Cause Fear
From NWN2Wiki
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| Spell Information | |
| Spell level : | Innate level: 1, Bard: 1, Cleric: 2, Sorcerer/Wizard: 1 |
|---|---|
| School : | Necromancy |
| Descriptor(s) : | Fear, Mind-affecting |
| Components : | Verbal and Somatic |
| Range : | Short |
| Target/Area : | Single |
| Duration : | 1d4 Rounds |
| Save : | Will negates |
| Spell resistance : | Yes |
[edit] Description
Cause Fear makes a target with 5 hit dice, or less, more fearful resulting in a -2 penalty on attack, damage and saving throws, and forcing them to take no action other then to run away from nearby creatures.
[edit] Bug Notes
NW_S0_CauseFear has no mention, or effect, of 6 seconds of fear even if the save is successful. The description is very off! The script simply has no way anything is applied if the save is successful.
Line 47: The description also doesn't say the saving throw decrease is only for will saves made against mind spells. The script specifically defines on line 47 as:
effect eSave = EffectSavingThrowDecrease(SAVING_THROW_WILL, 2, SAVING_THROW_TYPE_MIND_SPELLS);
Line 46: It also does cause Fear, EffectFrightened() is used - meaning NW_G0_FEAR is fired on heartbeat, making them run away. This seems unintentional - perhaps copied from Scare. Or the description is wrong.
Description parts wrong. Old description:
- Will partial
- Cause Fear makes a target with 5 hit dice, or less, more fearful resulting in a -2 penalty on attack, damage and saving throws. If the creature makes the spell's saving throw then this condition only lasts for 6 seconds.
Has been changed to match the script like so:
- Will negates
- Cause Fear makes a target with 5 hit dice, or less, more fearful resulting in a -2 penalty on attack, damage and saving throws, and forcing them to take no action other then to run away from nearby creatures.
[edit] Gameplay Notes
This spell is generally pretty poor past anything after level 3, due to its low duration of effects and other similar spells which are much better - like Scare.
For some reason it is limited to 1d4 rounds - which while at level 1 gives a greater chance of it lasting more then just 6 seconds, at higher levels, it is really a short duration (at level 4, where as with spells with 1 round/level duration you'd get 24 seconds, with this, you'd get 6, 12, 18 or 24 seconds randomly). Metamagic applies to the duration it seems.
The effects, however, are quite nice. -2 to hit, damage, and saving throws, can add up to cripple a low level monster, especially a melee-attacking one. Due to its low duration it is a spell to avoid however.
[edit] NWN1 comparison
NWN1 had the spell Doom, Obsidian renamed it to be inline with the 3.5E rules. It also lasted longer - 1 minute / level, instead of 1d4 rounds.
[edit] External resources
- NWNWiki:Doom - NWN1's version of this spell.
- d20 SRD Cause Fear
