should I use?

Thanks in advance.

Charm and Dire Charm are hostile spells. If you use them, you risk the charmed person becoming hostile when they recover, as you have found out. Try another method, like sending in a female, an Elf, a person with Helmet of Charm protection. Females tend not to be affected by Sirines; Elve have very high resistance to Charm; the helmet proffers complete protection.

This is interesting because every time I've used Algernon's Cloak for the same effect, the afflicted character never went hostile after the charm faded.


Does the cloak lack the "turn hostile" flag that other charm spells carry?

That's probably the case for the cloak; I've tried it just now and it stopped the hostile effect after the Charm spell wore off.

Thanks.

EDIT: Well, sort of. It seems to wear off after 24 hours or so of game time, but it can be reapplied. Is there any hacking utility I can use to change this? It's ridiculous that your main character can turn hostile against the rest of the party and become uncontrollable as a default state.

Algernon's Cloak is NOT a charm effect; it will NOT nullify a Charm effect. It simply increases the CHA of the wearer by 2 points. Charm will still apply.

The only difference is that Algernon's Cloak works for a very long duration. But when it fades after 12 hours the character will be hostile. And then the only fix is reloading or using the Sword Coast Keeper or reusing the cloak until the end of the game...

Not to mention just how cheesy Algernon's Cloak is in BG1. I mean, unlimited ranged Charm, with save vs. Breath!? You can't get any cheesier than that, even with cheating -- well, it *is* cheating, isn't it?

An old topic, but this just happened to me as well and I found a way to counter this: After the charm wears off (and the character is hostile), reform party - remove the character. Then talk to him and hire him again.
Obviously this wouldn't work with main character as in this topic but it might be helpful in case of other characters (it happened with Minsc to me).

I wonder...

What if, while in this situation with your main character, you dismiss every other party member? What happens then?

(I've read that, if your solo character gets hit with a Charm effect, it's game over, but what if you get Charmed, *then* dismiss your companions?)

I could, of course, ask this question about other effects, like petrification, or in BG2, Maze. (Maze the main character, than dismiss the rest of the party before Maze wears off. Then what happens?)

If CHARNAME ever gets petrified or imprisoned, it's an instant game over -- you wouldn't have a chance to dismiss your party members. If CHARNAME get charmed then you dismiss all your companions, I suspect you'll get the game over screen within a few seconds of doing so -- as soon as the game goes through its next cycle of state-checks.

If CHARNAME gets charmed control is taken away from them.

But you can still go to the character arbitration screen and remove party members.

I just tried this to see what would actually happen -- went to the FAI in, got charmed by Tarnesh, dismissed all party members... and CHARNAME was left wandering around charmed for several rounds. Surprisingly no immediate game over screen.

Of course, aside from the "gee whiz" factor, I'm not sure if this little tidbit of trivia serves any practical purpose...