Cause Fear: Scare and Impair
Spell Level: 1
School: Necromancy
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute
Components: V
You awaken the sense of mortality in one creature you can see within range. A construct or an undead is immune to this effect. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the spell ends. The frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 2nd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot level above 1st. The creatures must be within 30 feet of each other when you target them.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
God I love simple spells. There is something so satisfying about seeing a spells name and just knowing what it does in its entirety. “What does Cause Fear do? Well, it causes fear! Its that simple”
And for what its worth, that’s actually kind of solid. A first level slot is really as low as you can go for the frightened condition. Frightened creatures can’t willingly move towards the source of the fear, and has disadvantage on attacks and ability checks while it can see said source. This can be a debilitating effect to slam on a bugbear bandit captain or young white dragon. It offers up both control of the creatures movement on top of weakening its ability to attack. Both of these effects can be useful in different situations, making this spell just really flexible.
On top of having a great floor with its level one cast, up-casting it adds additional creatures into the mix. Comparing it up-cast at 3rd level to Fear highlights just how useful this can be; if you’re looking to target three creatures within a thirty foot sphere within sixty feet of you, this is better than Fear. If you want to frighten half a dozen or more creatures in a cone, Fear is obviously better. You actually can want both on your sheet to do different things. Want to play the fear mage? Grab both!
Cause Fear is a save or die, so it has the consistency problems that I’m not a fan of. Sometimes you’ll spend a 1st level slot on this at 1st level and get nothing in return. That doesn’t feel great. Up-casting it does reduce the chance dramatically that this spell does nothing, so that’s great. The reward you’re getting is an excellent reward should they fail, so I’d say you’ll often find its worth the risk.
This feels like a spell that should have been in the Player’s Handbook. It does what it says on the tin, and does it well. It's one of few spells in warlock you’ll occasionally fall back on as you grow because its up-cast effects are great. If you want to strike fear into the hearts of your foes but are just a tiny little gnome, or just want an efficient, clean save or die, Cause Fear is for you.
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