Just gonna drop this here. Share your thoughts.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mSudfLDHsvwlQUgWM6jisb8cz9fW8r-e8vLmK7g it3s/edit?usp=sharing
The link doesn't work for me; it says the file does not exist.
Broken for me as well
It would seem Google Docs does not wish to play nice with me today. Here we go. This should do it.
I believe a bump is in order.
The doc seems to imply that demoralizing does stress damage, but doesn't define how or how much. I suspect [fear] spells would as well?
Also while sanity may not be only about Lovecraftian monsters you might think there'd be some connection.
The doc does give the mechanics for demoralize's stress damage. It is this line:
Demoralize: Now on top of causing the shaken condition, a successful attempt to demoralize a creature deals an amount of stress damage equal to the character’s Charisma modifier.
On the Lovecraft = Sanity, well, yes, I continue running into that particular cultural consensus. It's less that sanity is defined by Lovecraft inspired entities such as aboleths and the like and more that Lovecraft inspired entities are defined by sanity. People go insane through things other than fear, such as frustration, depression, etc. Fear is just the most likely in a fantasy setting, with constantly facing big scary monsters, deadly traps, etc. Paranoia is a virtue to the average adventurer, to be sure.
When I think 'sanity', I think 'my standard, everyday mindset'. 'My usual tendencies characterized by my personality, history, relations, etc.' A psychopath is insane not because they are acting outside of their personality but because they act outside the societal norm, in a manner that many would deem self-destructive or destructive to others... but they are perfectly sane from *their own* perspective. Things like mind control, stress, memory modification, all that good stuff that ****s with your mindspace is an attack on who you are, what you are, what you know, how you see others, etc. In other words, things that make you by definition 'sane'. The reason Lovecraftian creatures are associated with breaking that sanity is not because they're scary and AAARGH but because the revelation that they exist is an attack on everything we hold to be factual in the world. In a fantasy setting like Golarion where freaky stuff happens all the time... eeeeeeh... they lose a lot of impact, barring the really big ones like the Great Old Ones.
Hope that helps detail my perspective on what constitutes 'sanity'.
EDIT: I've considered how fear spells would deal stress damage, but I can't figure how to translate that into something fair or mechanically balanced. Frightened and panicked are already very potent effects without tossing additional stuff in there. I could have soto voce be the 'stress dealing' cantrip. Hell if it isn't useless otherwise. It'd probably be something pretty low, too. 1d6 is a popular number for a cantrip. For other spell ideas... maybe I can homebrew some additional custom spells. The ones I have are just tip of the iceberg and this is still an in-process work.