Or is its omission meaningful?
If it is meaningful, help me understand the difference between Scare to Death and Demoralize. Unlike Scare to Death, Demoralize does have the auditory trait. However, they have the exact same penalties in "the target can’t hear you or doesn’t understand the language you are speaking." Demoralize has an extra one in "you’re not speaking a language" which I think is addressing the option to Demoralize without comprehensible words. Without the auditory trait, I'm unsure what the penalties are referring to with Scare to Death.
Assuming no auditory trait for Scare to Death is intended, is it fair to read this as Scare to Death needing the user to speak something intelligible to the target in order to avoid the penalties? But unlike Demoralize, Scare to Death has the option to be used without speaking and deliberately take those penalties if you so please?
Or does lacking auditory trait mean the is user unable to attempt to speak anything appropriate in the first place so those penalties are always applied?
I'm sure I'm just missing something simple and making this more complicated than it has to be.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I can't speak to intent, obviously.
But the mechanical implications here are that things with the Auditory trait don't work if you can't speak or the subject can't hear you:
An action with the auditory trait can be successfully performed only if the creature using the action can speak or otherwise produce the required sounds. A spell or effect with the auditory trait has its effect only if the target can hear it
Demoralize has its own directions for if the target can't hear you, so we consider that a specific rule trumping a more general one
So you cannot Demoralize if you can't speak, while you could Scare to Death (but would suffer the penalty).
I can't speak to intent, obviously.
But the mechanical implications here are that things with the Auditory trait don't work if you can't speak or the subject can't hear you:
That makes sense. The penalties don't cover that part of the trait, making it a relevant mechanical difference when the trait is present and when it's not. I'm guessing this is the reason Demoralize doesn't have the linguistic trait since its specific language penalties cover the entirety of that trait, making it redundant compared to the auditory trait.
Demoralize has its own directions for if the target can't hear you, so we consider that a specific rule trumping a more general one
So you cannot Demoralize if you can't speak, while you could Scare to Death (but would suffer the penalty).
I think I get it. There's more freedom with Scare to Death compared to Demoralize in that aspect. Sounds reasonable for a legendary feat.
Another difference between the two that I just noticed is that Demoralize only requires the user to be aware of the target; it asks no participation from the target at all. Scare to Death needs both the user and the target to be able to sense or observe one another. That's already a relatively significant restriction on Scare to Death even without the auditory trait.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Another difference between the two that I just noticed is that Demoralize only requires the user to be aware of the target; it asks no participation from the target at all.
Demoralizing would definitely make the target aware of you after the action though. I think they wanted people to be able to jump scare people with the action.
Another difference between the two that I just noticed is that Demoralize only requires the user to be aware of the target; it asks no participation from the target at all.Demoralizing would definitely make the target aware of you after the action though. I think they wanted people to be able to jump scare people with the action.
Thanks for pointing that out and providing a good example. For some reason, I couldn't work out how something that is completely unaware of you becomes frightened by you AND still remain unaware of you afterwards. Sounded too much like a spell combo than a single skill action.