So how does cause fear work

[Heselbine]

Fear isn't a magical force pushing Fred away from you. It's a magical force that makes Fred want to run away.

There is no reason to suppose that running away can be done out of Fred's turn. It's normal movement that happens to be governed by a manipulated mind, so he'll have to wait until his turn to move, just like everyone else.

That certainly works for me. Much better than how I ran it, which was as forced movement.

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

Fear isn't a magical force pushing Fred away from you. It's a magical force that makes Fred want to run away.

There is no reason to suppose that running away can be done out of Fred's turn. It's normal movement that happens to be governed by a manipulated mind, so he'll have to wait until his turn to move, just like everyone else.

I understand your point but applying real world logic to the game can lead to weird results. Like making it impossible for a thrown dagger weighing two pounds to force a 3 ton creature to fly 20 feet.

I think the telling issue is that the movement in Cause Fear isn't a push, pull, or slide.

 

[hong]

I understand your point but applying real world logic to the game can lead to weird results. Like making it impossible for a thrown dagger weighing two pounds to force a 3 ton creature to fly 20 feet.

Ha, you should watch some wuxia flicks.

 

[Rechan]

You know, halflings get a +5 vs Fear. But aside from "Frightening Presence" that dragons have, and the Cause Fear prayer, I haven't seen any fear effects.

 

[Plane Sailing]

You know, halflings get a +5 vs Fear. But aside from "Frightening Presence" that dragons have, and the Cause Fear prayer, I haven't seen any fear effects.

I'm sure the fear keyword will turn up in lots of places, but the interesting thing will be seeing how many times there is a save to end it.

(if it is very few, then perhaps the halflings could be given +5 to defence against fear attacks??)

 

[Miles Pilitus]

You know, halflings get a +5 vs Fear. But aside from "Frightening Presence" that dragons have, and the Cause Fear prayer, I haven't seen any fear effects.

Warlocks. They've got a decent selection of fear-based effects.

 

[Harr]

I think the key is in the wording "The target moves". Not "You slide the target", "You push", "You pull", etc. It's not forced movement and therefore does count as the target's move.

From there you have two ways to run it, either the target is so scared that it spontaneously gets the ability to use its future move action during your turn, or it has to wait for its own turn and then move away. The former is a bit illogical within the rules, the latter is going to take up more bookeeping.

I think we'd need an official answer to go any further than that...

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Fear isn't a magical force pushing Fred away from you. It's a magical force that makes Fred want to run away.

There is no reason to suppose that running away can be done out of Fred's turn. It's normal movement that happens to be governed by a manipulated mind, so he'll have to wait until his turn to move, just like everyone else.

Ah, I'd got that wrong as well. Good to have it cleared up. That makes a lot more sense - and takes the opponent out for two rounds, not just one.

 

[tafkamhokie]

I could see two ways for this to make sense and be a reasonable encounter power:

1. Hit: on target's next action, they move away from you a number of squares equal to their speed plus your Charisma modifier. They can take no other actions on their turn. They may avoid difficult or hostile terrain, but the movement provokes opportunity attacks normally.

2. Hit: target immediately moves away from you a number of squares equal to their speed plus your Charisma modifier, then are immobilized (save ends). They may avoid difficult or hostile terrain, but the movement provokes opportunity attacks normally.

Either way, it would be a nice encounter power. But if the movement is immediate and they can come right back on their turn, this is a very situationally useful power at best. It could be useful for breaking up a hobgoblin phalanx or for getting an ally out of a flank, but that is about it.