Dread (3.5e Condition)

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Author: Sulacu (talk)
Date Created: September 29, 2018
Status: Complete
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Dread

Build up "fear" until you are struck by debilitating debuffs.

Dread is the condition of being exposed to extreme fear or stress. It is a quantification of unease typically associated with psychological trauma or resulting from extremely cruel forms of attack, and can accumulate in order to cause a devastating spiral of worsening fear effects as the dread grows thicker.

A creature struck by an attack or affected by a spell or effect that inflicts dread builds up "dread". When this dread value equals or exceeds the creature's dread tolerance (3 + their Wisdom modifier, with a minimum of 1), their dread increases by a stage.

A creature that has a bonus to saving throws against fear adds half that bonus to their dread tolerance. Creatures that are immune to fear have effectively infinite dread tolerance.

Stages of Dread

Normal creatures unaffected by any fear effects are considered having Stage 0 dread. From there on in, Stage 1 is shaken, Stage 2 is frightened, Stage 3 is panicked and Stage 4 is insane. Once a creature achieves Stage 4 dread, it stops accumulating further dread.

Other sources of fear effects can instantly inflict one or more stages of dread; an ability that causes a creature to become frightened for example also causes it to immediately gain Stage 2 dread. As such, when a creature incurs a fear-based condition, it automatically gains the associated stage of dread and also reduces its dread buildup to 0.

Alleviating Dread

Unlike similarly working conditions such as bleed, dread does not recover naturally during battle. Built-up dread is recovered out of battle at a rate of 1 point per minute, though if one or more stages of dread have accumulated, one stage is recovered every hour spent out of battle. Fear effects with a specific duration (i.e. not caused by buildup of dread) still end normally when intended.

Other than the above, dread can only be removed in battle through conscious action, as follows:

  • A creature can attempt a DC 10 Wisdom check to aid an adjacent ally suffering from dread as a move-equivalent action. In so doing, the ally recovers 1 point of dread, plus an additional point of dread for every 5 points that the check result exceeds 10.
  • A creature can self-inflict injuries, such as stabbing themselves, biting their tongue or causing harm or pain in other ways in order to stave off dread. As a free action, a creature can instantly do up to twice its own HD worth of damage to itself in order to recover 1 point of dread for every 5 points of damage dealt.
  • Spells that counter fear also partially or fully counter dread. Remove fear suppresses up to 2 stages of dread, and its bonus against fear effects also increases the affected creature's dread tolerance. Greater restoration restores any number of stages of dread.



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AuthorSulacu +
Identifier3.5e Condition +
RatingUndiscussed +
SummaryBuild up "fear" until you are struck by debilitating debuffs. +
TitleDread +