Talk:Arachnophobia (3.5e Trait)

Benefit

Can anyone think of a suitable benefit? I think a bonus feat might be abit too much. Any thoughts? --Sam Kay 12:45, 2 October 2007 (MDT)

Bonuses when fighting spiders? They hate them so much that if they manage not to be spooked by them, they're treated as favored enemies? -- Eiji 14:14, 2 October 2007 (MDT)

Er... I am not sure how balanced my idea is, but here goes. How about, because the character is so afraid of spiders they do not fear other things as much, that when they become Shaken nothing happens, when they become Frightened it is treated as if they were shaken, and if they become Panicked it is treated as if they were frightened. This would only be in the case where no spiders are present. --Green Dragon 16:32, 2 October 2007 (MDT)

I am not sure about your one, Green Dragon, but that one Eiji came up with has given me an idea: why dont they get a +2 dodge bonus to armor class against spiders (as they are trying to get out of the way), even when shaken? Any good?

One thing I don't get is that fear saves are will saves: surely sorcerers, beeing small and weedy, are more likely to get scared by a dragon than a fighter or a barbarian, who is hard. Why don't we have a seperate save for fear, or something like that? --Sam Kay 09:16, 4 October 2007 (MDT)

I would imagine that if someone was deathly afraid of spiders they would not be able to dodge them better... Also fear saves are from the strength of personality not from the strength of an individual. I agree with will saves being used as saves for fear. --Green Dragon 13:41, 7 October 2007 (MDT)

No, I know that fear is about the strength of the person, but that doers not mean all wizards are resistant to fear. I am not saying ALL barbarians aren't resistant to fear. Consider this: A high-level thuggy person might be terrified of dragons, while a hero like arogorn is unlikely to run from a dragon. Fear should be person-to-person basis, not "I am a wizard, and so if fear thee not, darke Wyrm".

Thing is, people who are scared of spiders have quite an interesting response when you point and say: "look, there's a spider on your chair". Last time I tried it (evil, I know, but it was all in the name of science), they immediatly jumped out of the way. Against a monstrous spider, that might be enough to prevent a rather nasty stabbing wound through the chest. And when a spider runs out from under a cupboard, arachnophobic people are remarkably good at getting out of the way. This is what I am basing this on. Basically, my theory is that they are so afraid of spiders, they work really hard to get out of the way. Although I am just guessing; I don't really understand arachnophobia, or what bonuses you get being arachnophobic. Are there any arachnophobic users on this site? we could ask them... --Sam Kay 09:45, 10 October 2007 (MDT)

Your logic works for me. I would implement it. --Green Dragon 23:20, 15 October 2007 (MDT)

Done. Thanks for your help. --Sam Kay 09:25, 16 October 2007 (MDT)

What if it's a +1 or 2 to reflex saves when the character is somewhere he believes spiders may be (dungeons mostly.)The bonus to AC doesn't really balance out the risk of being shaken. I think there should also be a risk of becoming frightened and panicked.

I looked at this trait, and I personally thought it probably can do without a will save, or maybe give it a higher save DC. I mean, if you are arachnophobic, spiders are one of your worst nightmare. Maybe you can say if you succeeded the will save you don't get the +2 dodge bonus. Or maybe just make it automatically shaken. Another alternate arachnophobic trait I can think of is to make it a frightened instead of shaken, but make the dodge bonus a +4, of course this might seem a bit too much? --kaden 2:51, 18 October 2010 (MDT)