Hello magic casters of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 21st episode of our third level spell series. Today we have a truly fantastic spell in store for us today. We are going to be taking a look at fear dnd spell and although it may sound ominous let me tell you it’s actually a relatively simple spell and i hope you’re gonna really enjoy it.
5e fear spell is usable by the bard, sorcerer, warlock and the wizard that is found in the good old players handbook so we should all have access to it. I absolutely love that it’s usable by so many casters, i also think the arcane trickster gains a ton out of this spell as well but we’ll get through that a little bit more later. That being said, let’s take a quick moment here and check out its mechanics.
Table of Contents
Mechanics
- Casting Time: 1 Action
- Range/Area: Self (30 ft Cone)
- Components: V, S, M *
- Duration: 1 Minute (Concentration)
- School: Illusion
- Attack/Save: WIS Save
- Damage/Effect: Frightened
The effect at a glance is as followed: On a failed save, creatures within range drop all held items and become frightened for the duration. The creatures must use their action to dash and move away from the caster. If the creatures move out of line of sight they remake the save.
The cast time is one action, the range is self but the actual area of effect is a 30 feet cone and it comes from you. So it’s quite cool, it’s actually a very decent range. The duration is one minute and it is a concentration spell. The saving throw is wisdom and on a success there is no effect.
The components are verbal, material and somatic. If you’re curious about that material component it is a white feather or the heart of a hidden because you know you’re chicken. And the school is illusion which is pretty cool! I mean enchantment could have worked as well but i think given like the actual flavor of this spell illusion makes a lot more sense. That being said, let’s actually dive into that flavor here and check out its full description.
Description
You project a phantasmal image of a creature’s worst fears. Each creature in a 30-foot cone must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or drop whatever it is holding and become frightened for the duration. While frightened by this spell, a creature must take the Dash action and move away from you by the safest available route on each of its turns, unless there is nowhere to move. If the creature ends its turn in a location where it doesn’t have line of sight to you, the creature can make a Wisdom saving throw. On a successful save, the spell ends for that creature. * – (a white feather or the heart of a hen) VIE
Very cool stuff! Honestly i just think it’s genius. Just a genius spell. So there’s a couple things that happen. Drops items and must use its actions to dash that is awesome anything that affects action economy is super great in 5e. So i mean i love it. The frightened condition if you’re not too familiar with it, disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls while the source of fears within line of sight and can’t willingly move closer to the source of its fear.
So needless to say if you’re a squishy caster or a rogue this is great for you. Honestly i think the arcane trickster gains a ton out of this, they gain that kind of more tendency towards illusion spells and at the same time this is really good for putting distance between themselves and the enemy.
Basically if you’re trying to be a stealth archer this is kind of a way to go about it. It might also be worth noting as well that due to the sheer flavor of this spell it could provide you with a lot of insight into your opponent. I mean that could technically be considered an alternative use i guess, but it’s just directly in there.
So odds are they’re gonna shout out with their worst fears upon seeing it and i’d make an argument that the caster should be aware of what they’re conjuring up as well. So it’s interesting. This is kind of like a significantly a better version of dnd 5e cause fear spell so if you’ve had good luck with cause fear makes sense that going with the real mccoy it would greatly benefit you as well. Now let’s take a quick look at some alternative uses here.
Alternative Uses
So the first thing i want to point out is if you’re in a fight that looks too difficult for whoever’s challenging. This is a great way of being able to punch up. Not only are they going to move away from the target but they’re also gonna drop their weapon which is incredibly important as well.
I could really help to give your fighter edge or barbarian or whoever’s in the frontline tank. Outside of that this is a great way of just balancing encounters in general. You can affect multiple opponents, you would destroy their action, life’s pretty good when you’re dealing with it, they’re not really a threat if they were to use their action. And if you have a lot of range support or a lot of high piling mobile characters, then even using the dash action it’s really not gonna help them out too too much.
Another great way to use this is actually running away. If you are at a position where you’re low on health, low on resources and things just are zone your way, this is an almost surefire way of escaping assuming they fail that save. So it’s pretty good stuff! Not only are they gonna be putting more distance on your behalf through dashing away from you but you’re gonna be running away too so it does make a lot of sense.
Conclusion
That being said, let me know how you would use a spell down beneath in the comment section. Also be sure to mention any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns you have regarding it. That being said, i hope you all have a great day and as always happy casting everyone. Keep reading dnd 5e feats | hypnotic pattern 5e |