Frightful Presence says:
This special quality makes a creature’s very presence unsettling to foes. Activating this ability is a free action that is usually part of an attack or charge. Opponents within range who witness the action may become frightened or shaken. The range is usually 30 feet, and the duration is usually 5d6 rounds. This ability affects only opponents with fewer Hit Dice than the creature has. An opponent can resist the effects with a successful Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the frightful creature’s racial HD + the frightful creature’s Cha modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature’s descriptive text). On a failed save, the opponent is shaken, or panicked if it has 4 Hit Dice or fewer. An opponent that succeeds on the saving throw is immune to that same creature’s frightful presence for 24 hours. Frightful presence is a mind-affecting fear effect.
Emphasis Mine
If I'm reading that correctly the Frightful Presence ability doesn't actually cause the Frightened condition, even though it says that it does right in the second sentence of the description. The second to the last sentence says that the only two conditions applied are either shaken or panicked.
Am I reading that correctly and a power named Frightful presence doesn't actually apply the frightened condition?
That's a rather hilarious oversight.
Since fear effects are cumulative, if a creature is already shaken when he encounters the frightful presence and fails his save, he becomes frightened. So it's possible for it to happen.
Since fear effects are cumulative, if a creature is already shaken when he encounters the frightful presence and fails his save, he becomes frightened. So it's possible for it to happen.
I get this, but that doesn't change the fact that the actual name of the ability is "Frightful" presence, and it, by design, doesn't convey the frightened condition. I find that terribly odd.
hm. Definately noted. In our group we have been treating frightful presence as s.o.s. panicked.