Panicked and state of mind

[Lonewolf147]

A recent situation came up where my party came across a dragon while in some caves (the shadow dragons in Rappan Athuk). All but one failed their save against the Dragon Fear.

Since they all went running in random directions, some into areas they haven't explored yet, my question is: While panicked, does a person maintain a state of mind that let's them know where they are and what they are doing? So, would the PC's that were in new areas be able to know how they got where they were and find their way back?

[Psyren]

Given that you are even allowed to cast spells/use items and such to escape the source of your fear faster, I would say paying attention to your surroundings (though with the -2 to skill checks, e.g. Perception/Spot, taken into account) would be possible.

[Lonewolf147]

That's what I was thinking too. It's good to hear someone else say it also :D

[Krobar]

I've always said yes, they know where they are and how they got there, and know how to get back. Just because they're panicked doesn't mean their eyes suddenly don't work.

[Psyren]

If they're in a maze or some other confusing architecture though, you can always roll Spot checks for them while they're fleeing to see if they notice landmarks, signs etc. And if they don't and end up lost, you can call for Intelligence or possibly Wisdom checks to find their way out. Escaping a maze spell is DC 20, so you can ad-hoc something similar depending on how featureless or confusing the dungeon's terrain is.

And if all else fails, you can have them try to track down the party using Survival, or if they have magical means of making contact like Sending/Telepathic Bond they can try those etc. There's a lot of directions you can take this.