Fear · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

Fear makes its target run from the user, or tremble in place, for a bounded time, after which it acts normally. Stun is a full stop in which the target loses all actions; fear leaves the target moving but takes over where it goes, and the cower-in-place form stays here because a cornered target can still fight. Charm hands control of the target to the user; a feared target acts for no one. Morale and rout and sanity are systems: one tests units against a morale rating, the other tracks the mind’s attrition, and fear is the activated act that may run through either. Status effects hold the Frightened condition; taunt, in threat and aggro, pulls the target toward the user rather than away.

Behaviour

Delivery is a targeted spell or strike (EverQuest’s Fear, Terrify) or an area, either a cone from a wand or spell or a shout around the user (Howl, Psychic Scream). The target turns away and moves at speed, may drop what it holds, and cannot attack while the effect lasts. Counterplay sits mostly with the victim: a saving throw, magic resistance, a level cap, immunity for bosses, players, or the undead, and, in the 2024 rules, a repeat save once the caster is out of sight.

Variations

Single-target timed fear (EverQuest, World of Warcraft, League of Legends): one target flees for a set time; the warlock may hold only one fear at once.
Cone or shout (Dungeons & Dragons, Diablo II, World of Warcraft, 2024 edition): everything in front of or around the user flees.
Fear through a morale test (Drums of Panic, Warhammer Fantasy Battle): the ability forces a panic or rout roll, and the army rules decide the flight.
Creature-type fear (turning undead, Spook the Dead, Panic Animal, Scare Beast): only one kind of creature is affected.
Cower in place (Players Handbook Scare, Intimidating Shout): the target trembles instead of running; Scare’s victim fights at -1 if cornered.

Gating

Tabletop forms of the 1970s gate fear by item charges and then spell slots, with a save on the victim’s side. Warhammer Fantasy Battle draws 3 to 6 points from a wizard’s energy pool. Video forms spend mana and add recast delays and cooldowns: EverQuest’s 9.25 seconds, World of Warcraft’s 30 for Psychic Scream. World of Warcraft also limits the victim’s side, with one feared target per warlock and diminishing returns shared by charm, fear, and stun. The 2024 edition returns to slots and charges, with concentration as a further limit. Duration falls with medium and period: 6 turns in Greyhawk, 18 seconds in EverQuest, 8 to 20 in World of Warcraft, 1 to 3 in League of Legends.

History and provenance

Chainmail made fear a passive trait of dragons, wizards, and wraiths that forced morale checks. Dungeons & Dragons (1974) turned it into activated items, the Wand of Fear and the Drums of Panic, and Greyhawk (1975) added a Fear spell. The Players Handbook (1978) added cause fear and the trembling Scare. Warhammer Fantasy Battle (1984) kept the wargame route through panic tests. EverQuest (1999) carried the timed flight into online games, where players turned it into fear kiting; Diablo II and World of Warcraft followed, a World of Warcraft designer recalling that the team measured itself against EverQuest when it gave the warlock Fear, and League of Legends cut the duration to one to three seconds.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the ability behaves in each game; gating is what limits its use there; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Gating	How the ability behaves
Dungeons & Dragons Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (Tactical Studies Rules)	1974	Tabletop RPG	Charges	The Wand of Fear affects a cone 6 inches long and 3 inches wide at its base; all within it save as against magic or are "panicked and flee", with no duration stated, and wands are assumed to hold 100 charges. The Drums of Panic make those who fail a morale throw flee in rout. The game has no Fear spell; Greyhawk (1975) adds one lasting 6 turns.
Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 2nd edition Games Workshop	1984	Board & card	Mana	Battle Magic spells aimed at one unit within 24 inches. Cause Panic (level 2, 3 energy) forces a magical save and then a panic test; Cause Cowardly Flight (level 3, 6 energy) routs the unit as if beaten in combat after a save and a rout test; Cause Fear (level 3, 5 energy) makes the unit fear all opponents. Undead and other troops immune to psychology are unaffected.
EverQuest Verant Interactive	1999	Video	Mana, Cooldown	Fear (Cleric 9, Enchanter 4, Necromancer 4, Shadow Knight 15) costs 40 mana, casts in 3.5 seconds with a 9.25-second recast delay, reaches 200 feet, and lasts 18 seconds; magic resistance resists it and targets above level 51 are immune. Fear kiting damages a monster that will not fight while it can run. Panic Animal and Spook the Dead fear only animals or undead.
Diablo II Blizzard North	2000	Video	Mana	Barbarian Howl, a level 1 war cry for 4 mana, frightens monsters into retreating, 16 yards for 3 seconds at skill level 1 and about 79 yards for 22 seconds at level 20. Necromancer Terror, a level 12 curse for 7 mana, makes cursed monsters run away from the cast point for 8 seconds plus 1 per level. Neither affects players, and Terror fails on bosses and super uniques.
World of Warcraft Blizzard Entertainment	2004	Video	Mana, Cooldown	Warlock Fear, a 1.5-second cast at 20 yards, makes one target run in fear for up to 10, 15, or 20 seconds by rank, and only one target can be feared at a time. Priest Psychic Scream (100 mana, 30-second cooldown) makes 2 to 5 nearby enemies flee for 8 seconds. Against players a repeat fear within 15 seconds lasts half as long, then less, then not at all.
League of Legends Riot Games	2009	Video	Mana, Cooldown	Fiddlesticks' Terrify, in the 2010 official text, strikes one enemy unit so that it flees in terror for 1 to 3 seconds by rank, at 65 to 145 mana and range 525. In the current patch the fear reportedly lasts 1.2 to 2 seconds, and a recently feared target takes double damage instead of being feared again.
Dungeons & Dragons, 2024 edition Latest Wizards of the Coast	2024	Tabletop RPG	Spell slots, Charges	Fear, a level 3 spell cast as an action with concentration up to 1 minute, makes each creature in a 30-foot cone that fails a Wisdom save drop what it holds and become Frightened. It must Dash away each turn and saves again only after ending a turn out of the caster's sight. The Wand of Fear (7 charges) casts it in a 60-foot cone.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Dungeons & Dragons (1974), tabletop rpg. Confidence: medium. Monsters & Treasure (1974) has two activated effects that make targets flee: the Wand of Fear, a cone whose victims save against magic or "be panicked and flee", and the Drums of Panic, which rout those who fail a morale throw. Men & Magic has no Fear spell, and its turning of undead sends them "turned away" rather than fleeing. Confidence is medium for three reasons: the 1974 form is an item rather than a character's power, the wand has no stated duration, and the earliest cited Fear spell with a duration is in Greyhawk (1975), 6 turns at 24 inches. Chainmail is an antecedent: in its Fantasy Supplement dragons, super heroes, wizards, and wraiths force enemy morale checks as a passive trait, and its wizard has no fear spell. Those passages are cited from the 1972 second edition; their presence in the 1971 printing is unconfirmed. The earliest cited video instance is EverQuest (1999); earlier computer forms remain unsurveyed, and Rogue's scroll of scare monster is a ward rather than a fear.

Established form: EverQuest (1999), video. 25 years after the earliest documented use. Confidence: low. EverQuest's Fear is the earliest cited video form of the timed flight. A World of Warcraft class designer, Mike Heiberg, recalls in a secondhand account that the team's "bar-to-beat was original Everquest", that it threw in other EverQuest spells, and that it brought in the Fear spell for the warlock, later adding damage limits and diminishing returns against players. Confidence is low because the account is a recollection and no source traces the form from either game to later ones such as League of Legends.

Sources

Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (Tactical Studies Rules). (1974). Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 2, Monsters & Treasure. Rulebook Wands and Staves, Fear, about p. 34; Miscellaneous Magic, Drums of Panic, p. 37. Accessed 2026-10-24. The Wand of Fear cone and save, the 100-charge rule for wands, and the Drums of Panic morale throw.
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson (Tactical Studies Rules). (1974). Dungeons & Dragons, Volume 1, Men & Magic. Rulebook Clerics versus Undead Monsters, p. 22; Magic-User and Cleric spell lists. Accessed 2026-10-24. Turning undead, and spell lists with no Fear spell.
Gary Gygax and Robert Kuntz (TSR). (1975). Dungeons & Dragons Supplement I: Greyhawk. Rulebook Magic-User spells, 4th level, Fear, about p. 23; Symbol; Liches. Accessed 2026-10-24. The Fear spell, its 6-turn duration, 24-inch range, and chance to drop weapons; the scan is a later printing.
Gary Gygax (TSR). (1978). Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook. Rulebook Cleric Spells (First Level), Remove Fear; Magic-User Spells, Scare (2nd level), Fear (4th level). Accessed 2026-10-24. Cause fear as the reverse of remove fear, the trembling Scare, and durations in rounds per caster level.
Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. (1972). Chainmail, 2nd edition. Guidon Games. Rulebook Fantasy Supplement: Super Heroes, Wizards (spell list), Wraiths, Dragons. Accessed 2026-10-24. Fear as a passive trait that forces enemy morale checks, and a wizard spell list without a fear spell.
Games Workshop. (1984). Warhammer Fantasy Battle, 2nd edition: Battle Magic. Rulebook Level 2 spells, Cause Panic; Level 3 spells, Cause Cowardly Flight, Cause Fear. Accessed 2026-10-24. Energy costs, the 24-inch range, and effects that work through the panic and rout rules.
Juanita Jones, Russell Phoenix, Jimmy Monkerface, and Damien Waples (Prima Games). (2001). EverQuest Players Guide. Book Cleric, Enchanter, and Necromancer spell lists (Fear, Panic Animal, Spook the Dead); Kiting; spell reference, Fear. Accessed 2026-10-24. Fear's mana, cast time, recast delay, duration, range, and level cap, and the fear-kiting tactic.
Blizzard Entertainment. (2000). Diablo II manual. Rulebook Barbarian War Cries, Howl; Necromancer Curses, Terror. Accessed 2026-10-24. The wording of Howl and Terror.
Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo II, Barbarian Warcries. Website Accessed 2026-10-24. Howl's mana cost and its run distance and duration by skill level, in the Lord of Destruction era.
Blizzard Entertainment. Diablo II, Necromancer Curses. Website Accessed 2026-10-24. Terror's mana cost, duration, and immunities, in the Lord of Destruction era.
Michael Lummis and others (BradyGames). (2004). World of Warcraft: Official Strategy Guide. Book Priest, Psychic Scream; Warlock, Fear, Howl of Terror; Warrior, Intimidating Shout; Hunter, Scare Beast; PvP, diminishing returns. Accessed 2026-10-24. Launch-era ranks, durations, and cooldowns, the one-target limit, and the diminishing-returns wording.
Riot Games. (2010). Fiddlesticks, the Harbinger of Doom (champion page). Website Accessed 2026-10-24. Terrify's 1 to 3 second fear, mana costs, and range in 2010.
League of Legends Wiki, Fiddlesticks; Fiddlesticks/Patch history. Wiki The current Terrify duration and the rule against repeat fears.
Wizards of the Coast. (2025). System Reference Document 5.2.1. Rulebook Spells, Fear, PDF p. 130; Rules Glossary, Frightened [Condition], PDF p. 182; Magic Items, Wand of Fear, PDF p. 250. Accessed 2026-10-24. The 2024 Fear spell, the Frightened condition, and the Wand of Fear with its Command option.
Michael Toy, Ken Arnold, and Glenn Wichman. Rogue 5.4 source (chase.c, scrolls.c). Website Accessed 2026-10-24. The scroll of scare monster as a square that monsters will not enter.
Alexander Brazie (Game Design Skills). Back to WoW Alpha & Classic: How Unnecessary Skills Hindered the Warlock Class. Article Accessed 2026-10-27. Mike Heiberg's recollection that original EverQuest was the team's benchmark, that EverQuest spells were brought into the warlock with Fear, and that damage limits and diminishing returns were added later; undated, with comments from 2016.

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West, James, Jr. (2026). "Fear." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-27. http://localhost:4321/abilities/fear

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