Finding immunity to fear.

[Zero grim]

Hi playground I have been looking for a while to make an army immune to fear, an army that fears nothing is a fearsome thing in its own right.

With this in mind does anyone know of a way to achieve either of the following?

Granting immunity to fear to a martial type character without resorting to paladin or campaign setting books.

Or

Removing free will and making a living army mindless without actually turning them undead or into constructs.

Thanks for any feedback.

P.S I'm not using undead or constructs for fluff reasons and would rather learn of any way to avoid resorting to them.

[Urpriest]

A huge amount of Heroes's Feast would do the trick.

[Divide by Zero]

While not immunity, a Marshal can use a minor aura to add their Charisma modifier to the will saves of all nearby allies, so that would at least help against low-to-mid-DC fear effects. Heroes' feast could also do the trick if you have enough high-level bards/clerics, or chaining mind blank if for some reason that works better.

[TaiLiu]

The below is by no means exhaustive:

The Heroes' Feast spell is a level six spell that, among other things, grants twelve hours of fear immunity.
If Lawful Good, dip two levels into the Soulborn class. It's not a very good class, though.
Take a one level dip into the Dragonslayer prestige class.

[Zero grim]

the spells are both solutions I have considered, my two problems is that I wanted something more permanent and hopefully cheaper.

Marshall is another good choice, with an army of marshals you can basically have them buffing each other until they get bonuses to everything.

[Karnith]

Given a high enough level and sufficient time, you could Polymorph any Object them all into plant creatures, or mindless oozes or vermin. Or is that too similar to turning them into undead/constructs?

[Dimers]

9th level spell from the Courage Domain grants fear immunity (and +2 attack) to all your allies within a mile to whom you have line of sight.

Dream Domain makes the cleric (or whatever class grants it) immune to fear.

Incite Bravery psi power (level 2, either psychic warrior or Justice mantle) grants you and your allies in 20 feet immunity to fear. This one might be a good choice to make into a magic item.

Greater Heroism spell (bard5, wizard6) makes the single recipient immune to fear.

Paladins of freedom are immune to compulsion effects, which many (but not all) fear effects are. Likewise, Mind Blank, or Personal Mind Blank psi power at a lower level, grants immunity to mind-affecting effects, which most fear effects are.

[Deox]

9th level spell from the Courage Domain grants fear immunity (and +2 attack) to all your allies within a mile to whom you have line of sight.


I believe it's all who have line of sight to you.

[Sir_Thaddeus]

Fear effects are mind-affecting, right? If each of your soldiers have two feats to spare and is evil, Deformity (Madness) (prerequisite: Willing Deformity), from Elder Evils, gives immunity to all mind-affecting "spells and abilities," which I think fear falls under. Also gives -4 Wis. You could probably flavor it as torturing your soldiers into insanity so that they fear nothing. Depending on what sort of fluff you're looking for, this may be too evil an option.

[Shining Wrath]

It's not the optimal solution by a long shot, but ...
A Battle Dancer at 2nd level gets the ability to grant all allies within 30 feet +4 against fear for 5 + dancer's charisma rounds, via the class feature Reckless Bravery.

Not optimal. But hilarious. Your massive army is lead into combat by a bunch of guys and gals in tights, pirouetting fearlessly.

[Zero grim]

Fear effects are mind-affecting, right? If each of your soldiers have two feats to spare and is evil, Deformity (Madness) (prerequisite: Willing Deformity), from Elder Evils, gives immunity to all mind-affecting "spells and abilities," which I think fear falls under. Also gives -4 Wis. You could probably flavor it as torturing your soldiers into insanity so that they fear nothing. Depending on what sort of fluff you're looking for, this may be too evil an option.

this is exactly the sort of thing I was looking for, thank you Sir Thaddeus, I would reward you but a noble knight such as yourself must know that letting thousands being tortured to become great soldiers is reward enough.

EDIT: also can apparently gain the feats by swearing the army to an elder evil if I want, I learned a thing today. (well two things i guess but who's counting :P)

[Shining Wrath]

If you're not going to go the evil route, a 4th level Knight of the Iron Glacier can give (CL + CHR bonus) listeners immunity to fear for an hour, and in addition they get +2 to attack rolls and Will saves.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would also then consider willing deformety (tall) and arming your army with gyre pikes (whatever the weapon with a 15 ft reach is) for some nifty 20ft reach. These could form the pike line for your troops.

Shock troops can be Elan totemist X / souleaters who deal large number of negative levels as they attack.

Archers should be dread necromaners leading small armies of skeletal archers. One level 8 leader can lead at least 40 skeletal archers.

[Zero grim]

I'm trying to not make them super amazing, I don't want each individual to outshine the PC's, currently the build looks like this.

Human Con prodigy Fighter 3
Willing deformity +(madness and parasite)
Power attack
Improved toughness

this gives them a bit of nice hitting power and enough HP to last a good fight, they also only need feeding occasionally.

thanks for all the feedback so far but I do have another question as I read things.

the parasite deformity lets you as an immediate action negate any poison or disease effecting you, I believe this to mean that I can use this to stop the initial damage from a poison even on a failed save, am I correct?

[Anthrowhale]

Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment(Dream Domain)) feat is sometimes easier and less encumbering than the deformity route.

[cosmicAstrogazr]

An army of kender would be immune to fear. ...hilarious, all but unmanageable, but immune to fear. :smallbiggrin:

[Karnith]

An army of kender would be immune to fear. ...hilarious, all but unmanageable, but immune to fear. :smallbiggrin:
Hey, they did pretty well against the dragonarmies, both those of Ariakas and Ariakan.

[Kuulvheysoon]

An army of kender would be immune to fear. ...hilarious, all but unmanageable, but immune to fear. :smallbiggrin:

Ye gods... it'd be like herding cats.

[cosmicAstrogazr]

Hey, they did pretty well against the dragonarmies, both those of Ariakas and Ariakan.

This is very true! Perhaps a kender army would be a viable option. :smallbiggrin:

[cosmicAstrogazr]

Ye gods... it'd be like herding cats.

But point them towards the enemy, and suddenly they have their hands full of all this NEAT STUFF, and boy, they don't know exactly where it came from, but gosh, someone might be missing it, better go out and figure out who it belongs to, hey, maybe they're over that next hill... Yeah! Must be, they probably dropped it, clearly the kender army should catch up and return it, right after they check out that thing over there, glinting in the sunset...

Meanwhile, the enemy quartermaster has to explain where all their supplies went... :smallbiggrin:

[TuggyNE]

But point them towards the enemy, and suddenly they have their hands full of all this NEAT STUFF, and boy, they don't know exactly where it came from, but gosh, someone might be missing it, better go out and figure out who it belongs to, hey, maybe they're over that next hill... Yeah! Must be, they probably dropped it, clearly the kender army should catch up and return it, right after they check out that thing over there, glinting in the sunset...

Meanwhile, the enemy quartermaster has to explain where all their supplies went... :smallbiggrin:

Strikes me they'd do better as a special ops strike force than as an army, per se.

[cosmicAstrogazr]

Strikes me they'd do better as a special ops strike force than as an army, per se.

Yeah, probably. But in that case, just get enough of them, and call the conglomeration an army, and voila, fear-proof 'army'.

[Shaynythyryas]

From the list of necessary items, which I'm sorry to say I can't find out again to link it :


Fear immunity
• Cheap:
o Brash weapon enhancement (MIC). +1 weapon enhancement cost. Immunity to fear while raging.
• Standard:
o Banner of the Storm's Eye (MIC). 15000GP, held or shoulders slot. Suppresses fear in a radius round the bearer, along with other nice benefits.
o Prayer of anger (MoF). 14350GP, held. A +2 greatsword that renders the wielder immune to fear (and extends the duration of his Rage ability by 1 round, if he has it).
o Horn of Plenty (MIC). 12000GP, held. Creates a Heroes' Feast once per day as a standard action.
• Deluxe:
o Any item that grants Mind Blank (see above). Immunity to mind-affecting constitutes immunity to Fear as well.
• Not recommended:
o Continuous custom item of Lionheart (DMG, SpC), Minor Schema of Heroes' Feast (MoE)