In D&D 5e, the Spell Fear is tagged with the following fluff.
>You project a phantasmal image of a creature’s worst fears.
Pick a character you're playing or have played.
What do they see?
I'll start.
>Cleric:A hungry, triumphant sphinx.
>Bard:A bounty hunter holding slave bonds.
>Fighter:His wife and children dead by his own hands.
>All of Them
The women they know
Fallout Medic
>The party, dying slowly with him unable to help them.
Homebrew Mutant Paladin
>Himself, slaughtering those he cares for.
Flamekin Druid
>A huge wave of water, coming right at her.
Mech Pilot
>Becoming crippled and unable to pilot.
Murderbot Droid
>Floating endlessly in the void of deep space.
>chaotic evil fighter
[A goody two shoes version of himself smiting his allies]
Damn is he party loyal.
>ClericA true 100% probability outcome that can't be changed even through miracles or wishes
>>46644127
Wizard
>Cats of various sizes
Bard
>Halfings taking his gold
>>46644127
>My first D&D characterThat he would die old, weak and forgotten
>me
That there is no point to any of this.
Widowed Detective
>Flaming revanent of dead wife
Bard
>Inquisitors
Half-Orc Ninja
>A monument of himself
>>46644127
>Fighter
Tarrasque
>Alchemist
A flesh Golem obviously made of body parts from his family.
>Rogue
His daughter's teddy bear, soaked in blood.
>space technicianThe life support on his suit failing
He's so terrified, he constantly maintains it.
>>46644127
Most recent character, aristocratic doctor
>his sister in rags, choking on her own vomit in the gutter
I guess it already came to pass, but he didn't personally witness it. Now that I consider it, I don't think he even had the strength to see the body.
>>46644351
Point out that constant maintenance weakens the seals and strips the screws. One day, something will fail or get stuck, and he'll be the one that did it.
>>46644127
>warlockinfinite and meaningless blackness. his patron has won.
Spiders. Lots and lots of spiders.
Fuck spiders.
>Barbarian Lord
Flashback to finding his family slaughtered by dragons as a young boy
>Spider druid
Group of slavers with an attaché of researchers/laboratory experimenters
>Tea shop owner
Necromancers on her doorstep
>>46644445That's the point
The GM already pointed that out to me.
He's pretty much the only one in the party that doesn't actively suffer trauma on a regular basis, so he's coming to expect a disaster so much it's become a somewhat irrational fear accompanied by a compulsion to take preventative measures-- sometimes excessively.
I'm waiting for the GM to play on this fear. I think he's saving up for a critical moment, which should be good-- might require the shrink to do an intervention over comms, which could be very fun.
>>46644127
Warrior-Philosopher Barbarian
>A slow, wasting death with no-one to remember
Loyal bodyguard warrior
>Her ward to whom she has sworn to protect since she could hold a shield slain before her
Scheming Abjurer Mastermind Wizard
>Nothing, because I countered that spell and oh look a Fireball.
Human Mage - Watching his own death/ His own grave
Dwarf Fighter - Meeting someone/something more intimidating/angrier than him.
Dwarf Fighter
>Seeing himself wielding a tiny dagger
ALIEN BEES
SNOW
FIRE
COMMITMENT
I had something like this happen in a game recently actually. As cliche and anime-trope'ish as it sounds, my character's fear was being alone.
Then again I was also playing the squishy support wizzard (who wasn't even supposed to be a combat mage) in a group full of profession combatants. It also doesn't help that my character had just had a "go do stuff on your own so you don't get the others caught up in something bad" plot-arc that had blown up in her face and almost gotten her killed and/or enslaved because she was in way over her head on her own...
>>46645078
post this on the 4 elements thread
>>46630604
>>46644127
My character has the fearless advantage, so probably nothing at all.
Being useless when it counts.
>>46644127
>Human Duskblade
Finding his younger, rash baby brother who ran off adventuring, long dead and rotting with a look of fear eternally etched into his seventeen year old face; knowing deep down it was his own fault for pushing him so hard to be more like himself
>Halfling Sorcerer
Being powerless despite all his magic and smooth talk to prevent the wholesale slaughter and slavery of his friends and family, being forced to watch people die for his own mistakes, and probably being sold into slavery himself for a debt he never incurred as such things can be quite common for halflings to suffer
>>46644127
War Cleric Human
His allies and family, dead and dying and him helpless.Twice already he's lost pretty much everyone important to him, family then his squad, both times he was rescued and protected by everyone else
>>46644127
Burning alive. See, my character had started out as a slave... although not so much the "work the fields" kind of slave. Nah, she was actually kept around to do "domestic" magic. Chilling food with ice magic, heating water with fire, ect. It was still an abusive sort of existence... but bearable.
Then one day one of Master's friends was drunk, started to get touchy-feely, and it turns out the same fire magic that can heat up tea is capable of doing terrible things to a human body when it's turned up to 11.
The guy deserved it, but murdering someone in a horrible way like that, hearing them scream and seeing the damage up-close... it tends to burn into the memory.
My bladelock:
>Her dad in full ragemode
Necromancer wizard:
>mindflayer or fey
Anything that could take control of, or destroy his mind scares him. He already lost his old body.
>>46644127
My Half Orc paladin would see himself, but fallen. A reflection of the murderous chieftain that was his father, clad in black armor. His Holy Avenger, once a beacon of hope and a symbol for other paladins to rally behind, would now be a profane blade, a tool of death and destruction dripping with the blood of the innocents.
My current character is a warlock whose power comes from outwitting a particularly petty and cruel demon lord who has sworn vengeance even if it takes a thousand lifetimes for the indignity of being bound to a pact by a deceitful mortal man.
His fear: the fate that awaits him when he dies
his comrades dead and him left alone and powerless to change fateagain
I am unsure whether he would just accept his fate and turn edgy with the next batch of reinforcements or find a way, doesn't matter which one, to get them back. Probably the first one, though.
>>46644127
>half-orc barbarian
Himself being controlled by a dark God to join legions of orcs in raping and killing his town
>LARP druid characterA rehab clinic
>>46644127
>the Spell Fear is tagged with the following fluff.
>You project a phantasmal image of a creature’s worst fears
D&D Sinestro Corps. here I come
> Rogue
His hair becomes sentient and decides to runaway
>>46644127
>RangerHis family being executed for heresy.
>PaladinThe glorious nation he sacrificed so much for falling to ashes.
>Necromancer________Happiness________
>>46644127
In any given fucking game anything related to fear and panic just doesn't work. The players NEVER get invested enough to actually react on such stuff, be it spell or simply tense moment.
And in most cases they also don't care about character dying, since barely any system aside maybe D&D still gives a fuck about how many of your PCs you burn per scenario.
>>46646196
> Necromancer knows that it's just an illusion
>>46644127
A world without lawyers.
>Police OfficerCyberpunk. Not DnD but why not.
Her daughter knows the truth about her and is afraid of her or driven to suicide.
>PriestessPathfinder
Lusca.
Lots and lots of Lusca.
She's faced them before and could do nothing as they killed everyone and everything around her.
Ice Sorceresswho's totally not an Elsa clone. What are you talking about?DnD 5E
Her sister's frozen, lifeless corpse.
>>46644127
>Wizard:
His brother getting the drop on him, for the image.His truly greatest fear is that there is no possible way to restore the ancestral homeland of his people and they will forever struggle in diaspora.
>Mirialan Peacekeeper:
His hands drenched in blood and pocked with needle marks(from recreational drugs)
>Arcane Trickster:
His old colleagues moving to surround him. A combination of his crippling paranoia, his fear of helplessness that has followed him all his life and driven many unscrupulous decisions, and his lingering anxiety over whether or not he violated some vague agreement when he had to leave the contract killer business suddenly.on top of that, the only person in years he'd let his guard down around would be among them, so that'd be a hit.
Good thread. Made me think/10
When she was young, barely days old, the Great Lady of Fire, patron goddess of the islands where she lived, grew angry and erupted, killing more then half the population.
Despite being directly in the path of the lava that was flowing down the mountain, the hall her family and many others took shelter in was spared.
She never was aware of it. barely aware of anything at that age, but even since she has lived under the pall that she was touched by the goddess. Personally chosen by her for good or ill.
The mountain throne of the goddess has erupted once again and though few died this time, many homes and buildings of the town were destroyed. Once again she was spared.
She can feel it in her body; her bones feel leaden, that horrific screaming voice demands of her dreams. Something terrible is coming and she has no choice but to follow.
What she fears most is that she is nothing but a Harbinger for a murderous goddess. That the stories of her benevolence, bringing renewal in abundance to the lands was nothing more those left alive in her wake holding back despair.
>>46644127
>Death Cleric
Her own transformation into a wraith.
>>46644127
>Silent but powerful barbarian
Her adoptive daughter embracing demonic temptation.
>Paladin Autocrat
An Angel willing to slay her in the name of a Good deity.
>Jackalfolk priestess of Anubis
A lynch mob who don't understand how her beliefs influence her use of necromancy.
>A pacifist
A truly insane man with no rhyme or reason to his violence.
>>46646214
I've played a few sessions of tabletop horror games that got under my skin. A good GM knows how to set atmosphere: eliminate distractions, start playing at sunset, have background sounds and dark ambient music for when things are meant to be unsettling, describe what the characters perceive slowly to draw out suspense.
If you get all the ingredients lined up just right, and come with a degree of willingness yourself, you can begin to be unsettled.
Either that or you've just got nerves of steel and nothing will ever phase you.
>>46644234
>chaotic
>loyal
What.
>WarlockThat nothing he does in his life will ever mean anything to anyone, and that, when he dies, his existence will be swept under the rug; he will be quickly forgotten.
>>46647953
>i dnt no how alincunts wurk
>Bladelock
His cowardice catching up to him, and his patron claiming his due.
>>46647996
>chaos
>ever having loyalty to anything
This isnt hard people.
>Homebrew Shaman Dragonborn
innocents slain, forests and towns razed, the earth salted, etc. and being completely powerless to assist. Living alone moving from wilds to town and back with only nature spirits as permanent companions has resulted in him putting others and the sanctity of nature before himself. Others losing everything because of his complete inability to act or as a direct result of his actions would devastate him.
>>46648015
You're one of those stupid cunts that thinks that the "arbitrarily" in "chaotic characters act arbitrarily" means "randomly", aren't you?
>>46648015
>ummmmm ur caractur wudnt do that
This is you. Get the fuck out and read the ENTIRE section in the book again. ALL of it.
>Old hag witchAnother housefire
Dorf Fighter - His father taking back his ancestral weapon and casting him out of the clan
>>46648037
No need to delete for typos anon. The only people who pick at that kind of stuff are autistic weirdos you shouldn't care about anyway.
>>46647953
what? you only play chaotic as stupid? What are you, a cartoon character?
>Knight
Herself, wasting away as old age take its toll.
>Sun priestess
True darkness, be it from a cave buried in the depths of earth or from a night sky without stars or moon.
>Necromancer
The lover she damned herself to save turning away in disgust or contempt.
>Another knight
Death in failure/shame in the eyes of the ghosts of fallen companions.
>>46648034
No it means not having immutable principles AKA LAWFUL
>>46648036
Why list an alignment if you are just going to ignore it?
>>46648134
If a chaotic character cannot have immutable principles, then how is it possible to be CG or CE? Checkmate atheists.
>>46648150
I repeat: Read the entire section. Again. All of it. Twice.
>>46648153
CE tends to act selfishly
CG tends to act selflessly
I am not defending dnds retarded alignment system but it isnt fucking complicated.
>>46648153
>>46648150
>>46648134
>>46648062
>>46648034
>>46648015
>>46647953
Reminder that Alignments and those who use them are lazy, uncreative, and boorish.
>>46648186
Just put under alignment: whatever I feel like today.
>>46648193
>CE tends to act selfishly
>CG tends to act selflessly
Sounds like they have some immutable principles to me, anon, even if they're flexible.
>>46648186
He hasn't read it, just ignore and report.
What she see's is what she see's every night within her nightmares. What she has been told and shown by two who have seen it come to pass. What her destiny, her very bith right is.
She'll pick up the Obsidian Crown, sit on the Throne of Nemesis and once again the cycle of Death and Chaos begins anew.
And through this all she can't understand why no one will try to stop her.
>>46644127
>Lazy Wood Elf Fighter
Her entire clan is slaughtered and the forest is burning.
>>46648246
>report
It's not a downboat my retarded reddit using compadre
>46648238
>tends to
>immutable
Do you have a learning disability?
>>46647943
>A good GM knows how to set atmosphere: eliminate distractions, start playing at sunset, have background sounds and dark ambient music for when things are meant to be unsettling, describe what the characters perceive slowly to draw out suspense.
Yeah, the easiest way to get called out for being turbo-sperg that can't actually build the atmosphere at all and is using childish tricks.
How old are you players this shit even remotely works on them?
>>46644127
>Drow thiefSpiders.
>>46648202
>>46648202
Rminder that ad hominem arguments and those who use them are lazy, uncreative, and boorish
>Zealot
Hell (in classic Christian sense)
>Brawler
tomb made of stone
>Medic
his parents
>>46648332
Not him but atmosphere is important. Not everyone is willing to play their characters seriously or even vaguely picture the game in their minds. Half my players treat all situations they get in like personality tests instead of choosing to do what their character would do. Even basic lighting and dungeon synth can get some creative juices flowing.
Sorry you're trying to be the most adult and mature person at a make-believe board game you rigid fuck.
>>46646030Mr Trump, is that you?
>>46648794
>Hell (in classic Christian sense)
Fire and brimstone? Torture by demons? Or just a place without God, and therefore, complete despair?
>>46646030
And then it possesses someone else?
>>46644127
Oedipus, Sparticus and Hercules,
>>46644127
DMmy players
>>46648941
>HURRR
>DURRR
But jabs at idiots who get defensive about not everyone moved by cheap tricks (actually barely anyone) aside...
... this shit is just not working. At all. Get over it. People don't get scared because you play scary ambient in the background or because it's dark in the room.
People don't get scared, because they've came in to play this for fucking fun. They will crack jokes and just react reasonable, even if trying to role-play someone in state of panic.
And seriously, it takes teens to fall for such tricks to create "proper" atmosphere, so it's not the point of bragging about age. This shit simply stops working pass certain age.
>>46644127
The last character I played was castrated as a youth so it would probably be something like this.
>>46644127
>Human space pirate turned Merc
Being alone. Well and truly alone, not like "only person in the bedroom" shit
>Neutral good aligned Necromancer
Himself returned as a lich hell bent on evil, his past goals abandoned and his master proved correct
Ex-Cop Owod hunter
Flashbacks of his partner dying, himself unable to stop it, and both of them trapped in a twisting mansion
ranger: nothing, he goes completely blind, he doesn't hear anything either because he's also gone completely deaf
sorceror: his younger self.
>>46651834
>ranger: nothing, he goes completely blind, he doesn't hear anything either because he's also gone completely deaf
clarification: his fear is losing his sight and hearing, he's not deaf and he's not blind by default
the sorceror is a chaotic evil necromancer, who started out with the best intentions. he fears having his current path challenged.
while i'm at it: Dhampir Samurai (pf)- his party leaving him behind when finding out about his lineage.
>Cleric
A tall brute stands over him with a bloody weapon.
>Warlock
Himself, complacent, contained. Mortal.
>Bard
Himself, a wizard adept, never going to be more.
Sorry for causing a flame war. His actions and motives make him ce, ce doesnt make him kill the party. Killing the party is a players choice and I made it a fear to fuck with our No evil characters player.
>>46644127
Any situation where his oversized backpack not only does not contain the solution to the problem at hand, but actively makes it worse.
>Magical Girl
She wakes up in her bed. Everything since gaining powers was a dream.
>Runepriest
His gods command him to marry the party druid.
>Warlock
His friends and family being burned alive as a Dragon destroyed his village, powerless to stop it. All of his sacrifices for power in the name of never being too weak to protect those he cares about again being a waste, dooming his soul for nothing
>>46653938
>Someone didn't heard about Sailor Nothing
It would be a fucking blessing for all that to be just a dream
>>46654214
>Sailor Nothing
>Samurai
Losing everyone he knows and loves.Again.
>Summoner
Somehow losing her eidolon, her best friend, and being lost and useless without them.
>Saboteur
Being trapped where nobody can hear you and slowly dying of hunger and decay.Happened to his friend. Survivor guilt.
>>46649941
>I'm not you, and I've never met your players, but let me tell you all about how your group would ACTUALLY react to that.
you're a faggot
>>46653938
>His gods command him to marry the party druid.
Is this a joke? Please explain further.
>KnightA world consumed by war.
>FighterEntire family dead
>SwashbucklerUtter failure at saving a teammate
>PaladinTheir god admonishing them
>Warpriest/NecromancerHis own soul being removed from the cycle of rebirth
>DruidHer parents being dead.
Barbarian... Water.
>>46655811
I'm gonna guess a stoic, no-nonsense dwarf's-dwarf stuck in a party with a hippie tree-hugger of some pointy-eared race.
>>46644127
>Halfling GunslingerA town burning, and herself wearing a black hat, laughing uproariously at the carnage - but emaciated and filthy, suggesting desperation.
>Dhampir InquisitorA small child running her through with a glaive and forcing her to question everything she believes. The child is herself, though she does not remember it.
>Gnome SpiritualistHerself, possessed by an evil spirit that for so long pretended to be her guardian angel, forced to watch as she slaughters everyone she ever loved. Alternatively, herself shackled to the ground and tortured by devils in perpetuity.
>Human BarbarianApparitions of all the people he slaughtered in the sacking of a town twenty-five years ago because of their closeness to the fae, in a time when he despised the creatures for charming his father. Yet, they are not vengeful. The spirits step forth, and one by one, whisper words of forgiveness. The world has not even enough justice to punish him for his own sins.
>Aasimar PaladinA dark room, where no torch will light and no candle will shine. Where even the powers granted him by the gods fail to bring light. Where he is well and truly blind and alone.
