Advice On Ways To Demoralize Those Immune To Fear Effects


Advice


Making a character that specializes in demoralize as a Thug Rogue with the Enforcer and Hurtful feat. Not alot of the homebrew world's inhabitants were explained to us but we were told there were alot of evil monsters/enemies. I know alot of monsters that fall under that catagory are immune to Fear effects(specicially every undead ever). Is there any way to get around this or should I just find something different to do against them.


Probably not what you want to hear but Anti-Paladin.

I don't know any other way to ignore fear immunity and even then it's only within a 10' radius.


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The Nightmare Subdomain of the Madness Domain.


Ouch, both of those are rough. Hurts alot 3 levels in anti-paladin. Cleric one isnt very possible because its a standard action(So no striking to demoralize through enforcer) and its mind-affecting which undead are also immune to x.x


Mindless undead are going to be completely immune to demoralizing or fear anyways because they have no emotions. If you're trying to make skeletons terrified of you, you're going to have as much luck scaring a lamp out of your house. The closest thing you can get to resembling that is Turn Undead.

Long story short, you can't demoralize something without a mind unless you use Wish or something to make it sentient. Sentient undead are not immune to mind effects though. An enemy Lich or Vampire still can be demoralized.


Aw, always makes me feel proud when somebody favorites one of my advice posts :D

Grand Lodge

Demoralize creates a fear condition, but is not, in itself, a fear effect.

So, you need only worry about those immune to fear conditions, like shaken.

If you can inflict another condition, like sickened, you will be fine.


Antipaladins can put the fear into anything, even Undead.

Aura of Cowardice wrote:
Creatures that are normally immune to fear lose that immunity while within 10 feet of an antipaladin with this ability.

Also, the Agent of the Grave PrC allows characters to effect undead with Mind-effects, including fear.

Sczarni

Don't forget this spell: Chill touch


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Get them a job at Wal-Mart or teaching.

Liberty's Edge

Human Undead Sorcerer

Scare Spell level 1 (I think, due to it being late)

Bloodline Arcana: Some undead are susceptible to your
mind-affecting spells. Corporeal undead that were once
humanoids are treated as humanoids for the purposes of
determining which spells affect them.

and Intimidate is a class skill.

Feats at level 1 for the human

Persuasive and skill focus(intimidate)

Grand Lodge

Intimidate is a skill, and not a spell.

It's not a supernatural ability.

It's not even a Fear effect.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Damiancrr wrote:
Making a character that specializes in demoralize as a Thug Rogue with the Enforcer and Hurtful feat. Not alot of the homebrew world's inhabitants were explained to us but we were told there were alot of evil monsters/enemies. I know alot of monsters that fall under that catagory are immune to Fear effects(specicially every undead ever). Is there any way to get around this or should I just find something different to do against them.

The Chill Touch is a workaround to inflict the panicked condition. To actually get Intimidate to work is tough.

Two rogue talents (minor magic, major magic) and you'll have the previously mentioned Chill Touch 2/day to inflict the panicked condition. Or UMD a wand of the same or if you have the funds, a spell-storing weapon. Not a perfect solution but about all I can think of.

Tagged for if another solution comes along...

The Exchange

Unnatural presence, you can demoralize vermin?


BBT: I do not think they are paying attention to you even though you are 100% correct.

Grand Lodge

Just as Bluff and Diplomacy are not Charm, or Compulsion effects, Intimidate is not a Fear effect.

Seriously, I don't know how these things get mixed up.

You can't solve a problem, if you can't even agree on what the problem is.

Grand Lodge

Maybe I should just create a separate rules thread?


Just a Mort wrote:
Unnatural presence, you can demoralize vermin?

Unnatural Presence is awful.

Animals can already be intimidated, so there goes half the trait's effect.

Vermin come in two types. Big-ass bugs and Swarms.

Swarms are immune to Intimidate because "A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures." Intimidate is a targeted effect, so no dice.

Big-Ass bugs all have huge numbers of Hit Dice for their CR. Intimidate DCs are based on Hit Dice. Hope you maxed out the skill and rolled well.

I really like the idea behind Unnatural Presence. I've had three characters take it. I've never actually seen it work out in play. It's just way too niche. No game has enough giant vermin to make it worth the investment.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Wait a minute...I just re-read the Undead traits, Demoralize skill, and Fear sections.

PRD Undead:

Undead Traits (Ex) Undead are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, phantasms, and patterns), paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless). Undead are not subject to ability drain, energy drain, or nonlethal damage. Undead are immune to damage or penalties to their physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects. Undead are not at risk of death from massive damage.

PRD Demoralize:

You can use this skill to frighten an opponent or to get them to act in a way that benefits you. This skill includes verbal threats and displays of prowess.

Check: You can use Intimidate to force an opponent to act friendly toward you for 1d6 × 10 minutes with a successful check. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the target's Hit Dice + the target's Wisdom modifier. If successful, the target gives you the information you desire, takes actions that do not endanger it, or otherwise offers limited assistance. After the Intimidate expires, the target treats you as unfriendly and may report you to local authorities. If you fail this check by 5 or more, the target attempts to deceive you or otherwise hinder your activities.

Demoralize: You can use this skill to cause an opponent to become shaken for a number of rounds. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the target's Hit Dice + the target's Wisdom modifier. If you are successful, the target is shaken for 1 round. This duration increases by 1 round for every 5 by which you beat the DC. You can only threaten an opponent in this way if they are within 30 feet and can clearly see and hear you. Using demoralize on the same creature only extends the duration; it does not create a stronger fear condition.

Action: Using Intimidate to change an opponent's attitude requires 1 minute of conversation. Demoralizing an opponent is a standard action.

Try Again: You can attempt to Intimidate an opponent again, but each additional check increases the DC by +5. This increase resets after 1 hour has passed.

Special: You also gain a +4 bonus on Intimidate checks if you are larger than your target and a –4 penalty on Intimidate checks if you are smaller than your target.

If you have the Persuasive feat, you get a bonus on Intimidate checks (see Feats).

A half-orc gets a +2 bonus on Intimidate checks.

PRD Fear:

Fear
Spells, magic items, and certain monsters can affect characters with fear. In most cases, the character makes a Will saving throw to resist this effect, and a failed roll means that the character is shaken, frightened, or panicked.

Shaken: Characters who are shaken take a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.

Frightened: Characters who are frightened are shaken, and in addition they flee from the source of their fear as quickly as they can. They can choose the paths of their flight. Other than that stipulation, once they are out of sight (or hearing) of the source of their fear, they can act as they want. If the duration of their fear continues, however, characters can be forced to flee if the source of their fear presents itself again. Characters unable to flee can fight (though they are still shaken).

Panicked: Characters who are panicked are shaken, and they run away from the source of their fear as quickly as they can, dropping whatever they are holding. Other than running away from the source, their paths are random. They flee from all other dangers that confront them rather than facing those dangers. Once they are out of sight (or hearing) of any source of danger, they can act as they want. Panicked characters cower if they are prevented from fleeing.

Becoming Even More Fearful: Fear effects are cumulative. A shaken character who is made shaken again becomes frightened, and a shaken character who is made frightened becomes panicked instead. A frightened character who is made shaken or frightened becomes panicked instead.

The skill description does not explicitly state that Demoralize is a mind-affecting (or morale a subset of mind-affecting) effect.

Fear effects do not explicitly state that they are mind-affecting (or morale a subset of mind-affecting) either.

Undead are not explicitly immune to Fear.

Wow...this needs to be in the rules thread. Does this mean by RAW you can demoralize undead/constructs/plants/vermin/etc...?

Grand Lodge

At most, Demoralize could be considered a Morale effect, which undead are immune to.


Sort of...

Shaken is a Fear effect. Says so right in the description.

So while you could successfully Demoralize anything, the effect caused by a successful Demoralize would be ignored by anything immune to fear, so it wouldn't really matter.


Doomed Hero wrote:
Swarms are immune to Intimidate because "A swarm is immune to any spell or effect that targets a specific number of creatures." Intimidate is a targeted effect, so no dice.

Dazzling Display.

And Weapon Focus (Flyswatter).
Fear me, mosquitos, fear me!

Grand Lodge

Doomed Hero wrote:

Sort of...

Shaken is a Fear effect. Says so right in the description.

So while you could successfully Demoralize anything, the effect caused by a successful Demoralize would be ignored by anything immune to fear, so it wouldn't really matter.

Not if you are giving another condition, like sickened.


There are also effects that depend on whether you successfully demoralize rather than if your target is shaken or not. It matters for some things because like BBT said, there are ways to apply other conditions when you demoralize rather than just shaken.

Grand Lodge

I am just going to move said discussion to the rules thread.

See here.


The way our DM is ruling it is that to intimidate someone they have to fear you. Either fear who/what you are or fear the actions that you make take that influence them. Since undead are immune to fear they are immune to intimidate unless you specifically have an effect to bypass/remove that ability(Like an anti-paladin). While the explination is a bit outside game mechanics he also believes that RAW supports this claim too based on shacken being called a fear effect in the shaken description as someone mentioned above^
So from the advice here it doesnt seem like there is a practical way to demoralize someone without taking 3 levels in anti-paladin. Will probably end up just picking up a wand of one of Chill Touch as that seems the most similar route(maybe try to get the wand to look like a sap aswell) to the style of character im going for.

Thank you all for your help :) If anyone comes up with another way I would be MUCH! appreciated <3


Damiancrr wrote:

The way our DM is ruling it is that to intimidate someone they have to fear you. Either fear who/what you are or fear the actions that you make take that influence them. Since undead are immune to fear they are immune to intimidate unless you specifically have an effect to bypass/remove that ability(Like an anti-paladin). While the explination is a bit outside game mechanics he also believes that RAW supports this claim too based on shacken being called a fear effect in the shaken description as someone mentioned above^

Your GM is an failure at basic logic. Just Intimidate can be use to Demoralize which causes Shaken which is a Fear effect, does not mean that Intimidate is a Fear effect.

He has a serious flaw in his prepositions right here-

Quote:
to intimidate someone they have to fear you.

Just because something is immune to Fear effects (which are a classification of conditions) does not actually mean they are not afraid of anything.

Think of it like this-

"Fear" as an effect category is about triggering instinctive panic responses. "Intimidate" is about making something aware that the consequences of certain actions will be dire. There can be some Ven Diagram-style overlap, but there doesn't have to be. That's the root of your GMs mistake.

When the Godfather tells someone to do something they don't do it because of some primal fear that grips their brain. There's nothing inherently scary about an old, fat itallian guy. But, anyone with a brain does what they're told because the Godfather can make the consequences of disobedience awful beyond imagining. The godfather is scary in a completely different way than something jumping out at you in the dark or realizing you are being hunted.

Anything with the capacity to recognize a non- immediate threat can be intimidated.

Non-immediate threats are things like a slowly moving fire. Even insects, which are Mindless, know to clear out. That's because even mindless things have some modicum of self-preservation instinct. That's what Intimidate taps into. It's about making a creature recognize that the thing in front of them is dangerous in the same way that tall cliffs or lightning storms are dangerous.

Even things that never panic in the face of danger know not to jump off cliffs.

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