Scariest Spells - Not Fear Effects

[ImpieBA]

So, we all know about fear effects- Scare, Eyebite, Fear... This is not what I am looking for. I wanted to know spells that you guys find the flavor to be absolutely terrifying. Here's some examples of what I mean:

Avasculate: You shoot a black ray of necromantic energy from your outstretched hand, causing your foe to violently purge blood or other vital fluids through his skin.

Burning Blood: You taint a living creature's blood with a hot, corrosive infusion...

Less gruesome things include Shadowplay, which allows you to change the shape of someone's shadow, and Detect Thoughts, which allows you to have some real fun with a good poker face. Or Glibness.

There are a lot of other scary spells. So, what spells do you think can be terrifying?

[Psyren]

If you don't mind psionics as well, Fuse Flesh (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/fuseFlesh.htm), Microcosm (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/microcosm.htm) and Assimilate (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/assimilate.htm) probably top my Nightmare Fuel lists.

Then of course there's the Big Three of Brainwashing - Mindrape (Evil), Programmed Amnesia (Neutral) and Sanctify the Wicked (Good.)

[Darth Stabber]

Avascular Mass causes the target's blood vessels to burst from their skin and entangle/choke everyone around them. The fact that it doesn't cause a save vs. Fear is weird.

[Vaz]

Streamers.

Alternatively, Cranial Deluge.

[Morcleon]

Avascular Mass causes the target's blood vessels to burst from their skin and entangle/choke everyone around them. The fact that it doesn't cause a save vs. Fear is weird.

It's not that scary... rather disgusting, but not too scary. You live in a world of dragons and people who shoot lasers out of their eyes. Blood vessel explosion and animation is nothing. :smalltongue:

...okay, maybe I'm just weird. >.>

A personal favorite is Decerebrate. It removes your target's brain stem, leaving them helpless. :smallamused:

[nedz]

Disjunction

[nyjastul69]

Disjunction.

Edit: Grack! Ninja'd!

[Morcleon]

Mythal with at-will Wish, Miracle, Reality Revision, True Resurrection, Astral Projection, Gate, Persistant Time Stop, Disjunction and Genesis. :smallcool:

[AmberVael]

There was a thread a couple years back (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182404) similar to this, though it focused on far realms stuff. It seems relevant, and I posted a number of spells there.

[gooddragon1]

Necrotic Cyst magic?

[Zanos]

Flensing is basically Flay: The Spell.

[Karnith]

I find Extract Water Elemental to be pretty disturbing.

[Humble Master]

As Psyren said, Microcosm and Assimilate are pretty frightening.

[Tokuhara]

I find Extract Water Elemental to be pretty disturbing.

^This^ is near the top of "Favorite Spells to use on enemies"

My "Nightmare Fuel Spell" is definitely Fleshshiver

[Erik Vale]

Disintigrate.
A quick ray and someone next to you turns to dust, I'd panic a little there, especially since it's kinda hard to raise somebody from that when it first comes around. [Though I can kinda imagine adventurers who knew the spell was available storing a bodypart to be resurected should they be hit by it]

[Fouredged Sword]

Bonefiddle. Nasty spell effect :smalleek:

[Erik Vale]

Ahh, a second spell [if you include PF], Skinsend. You animate your skin, which peels off, and you controll it. Itself may not be entirely terrifying to encounter, but what about discovering the skinless mage. Or the horror of being the skinless mage should your skin 'die'.

[Kane0]

Charm Person man, Charm Person.

Almost every college-graduate wizard, post-teenage sorcerer or tavern bard can make you their best friend and get you to do a whole bunch of stuff whether you like it or not. And not just for a couple seconds, not just a couple minutes. A couple hours. Once you realize that you would quickly become very, very paranoid.

[Vedhin]

Vipergout is pretty disturbing, as the caster vomits celestial or fiendish vipers at foes.

[Kane0]

Edit: Double post, oops.

[Dr Bwaa]

First I need to agree with some previous posts, most of the Enchantment line is pretty high up there. Also Extract Water Elemental, and the "Big Three" brainwashing spells.

For my money, though, Giant Vermin is probably one of the more frightening "mundane" spells I know of. I've always thought Crushing Despair was super flavorful, too.

[The Viscount]

Gutwrench is pretty nasty. Your opponent's intestines fly into you and are absorbed, giving you health and a strength bonus.

Seething Eyebane destroys your opponent's eyes in a burst of acid.

Flesh Armor requires you have ready the skin of another creature, which it then forms into, you guessed it, armor.

Grim Revenge tears your opponent's hand off, then animates it as a tiny wight which attacks them.

Wither Limb is pretty unsettling.

Second the Cyst magic. I almost took that feat, but didn't because they're just too creepy.

Wall of Eyes. Just... wall of eyes.

Chain of Sorrow itself isn't that bad, but probably has the worst focus after Flesh Armor: the umbilical cord of a stillborn child.

[nyjastul69]

Bonefiddle. Nasty spell effect :smalleek:

Now that's bona fide answer. :smallbiggrin: Mindrape is ... :smalleek: too.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Another vote for Microcosm, Avascular Mass, and Disjunction.

Wrack has always been my favorite "for the evulz" spell. It's completely unnecessarily overkill and too high level for being humanoids only. But holy crap...
...your chosen foe is wracked with such pain that it doubles over and collapses. Its face and hands blister and drip fluid, and its eyes cloud with blood, rendering it blind.
THE go-to mid level spell for when someone just really pissed you off.

Programmed Amnesia: You get to access ALL of the targets' memories and (with some limits) can delete them, implant new ones, or alter them as you see fit. You can even completely rewrite the target's PERSONA, changing its views and beliefs, values, and alignment. Super mega freaking creepy.

In Pathfinder, it's hard to top the Skinsend spell, especially the alchemist's infusion + touch injection to do it to other, unwilling victims. If you don't know, skin send (normally intended to be self-only; no idea what psycho would use it on himself) wrenches all of the skin off the target and animates it as a skin construct.

[Darth Stabber]

Chain of Sorrow itself isn't that bad, but probably has the worst focus after Flesh Armor: the umbilical cord of a stillborn child.

Just one more foul thing in the always gross spell component pouch. Look at the components of all the spells in the average wizard's spellbook: all manner of rotting meats and feces. Eshew material components is not just the choice for paranoids not wanting their component pouch sundered, it's also the hygenic choice.

[Snowbluff]

Mind Seed is the scariest psionic spell. Decerebrate is merely cruel and unusual. Assimilate simply doesn't compare.

Mindrape, on a similiar note.

Truename spells are all really messed up as well. Unname keeps you from existing. Warp Truename is similiar to fuse flesh, except the subject even more unrecognizable.

[Sith_Happens]

Disintigrate.
A quick ray and someone next to you turns to dust, I'd panic a little there, especially since it's kinda hard to raise somebody from that when it first comes around. [Though I can kinda imagine adventurers who knew the spell was available storing a bodypart to be resurected should they be hit by it]

The ashes from Disintegrate count as remains. Which is why you follow it up with Gust of Wind.:smallamused:

[captain fubar]

clutch of orcus for the kalima style wtf moment. and create greater undead becuse you know what hapens if the shadow finds a town full of pesants before you get there.(nigh limitless spawn chain)

[Slipperychicken]

Eternity of Torture (Pain 9, BoVD) is up there, one of the few [Evil] spells that truly deserves the tag. Being wracked in unbelievable suffering, helpless, forever (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndIMustScream). You won't starve, age, or suffocate your way out of this. All that's left to do is stuff you into a bag of holding and puncture it so you're lost forever. Better hope someone wants you back badly enough to blow a Wish on it (Love's Pain could work to kill you, though); because nothing short of that will end your suffering. It's like your own private hell, only a Fort save away.


It doesn't get much worse than that, folks.

[IIzak]

Wall of eyes is even scarier when u mix it with the fact that all the wall spells can be cast not only vertically, but horizontally... sooo floor of eyes that you have to step on to get to your enemy?

"holy crap bro, nvm I'll go fight that other evil guy, don't worry I'll never come back, sorry for bothering you."

[TheDarkDM]

Eternity of Torture (Pain 9, BoVD) is up there, one of the few [Evil] spells that truly deserves the tag. Being wracked in unbelievable suffering, helpless, forever (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AndIMustScream). You won't starve, age, or suffocate your way out of this. All that's left to do is stuff you into a bag of holding and puncture it so you're lost forever. Better hope someone wants you back badly enough to blow a Wish on it (Love's Pain could work to kill you, though); because nothing short of that will end your suffering. It's like your own private hell, only a Fort save away.


It doesn't get much worse than that, folks.

Bonus points for using Mindrape afterwards to make them forget everything except the pain.

[Incorrect]

Horrid Wilting
It dries a lot of people to husks.

I thought the GM had said that it was a large group of warriors in the square.
It turned out I heard wrong and the square were filled with civilians, women and children. I brutally and horribly murdered most of a villages population :smalleek:
It was very much "that scene" from SpecOps:The Line

Image with spoilers and gore:

http://shortgamereview.com/wp-content/uploads/gallery/spec-ops-the-line/spec_ops_the_line_1.jpg

[Emmerask]

Blackfire in crowded places

[Slipperychicken]

Bonus points for using Mindrape afterwards to make them forget everything except the pain.

If you leave them in there long enough, they'll forget it on their own.

[Gerrtt]

Wall of eyes is even scarier when u mix it with the fact that all the wall spells can be cast not only vertically, but horizontally... sooo floor of eyes that you have to step on to get to your enemy?

"holy crap bro, nvm I'll go fight that other evil guy, don't worry I'll never come back, sorry for bothering you."

Wall of eyes specifies vertical.

[Shining Wrath]

Invasive Tentacles. Exactly WHAT do those tentacles invade? Sorry, can't tell you, the moderators would have a sad.

But yeah that would hurt more than I care to think about.

[Darth Stabber]

Invasive Tentacles. Exactly WHAT do those tentacles invade? Sorry, can't tell you, the moderators would have a sad.

But yeah that would hurt more than I care to think about.

Some people enjoy that sort of thing. :smallwink:

[Anadoru]

Love's Pain: being used to kill the person you love... :smalleek:

Eternity of Torture is pretty nasty as well, though at least it doesn't live up to its name thanks to the ability drain it does.

[TheDarkDM]

Love's Pain: being used to kill the person you love... :smalleek:

Eternity of Torture is pretty nasty as well, though at least it doesn't live up to its name thanks to the ability drain it does.

Nope, the ability drain stops at 1 Con, so you'll live through it forever without intervention.

[Anadoru]

Nope, the ability drain stops at 1 Con, so you'll live through it forever without intervention.

Huh, so it does... ouch.

That said, the other stats do go to 0, so you end up in a coma anyway. Though this is magic, so I wouldn't be surprised if it had some way of making you feel pain even then.

[Samalpetey]

Disintigrate.
A quick ray and someone next to you turns to dust, I'd panic a little there, especially since it's kinda hard to raise somebody from that when it first comes around. [Though I can kinda imagine adventurers who knew the spell was available storing a bodypart to be resurected should they be hit by it]

Lil nitpick, but for raise dead and Resurrection you need part of the creature's body at the time it died. However, Resurrection only needs the dust in order to bring someone to life

[Slipperychicken]

That said, the other stats do go to 0, so you end up in a coma anyway. Though this is magic, so I wouldn't be surprised if it had some way of making you feel pain even then.

Damaging Wisdom to zero is pretty brutal, even before you factor in the spell's pain.


Strength 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He lies helpless on the ground.
Dexterity 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He stands motionless, rigid, and helpless.
Constitution 0 means that the character is dead. [the spell only brings Con down to 1]
Intelligence 0 means that the character cannot think and is unconscious in a coma-like stupor, helpless.
Wisdom 0 means that the character is withdrawn into a deep sleep filled with nightmares, helpless.
Charisma 0 means that the character is withdrawn into a catatonic, coma-like stupor, helpless.

[Jeff the Green]

Technically it's a fear effect, but it's not what makes the spell scary:

"Blade of Pain and Fear: A 3-foot-long column of disembodied gnashing teeth springs forth from your hand, screaming and chanting with unholy vigor."

I'm playing a cleric of Kelemvor, and I fluff it as conjuring a reflection of the Wall of the Faithless.