Beguiling

is a mental mutation that allows the player to "beguile" nearby creatures, turning them into a companion.

Beguiling grants the "Beguile Creature" activated ability, which when used on a creature within 1 tile of the user, will bestow the status effect and cause that creature to become a follower, so long as the player rolls to do so successfully. The creature will be friendly to the player, will follow them and attack anything hostile to them, and can be ordered to perform certain actions. They will also gain bonus hitpoints as determined by the player's mutation level. If the player fails to beguile an otherwise neutral creature, they will become hostile; this will not anger any of the creature's nearby allies, however.

Followers can be ordered by looking at them and pressing the "use" keybind when they are at a distance, or by pressing the "interact nearby" keybind when they are within 1 tile. By doing so, they can be directed to attack specific targets, move to a specific tile, or remain where they are until the player orders them to move again. The player can also allow or disallow the creature from using their activated/toggleable abilities.

Followers can be traded with to obtain any items they have within their inventory free of charge, even if that creature is a merchant. They can also be given items and equipment, and will equip their best available armor and weapons automatically.

Beguiled creatures will remain beguiled until they die or the player successfully beguiles a different creature, as only one follower can be gained through Beguiling at a time. Creatures who are "dismissed" in this way will become hostile to the player.

If the player loses the ability to Beguile (such as from a food effect running out), once the player loses the ability, the beguiled creature is freed and becomes hostile as if it was dismissed.

Formulas
The following formula is used to determine follower bonus hitpoints based on mutation level.

Advantages

 * Can be used to gain followers that will fight for the player
 * Can be used on powerful targets to make them friendly and effectively neutralize them, allowing the player to then kill them for free
 * Beguiled merchants can be traded with to obtain their items for free

Disadvantages

 * Very high cost at character creation
 * Will fail when used on enemies that are significantly higher level/Ego than the player
 * Must be adjacent to a target to use
 * Can't be used on enemies without a mind, such as robots and oozes