What counts as a "fear effect"?

[atomn]

Are spells which cause one of the fear conditions (shaken, frightened, panicked, cowered) but does not have the [fear] type still considered "fear effects"? Thanks!

 

[Plane Sailing]

I would have thought so - it sounds as if a descriptor had been missed off, but the effect is still the same. I wouldn't expect to see a paladin 'panicked' no matter what the source of the effect which is supposed to induce it.

Cheers

 

[atomn]

That's what I was thinking too. Thanks!!

 

[AuraSeer]

Are spells which cause one of the fear conditions (shaken, frightened, panicked, cowered) but does not have the [fear] type still considered "fear effects"? Thanks!

The spell itself is not necessarily a "fear effect", but the effect of fear is. That is, you can have a spell that causes a fear condition without having the [Fear] descriptor, because it doesn't magically handle the essence of fear itself. In such a case, immunity to fear helps only against the fear part, not the rest of the spell.

Here's an example. Say you have a high-level spell that works kind of like fireball, but in addition, anyone caught in the blast must also save or be Shaken for 1d4 rounds. The spell itself is not a [Fear] effect, but the enormous violence of the explosion can tend to make people afraid. A paladin caught by this spell would be immune to the Shaken effect, but would still take fire damage.

If you found another spell that was precisely the same but did have the [Fear] descriptor, then a paladin would be immune to all effects of the spell, including the damage.

 

[atomn]

What about from the use of Intimidate to demoralize a foe? If the check is made it leaves them shaken. But the PHB specified "fear effect" as a spell or innate ability (or something like that), saying nothing towards skill checks.

 

[AuraSeer]

What ability is this in reference to?

If it's the Divine Courage ability of paladins, that just says they are "immune to fear (magical or otherwise)." It doesn't matter if it's a spell or a skill check or anything else. Paladins are not subject to being Shaken, Frightened or Panicked by anything, ever.

 

[atomn]

What ability is this in reference to?

If it's the Divine Courage ability of paladins, that just says they are "immune to fear (magical or otherwise)." It doesn't matter if it's a spell or a skill check or anything else. Paladins are not subject to being Shaken, Frightened or Panicked by anything, ever.

It was in reference to the Nightmare Spinner's Spirit Chill ability, "...creatures affected by a fear effect you cause (whether by a spell, class ability or other effect) take non-lethal damage as well..." With an Intimidate check to "Demoralize" you can cause a target to become shaken. So would the Intimidate (Demoralize) check benefit from Spirit Chill or not? It results in one of the fear conditions but the definition from the PHB does not indicate that a skill check counts as a "fear effect".

 

[AuraSeer]

It was in reference to the Nightmare Spinner's Spirit Chill ability, "...creatures affected by a fear effect you cause (whether by a spell, class ability or other effect)

I've put the important part of the description in bold. This class ability applies to everything you do that either has the [Fear] descriptor, or that causes targets to be Shaken, Frightened, or Panicked.

Whether this is a balanced ability may be a different question, but as written it works just fine with skill checks.

 

[atomn]

I've put the important part of the description in bold. This class ability applies to everything you do that either has the [Fear] descriptor, or that causes targets to be Shaken, Frightened, or Panicked.

Whether this is a balanced ability may be a different question, but as written it works just fine with skill checks.

The only problem is that the PHB definition of fear effect is: "Any spell or magical effect that causes the victim to become shaken, frightened..." blah, blah, blah "...or specific spell or item in question." That definition never includes effects from a skill check as a "fear effect", so strictly read using Intimidate to Demoralize isn't a "fear effect". But I wasn't sure if there was another rule that would trump such a reading.