High Lord Dee said:
Surprised no one responded to this one. Let me re-phrase:
It seems that with experience, the affect of Terror should lessen. I know this is handled with increases in Will saves and the "Swooning" rule but is that enough. Since I have not ran high level campaigns in Conan yet, does this handle the Terror component pretty well?
My big concern is the well thought through and planned encounter at the climax of the adventure. All that work just to see everyone fleeing in Terror is concerning. It seems like it would be too difficult to tear the adventurers to shreds especially if they run in different directions:twisted: .
HLD
In my experience, even mid-level warrior-types often fail their Terror checks, even though the DC is quite low, because they have poor Will saves and low Wisdom (preferring to max out Strength and Constitution, of course...).
My current house rule is as follows:
A failed Terror check causes the character to be
shaken (-2 to attacks, saves, skills, and ability checks) for 1 minute. In addition, the target is
stunned by fear (drops everything held, can't take actions, takes a -2 penalty to DV, and loses his Dexterity bonus to DV) for 1 round (and probably uses part of the next round to pick up dropped items). A character of less than 3rd level will swoon with terror instead; he is unconscious and helpless for 2d6 minutes. A character that has lost 50% or more of his hit points suffers a -2 penalty to the saving throw.
Note that there may be certain situations where Terror checks can be ignored, such as a when one monster meets another (for example, if a grey ape encounters a risen dead, neither makes a Terror check), or when a group feels secure due to numbers (for example, if a mercenary company of 40 soldiers encounters one or two risen dead, they should not make Terror checks; however, if the same group encounters an army of risen dead, a single colossal flying creature, or perhaps a single "zombie" that turned out to be an ancient undead-king when he singlehandedly killed a dozen men with a mighty spell, Terror checks may be called for). But the average adventuring group, with a handful of members, should typically not be allowed to skip Terror checks even if they only encounter one monster at a time.
- thulsa