Love the game so far. I have one problem, however... the Charm spell isn't doing what I think it's supposed to do. When I cast it, the enemy unit will show "Charmed" if I right click on it, so the spell appears to have been successful. However, instead of not attacking me, it will behave exactly as normal, as if I hadn't cast the spell, and fling attacks at me.

I know that Charm goes away (and it will disappear when the unit is right-clicked) if you attack the unit, but this isn't the case; while I'm attacking other units, I will purposefully avoid damaging the charmed unit.

Lost story short... is the spell broken?

I remember having some trouble with the equivalent spell in MM8, too.

Are you using any patches?

[Edit]
There's quite a bit of discussion here (http://www.celestialheavens.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=291661) about some of the spells (including Charm) and it seems some people have success but many don't.

I'm just using the patched version that comes with the GOG purchase... I'm a bit wary of fan patches, as a lot of them tend to change game mechanics to whatever the modder thinks is "better", and I always believe that the correct game is what the creators intended.

I'll check out that link... thanks!

I've played this game a lot and I don't ever remember using the Charm spell. I know it's there, but if I can't kill it, I run. Please return to Board and let me know what that spell actually does. Otherwise I'd have to start a new game, then I'm dealing with spiders, and the next thing you know its Tues Morning and I'm out of work.

Bob

What it is supposed to do is keep one enemy from attacking you as long as you don't attack it. My purpose in using it is targeted crowd control... if there is one really powerful enemy, you charm it, and it twiddles its thumbs while you take out the mob, and only when they are finished off do you attack it.

What it does in reality seems to be to use up mana with no actual effect. The game claims the unit is charmed, but it still attacks me. I'm wondering if this has something to do with expert/master levels...

So more like stun than Dire Charm in Baldurs Gate (the enemy starts attacking its own). Okay. As you said, if you could get it to work, stalling the bigger enemies would be helpful.

"Calms a single targeted creature and removes any hostile feelings it has towards your characters. If this creature takes any damage, it will immediately become hostile again."
(Copied from http://tartarus.rpgclassics.com/mm6/clerical.shtml)

I completely agree with what you said about fan patches, too. Unless there's a very serious bug that it addresses (as is the case with the MM9 fan patches, which fix some very major bugs) I avoid them altogether.

Anyhow, back to the Charm problem. Have you tried casting it on any other lower-level creatures, in case it may be something to do with that? Otherwise, try a fan patch and see if it helps.
But, as macAlphin said, the spell can be completely ignored without too much fuss.