Intimidate skill

[Thespianus]

Is the skill Intimidate a fear effect?

That is, can one use Intimidate to Demoralize an opponent in battle over and over again, and make him Frightened, then Panicked.

The reason I ask is that our Barbarian has kinda specialized in Intimidate with the Intimidating Rage-feat, etc, but Demoralize can apparently only make an opponent Shaken.

Anyone?

EDIT: Maybe this would be better off in the Quick-question thread. I'm sorry...

[Salt_Crow]

It certainly is a fear effect. However, the shaken condition produced by Demoralise Opponent lasts for only 1 round. A common tactic would be to induce some other fear effects and using Intimidate to top it up.

[Thespianus]

It certainly is a fear effect. However, the shaken condition produced by Demoralise Opponent lasts for only 1 round. A common tactic would be to induce some other fear effects and using Intimidate to top it up.

With Intimidating Rage, one of the feats required for the Frenzied Berserker PrC, the Demoralizing effect lasts for the duration of the Rage, so it seems it would be possible to Demoralize the same opponent more than once, in consecutive rounds...

Or?

[Person_Man]

Yes, it's a Fear effect.

This is how you optimize the Intimidate Skill. Never Outnumbered Skill Trick (Comp Scoundrel) + Imperious Command feat (Drow of the Underdark) + Zhentarim Soldier (Fighter add on) or (the less powerful) Fearsome Armor enchantment (Drow of the Underdark.

[Kaiyanwang]

Funny you called Zentharim Soldier and add.. is actually more an add-on than an ACF

[Thespianus]

Yes, it's a Fear effect.

This is how you optimize the Intimidate Skill. Never Outnumbered Skill Trick (Comp Scoundrel) + Imperious Command feat (Drow of the Underdark) + Zhentarim Soldier (Fighter add on) or (the less powerful) Fearsome Armor enchantment (Drow of the Underdark.

And the Fearsome Gaze ACF for the Barbarian (from a Dragon magazine). Bases Intimidate off Strength instead of Charisma, and gives you a +4 bonus on the skill check.

Imperious Command would be interesting for the Barbarian, if she wasn't heading for Frenzied Berserker (our DM will most likely make the Frenzy effect a little less dangerous for the party). She has a useless Charisma, but with the Fearsome Gaze ACF, this doesn't matter much, except for Imperious Command prereqs.

But, yes, the Zhentarim Soldier stuff is very effective. :)

[Person_Man]

And the Fearsome Gaze ACF for the Barbarian (from a Dragon magazine). Bases Intimidate off Strength instead of Charisma, and gives you a +4 bonus on the skill check.

Imperious Command would be interesting for the Barbarian, if she wasn't heading for Frenzied Berserker (our DM will most likely make the Frenzy effect a little less dangerous for the party). She has a useless Charisma, but with the Fearsome Gaze ACF, this doesn't matter much, except for Imperious Command prereqs.

But, yes, the Zhentarim Soldier stuff is very effective. :)

Your Charisma is not important. Just invest max ranks in Intimidate, and buy an item or two that boosts Intimidate. So your check should be 1d20 + level + 3 + Charima bonus + 10-20), opposed by the enemy's (1d20 + character level or Hit Dice + target’s Wisdom bonus [if any] + target’s modifiers on saves against fear). Even without Zhentarim Soldier, Fear is a good backup method of battlefield control.

[BenTheJester]

I thought fear effect couldn't stack if they came from the same source.

[Draz74]

I thought fear effect couldn't stack if they came from the same source.

Yeah, that's why just Intimidating the same opponent two or three times doesn't work.

[Person_Man]

I thought fear effect couldn't stack if they came from the same source.

That is correct. However, Fear effects from different sources explicitly do stack. You can Demoralize with Intimidate, there are half a dozen Fear related feats, dozens of Fear related spells (buy a Spell Storing weapon), several Fear inducing magic weapons and other items, etc. For a moderate investment, it's handy to have. Just don't overuse or over rely on it, as plenty of enemies are immune or have high Will Saves.

[Jastermereel]

I can't get person_man's gleemax link to work but Brilliant Gameologists has a very nice Fear Handbook: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boa...p?topic=3809.0

[Thespianus]

Yeah, that's why just Intimidating the same opponent two or three times doesn't work.

Ok, good. This was pretty much what I wanted to hear: A clear answer, either yes or no. :)

I wanted the Barbarian to have some more abilities beyond just hitting things, and the Demoralize-ability is kinda neat, however it now seems she can't make the effect worse than "Shaken". It's still an ok debuff, but it won't cause her enemies to flee in panic. :)

Impervious Command seems like a good feat for a later level, if I can get the DM to waive the Charisma-prerequisite for the feat, since the Fearsome Gaze ACF now makes the Intimidate skille based off Strength instead of Charisma.

[Thespianus]

Your Charisma is not important. Just invest max ranks in Intimidate, and buy an item or two that boosts Intimidate. So your check should be 1d20 + level + 3 + Charima bonus + 10-20), opposed by the enemy's (1d20 + character level or Hit Dice + target’s Wisdom bonus [if any] + target’s modifiers on saves against fear). Even without Zhentarim Soldier, Fear is a good backup method of battlefield control.

Well, the Charisma is important since a high charisma is a prereq for the Impervious Command feat, but other than that it's not as important, no.

[D-naras]

Can you tell me, what does Fearsome Gaze replaces? Sound tasty...
(And quite realistic. I mean, a strapping dude should be quite scary when he wants to.)

[Thespianus]

Can you tell me, what does Fearsome Gaze replaces? Sound tasty...
(And quite realistic. I mean, a strapping dude should be quite scary when he wants to.)

Uhm.. You lose Indomitable Will, and your Trap Sense lags behind some, I believe.

Check out the Fearsome Gaze ACF in CrystalKeeps file of base classes here:

http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules...asses-Base.pdf

There's also the reference to the Dragon Magazine it was published in.