Cause Fear
 Cause Fear
| |
|---|---|
| Level | 4 |
| School1 | Hexes |
| Source(s) | Book of the Dragon Book of Hexes |
| Casting noise | 3 |
| Spell noise | 0 |
| Power Cap | 200 |
| Range | LOS |
| Flags | Wl check, Area |
| Causes fear in those near to the caster, causing those affected to be unable to approach the caster, and to sometimes fail to attack them in melee. Leaving the caster's line of sight will end the effect.
“And when Miranda sang |
Cause Fear is a level 4 Hexes spell which attempts to panic all monsters in your line of sight, causing them to run away from your current position.
Hexslingers start with this spell available. Reading a scroll of fear has the same effect as casting Cause Fear with maximum power.
Useful Info
The fear status (fleeing) causes vulnerable monsters to run away, unwilling to attack you. Monsters will use abilities tagged with the emergency flag whenever possible.
Monsters will lose the fear status under the following conditions:
- They are hit by an attack
- They are unable to move away from you for more than 1 turn ("Cornered, <monster> turns to fight!").
- The duration runs out
The following monsters are immune to fear:
- Undead, nonliving, and plant holiness monsters.
- Monsters that are berserk or under frenzy
- Black bears and polar bears (which go berserk as an emergency ability, immediately ending fear)
- Monsters with clarity
In order for the spell to inflict the fear status, it must beat the enemy's willpower. For this purpose, Cause Fear has an enchantment power of 3/2 * spellpower (max. 200).[1] Enchantment power is then compared to willpower. See the Willpower article for more details.
The scroll of fear casts Cause Fear at 200 spellpower (thus, 200 enchantment power).
Monster Version
The monster version of Cause Fear makes the player unable to move toward the caster. If the caster closes to melee range, the player will still be able to engage them in melee, but may sometimes "flinch away in fear", 33% chance[2], causing the attack to miss. Depending on how well you can fight from a distance and what areas of the floor this cuts you off from, this may or may not be a problem. Fear also prevents the player from going berserk.
High willpower can prevent this spell from affecting you, and clarity confers immunity to this spell.
The following enemies cast Cause Fear:
- W
Eidolon - G
Glowing orange brain - X
Mlioglotl - c
Satyr
Strategy
Despite its numerous conditions, Cause Fear is an immensely powerful spell. It can affect several opponents per cast. Even if you don't fear everybody, fear can be used to thin out a group, making it easier to both escape and fight.
Can be used with dangerous clouds, such as from a scroll of poison or Freezing Cloud, to inflict severe damage at a safe distance.
History
- Prior to 0.30, fleeing monsters would not run over harmful clouds.
- Prior to 0.28, the spell couldn't affect demonic and holy monsters.
- Prior to 0.13, Cause Fear only penalized moving toward the caster. Attacks against the caster were unaffected.
References
- ↑ beam.cc:1785 (0.30.0)
- ↑ melee-attack.cc:262 (0.30.0)
