Minor rant on Fear spells...

[Jack Simth]

Well, not quite.

Full-blown panic, sure; but Panic isn't the only fear status:

FEAR

Spells, magic items, and certain monsters can affect characters with fear. In most cases, the character makes a Will saving throw to resist this effect, and a failed roll means that the character is shaken, frightened, or panicked.

Shaken: Characters who are shaken take a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.

Frightened: Characters who are frightened are shaken, and in addition they flee from the source of their fear as quickly as they can. They can choose the path of their flight. Other than that stipulation, once they are out of sight (or hearing) of the source of their fear, they can act as they want. However, if the duration of their fear continues, characters can be forced to flee once more if the source of their fear presents itself again. Characters unable to flee can fight (though they are still shaken).

Panicked: Characters who are panicked are shaken, and they run away from the source of their fear as quickly as they can. Other than running away from the source, their path is random. They flee from all other dangers that confront them rather than facing those dangers. Panicked characters cower if they are prevented from fleeing.

Becoming Even More Fearful: Fear effects are cumulative. A shaken character who is made shaken again becomes frightened, and a shaken character who is made frightened becomes panicked instead. A frightened character who is made shaken or frightened becomes panicked instead.

Cause Fear, for instance, specifies that opponents become Frightened, not Panicked. Fear, on the other hand, does specify Panicked. Both specify that someone who succeeds on the save becomes Shaken for one round.... which is a really fun clause to remember when you have a Wizard (or Sorceror), Cleric, Fighter, and Rogue, even at low levels, as all can potentially cause an oppenent to become Shaken (Intimidate is a class skill for Fighter and Rogue, as well as Barbarian and Bard....), which can stack up rather quickly, even on successful saves.

DM: All right, the baron has tossed your characters into his arena, where you are facing off against his Heavy Warhorse.... What do you do?
Rogue: I try to Intimidate it! *rolls* A 12! Hmm....
DM: *rolls* let's see... 4 HD, +2 Will, +1 Wis.... that's a 13. Sorry.
Fighter: I try to Intimidate it! *rolls* A 14!
DM: <sigh> *rolls* let's see... that's a 13 again. Well, It's shaken.
Cleric: Cause Fear!
Dm: Again? *rolls* Let's see... that's a will save of 15; what's your DC?
Cleric: Drat! 14.
DM: It resists!
DM: Horses turn....
Wizard: Don't forget, it's shaken already, and even a successful save makes it Shaken again... and Fear stacks...
DM: Right..... The horse runs away from the Cleric.... right past the Rogue and Fighter. Take your AoO's.....

 

[KarinsDad]

Full-blown panic, sure; but Panic isn't the only fear status:

Usually it is.

It sounded like the original poster was talking specifically about the Fear spell since he talked about multiple PCs and NPCs getting Feared. In the core rules, Doom, Cause Fear, and Phantasmal Killer are single opponents and Bane, Phantasmal Killer, and Weird do not cause a creature to flee.

That leaves Scare, Eyebite, Fear, and Symbol of Fear. Of these, Scare is the only multi-character Frighten spell. The rest cause Panic.

 

[Jack Simth]

Usually it is.

It sounded like the original poster was talking specifically about the Fear spell since he talked about multiple PCs and NPCs getting Feared.

The original post also referred to fear spells, and the characteristics of fear spells in general - which would imply that the OP was taking about [Fear] spells and effects in general, rather than the Fear spell in specific.

In the core rules, Doom, Cause Fear, and Phantasmal Killer are single opponents and Bane, Phantasmal Killer, and Weird do not cause a creature to flee.

That leaves Scare, Eyebite, Fear, and Symbol of Fear. Of these, Scare is the only multi-character Frighten spell. The rest cause Panic.

On a failed save, sure. On a successful save, though, Fear and many of it's ilk still do bad things to the target - sure, one Shaken isn't too bad, but if the same wizard covers the same area twice with it (one normal casting, one Quickened - prefferably via a Rod.... but an 8th level spell slot works too) It's still quite useful that the CR 26 Great Wyrm Red Dragon is STILL Frightened for a round (or two, if you Extend both... and technically, Fear qualifies for the Persistent metamagic feat..... but that takes Epic levels ... course, it's CR 26.... or would those not work? The duration for a failed save is listed both in the Duration line and in the text.... hmm....) despite the +30 will save vs. a 4th level spell (provided you passed the SR check, of course....).

Likewise, on failed saves, two successive Doom spells will cause the victim to be Frightened... for a decent length of time.

The nifty little rule about fear effects stacking can be fun.....

 

[Stalker0]

It's still quite useful that the CR 26 Great Wyrm Red Dragon is STILL Frightened for a round .

You'd have to get past the SR but your right that is quite a nasty combo. If they're shaken for one round, they become unshaken right before the next round correct? So no fear this round, fear the next round you must run combo

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Are Fear spells really any good? I think they can hurt the party more than help it, especially in a dungeon environment. If the party fears some enemies, there is a good chance they will flee, grabbing the attention of other enemies. If players get feared, the same thing can happen. The players will often run into other enemies, and they will probably be alone when they do so, as most fear spells only affect 1 person at a time. I can see Fear being used against the party quite well. But I can't see many situations where the spell would help the party if they used it against enemies...

It could be the Eberron campaign I'm playing in, but we rarely run into multiple groups of NPCs at the same time. We just use it to make the enemy fighter run until we're done killing his friends.