Fear-Spell

The caster must prepare an object to be the vessel of this spell at the start of the day, in the darkness just before the sun rises, by symbolically filling it with his or her own fears. To cast the spell, the caster holds it forth and invokes its power. Then, for as long as the caster concentrates, all who can see it (reasonably clearly) are filled with dread, and take a point of strain every round they do not spend reacting appropriately (by fleeing, hiding, cowering, etc.). The caster may end the spell or re-invoke it at any time until the following sunrise, or symbolically remove their fears from the object to “discharge” the spell before then.

The base difficulty is d8 for the preparation and d4 for the casting. Preparing the object costs three points of strain that cannot be recovered for as long as the object is “charged,” and invoking the magic costs two points of fatigue. A thematically appropriate vessel decreases the difficulty by one step; a thematically inappropriate one increases it by one.* Casting this spell by gnosis requires no preparation beforehand, but has a base difficulty of d10 for each casting – and because it more directly invokes the caster’s subconscious terrors, it costs four strain every time it is invoked.

* But think of how fun it would be to terrify your enemies and drive them screaming before you with a tiny plush bunny, if you could pull it off!