Nowhere to Run To

[the Jester]

I had an interesting thing happen in my game not so long ago, and I was wondering what other people think about it.

I had a location that caused fear. One of the pcs in said location failed his save, and became frightened; the other made his save and became shaken. The frightened character didn't know how to get out of the place. Normally, when you're frightened, you can't do anything but flee, unless you're cornered by an enemy. Of course, in this particular case, the fear wasn't caused by a creature, but rather by a location.

I ruled that the character in question couldn't do anything except try to get out of the place, but that this included searching for secret doors and hiding from the place's inhabitants. I'm pretty sure that searching, at least, isn't something you can normally do while frightened.

How would you have handled this one? Just curious...

 

[Shayuri]

If there was an obvious way out, out he would have gone.

If not, then I'd have treated that as "being cornered" by the room, ie - trapped with nowhere to go, which is pretty much what cornered by means.

So he'd have found some corner to huddle down in and have a panic attack, raving about having to get out, MUST GET OUT!! Perhaps scratching on the walls and leaving fingernails stuck in runnels of blood on the stone.

Ew.

 

[frankthedm]

I'd say flee to the corner and search for secret doors.

 

[irdeggman]

Nothing says you can't search while frightened.

SRD:

Frightened: A frightened creature flees from the source of its fear as best it can. If unable to flee, it may fight. A frightened creature takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. A frightened creature can use special abilities, including spells, to flee; indeed, the creature must use such means if they are the only way to escape.

Frightened is like shaken, except that the creature must flee if possible. Panicked is a more extreme state of fear.

If you can use spells and other special abilities I don't see why you couldn't search (with the -2 penalty of course).

Now cowering on the other hand:

Cowering: The character is frozen in fear and can take no actions. A cowering character takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class and loses her Dexterity bonus (if any).