Draft:Fear

Omega 0.90.4

Fear prevents several deliberate player actions, including initiating melee, reading scrolls, casting spells and using wands. It does not force the player to flee or stop ordinary walking. Preventing fear and clearing fear already present are separate effects.

Effects

Action	While afraid
Initiating ordinary melee	Refused, including trying to fight a creature blocking your path
Reading a scroll	Refused
Casting a spell or zapping a wand	Refused
Ordinary adjacent searching	Refused
Walking, drinking, eating, shooting or throwing	Fear itself adds no prohibition; the action's other restrictions still apply
Blocking and riposting against an enemy attack	The existing defensive sequence still applies; the riposte check does not test fear

Fear is therefore especially restrictive for a character relying on spells or wands to escape. It is not the same as sleep, which suppresses ordinary local input, or immobilization, which prevents walking and jumping.

A positive fear count below 1000 decreases by one at each minute-status update. Counts of 1000 or more do not naturally decrease. Ordinary local minutes, extra city/village movement time and ten-minute/hourly checks do not translate into a fixed number of player commands; countryside hourly processing runs one minute-status update per hourly advance.

Sources

Source	Fear applied	Conditions
Hostile ghost moan	Adds the ghost's level	Fear immunity prevents both this addition and the separate one-point fear-type HP damage; the moan has no separate line-of-sight check
Ordinary demon fear branch	Adds demon level	Requires line of sight, no existing fear and random 0–29 greater than player level + 10; fear immunity prevents the addition
Hostile Dragon Lord at a distance	Adds 5	Its non-adjacent visible branch requires no existing fear or fear immunity
Adjacent bog thing	Adds 2	Requires existing immobilization and no fear; fear immunity prevents the addition
Cursed potion of banishing fear	Adds 0–99	Checks fear immunity; a zero roll can leave no lasting fear
Fear spell targeting yourself, or cursed wand of fear	Adds 10	Checks fear immunity; the cursed wand forces the target back to its user
Cursed boots of heroism	Adds 1500 when their worn power is applied	Requires no fear immunity; also clears heroism

The ordinary demon branch is unavailable to the incubus/succubus identity and cannot succeed once player level reaches 19. It is only one branch within a special ability, not an automatic effect on every encounter. Existing fear prevents its reapplication, but a hostile ghost can keep adding fear.

The bog thing becomes much more dangerous if you are already both afraid and immobilized: its adjacent special action deals 50 unstoppable damage and reduces Strength and Constitution by one, with death if either falls below three. That branch does not recheck fear immunity. Gaining immunity after becoming afraid does not by itself make this combination safe.

The scroll of cowardliness is the cursed heroism scroll. It causes level drain, not the same timed fear as the cursed boots. The death description's mention of a "potion of cowardice" does not identify a separate potion in this version.

Prevention and recovery

Mithril chain mail, mithril plate armor and Victrix grant fear immunity while used. They do not clear existing fear. Cursed mithril armor still supplies the immunity but also adds lasting berserk status; that is a separate cost.

A noncursed potion of banishing fear clears all current fear, including a count above 1000, but supplies no protection against the next application. Greater blessing or enchantment does not improve that removal. Ordinary healing, curing and cleansing do not clear fear.

Removing cursed heroism boots subtracts their 1500-count contribution, down to zero. Ordinary cursed-item removal restrictions still matter. Clearing fear while they remain worn does not continuously reapply it, but another operation that reapplies the cursed worn power can bring it back.

A week at the Arms removes and reapplies equipment around a reset of status counts below 1000, so an active cursed power can return during the same service. A village void stone clears all status counts, but also drains mana and strips carried item magic. Neither is simply a free substitute for a bottle of banishing fear.

Fear in monsters

The player's fear spell or wand does not give monsters the player's timed state. A susceptible monster drops its possessions and, if mobile, adopts fleeing movement. The effect also changes its action interval to max(2, old interval - 1), even when it is fear-immune. It neither clears hostility nor guarantees an end to nearby attacks. Ordinary low-HP retreat follows its own rules.

Strategy

Prepare fear protection before closing with a source that can disable your escape spell. Once afraid, a known banishing-fear potion or an open walking route is more useful than a teleport scroll or wand you cannot activate. Ranged weapons remain an option when their own targeting and ammunition requirements are satisfied.

Against a ghost, merely hiding behind a nearby wall does not remove its moan. Against a bog thing, break adjacency or clear fear before relying on newly equipped immunity. Removing a long-lasting cursed source matters too: waiting does not lower a fear count of 1500.