The fascinate condition

OK I did a quick search and did not find this anywhere. I apologize if it has been asked before.

The fascinate condition reads:

A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or spell effect. The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated creature, automatically breaks the effect. A fascinated creature's ally may shake it free of the spell as a standard action.

So it says drawing a weapon breaks it, what if characters already have weapons drawn? By RAW the way I read it unless they approached the fascinated creature it wouldn't break, and approaching just grants another save. I am not sure why standing with a weapon already in hand does not breaks it and drawing a weapon does. It seems even healing yourself with a spell breaks it as that is casting a spell. Has this been clarified anywhere that I missed?

OK I did a quick search and did not find this anywhere. I apologize if it has been asked before.

The fascinate condition reads:

A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or spell effect. The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated creature, automatically breaks the effect. A fascinated creature's ally may shake it free of the spell as a standard action.

So it says drawing a weapon breaks it, what if characters already have weapons drawn? By RAW the way I read it unless they approached the fascinated creature it wouldn't break, and approaching just grants another save. I am not sure why standing with a weapon already in hand does not breaks it and drawing a weapon does. It seems even healing yourself with a spell breaks it as that is casting a spell. Has this been clarified anywhere that I missed?

Bold mine.

The key phrase to this condition is Obvious Threat. This the the part of the description you need to focus on when determining when the fascinated condition is broken. Someone coming at you with weapon drawn is an obvious threat, so it would break the condition even though it is not listed in the description. Keep in mind, the examples after the text are just that - examples. They are not considered to be an all-inclusive list.

On the flip side, a healing spell is NOT an obvious threat, so this would not break the condition.

Theo Stern wrote:

OK I did a quick search and did not find this anywhere. I apologize if it has been asked before.

The fascinate condition reads:

A fascinated creature is entranced by a supernatural or spell effect. The creature stands or sits quietly, taking no actions other than to pay attention to the fascinating effect, for as long as the effect lasts. It takes a –4 penalty on skill checks made as reactions, such as Perception checks. Any potential threat, such as a hostile creature approaching, allows the fascinated creature a new saving throw against the fascinating effect. Any obvious threat, such as someone drawing a weapon, casting a spell, or aiming a ranged weapon at the fascinated creature, automatically breaks the effect. A fascinated creature's ally may shake it free of the spell as a standard action.

So it says drawing a weapon breaks it, what if characters already have weapons drawn? By RAW the way I read it unless they approached the fascinated creature it wouldn't break, and approaching just grants another save. I am not sure why standing with a weapon already in hand does not breaks it and drawing a weapon does. It seems even healing yourself with a spell breaks it as that is casting a spell. Has this been clarified anywhere that I missed?

Bold mine.

The key phrase to this condition is Obvious Threat. This the the part of the description you need to focus on when determining when the fascinated condition is broken. Someone coming at you with weapon drawn is an obvious threat, so it would break the condition even though it is not listed in the description. Keep in mind, the examples after the text are just that - examples. They are not considered to be an all-inclusive list.

On the flip side, a healing spell is NOT an obvious threat, so this would not break the condition.

Well, I guess I don't see how someone drawing a weapon is a more obvious threat then someone standing there with one already drawn.

On the flip side, a healing spell is NOT an obvious threat, so this would not break the condition.

However, unless you have spellcraft (at a -4 penalty from being fascinated), you wouldn't know that it's a healing spell being cast.

Well, I guess I don't see how someone drawing a weapon is a more obvious threat then someone standing there with one already drawn.

I agree, they both sound pretty threatening.

The "fascinated" condition is very easy to break.

Larry Lichman wrote:

The key phrase to this condition is Obvious Threat. This the the part of the description you need to focus on when determining when the fascinated condition is broken. Someone coming at you with weapon drawn is an obvious threat, so it would break the condition even though it is not listed in the description. Keep in mind, the examples after the text are just that - examples. They are not considered to be an all-inclusive list.

On the flip side, a healing spell is NOT an obvious threat, so this would not break the condition.

Well, I guess I don't see how someone drawing a weapon is a more obvious threat then someone standing there with one already drawn.

Once again, it is just an example provided for clarification, not an actual rule. You may have chosen a different example had you written the descriptive text, but even if you did, it makes no difference regarding the rule itself.

Focus on the actual wording of the rule, not the examples given and you'll be fine.

Larry Lichman wrote:

On the flip side, a healing spell is NOT an obvious threat, so this would not break the condition.

However, unless you have spellcraft (at a -4 penalty from being fascinated), you wouldn't know that it's a healing spell being cast.

Good point. This would come down to GM fiat. I may rule that the fascinated character could recognize a healing spell if they have been healed repeatedly in the past. Otherwise, it would be perfectly acceptable to rule that any unfamiliar spell would be seen as a threat and break the condition.