If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Frightened as a cantrip would be pretty powerful, basically any condition being causable by a cantrip would be very powerful in fact. Not to mention the Cause Fear spell is a 1st-level spell so repeating the effects as a cantrip would totally negate the purpose of the spell.
The best option I could think of would be to use Friends + a very good intimidation skill, whilst not technically a Frightened condition, a suitably willing DM might allow you to "frighten" people. You might be able to combo it with your Passive Intimidation (10+prof bonus+cha bonus+5 for friends) and automatically make some people in your vicinity cower from your mere presence for a turn. This doesn;'t mean you;d get the full beneifts of the frightened condition on them but it might stop them moving toward you for a turn as they briefly second guess themselves and proibably won;t be much use in combat.
I think people are overly scared of conditions. Frightened isn't a magical condition. You can get frightened just by.... Scary things. There's this idea that because there are specific spells and features that impose the condition, it should be off-limits to characters who don't have those things, but like... No? If a creature is frightened by something, give them the frightened condition. It'll be fine.
It's a soft movement denial thing, and a soft damage mitigation thing, so in terms of power level it's situationally powerful. I've played with characters who use fear effects in two campaigns. They don't use it often because it's not often better than other options. It's not something that's worth doing every turn. So it really doesn't need to be a cantrip. Cause Fear is a Warlock spell and it's going to outperform whatever theoretical cantrip you might make.
I think people are overly scared of conditions. Frightened isn't a magical condition. You can get frightened just by.... Scary things. There's this idea that because there are specific spells and features that impose the condition, it should be off-limits to characters who don't have those things, but like... No? If a creature is frightened by something, give them the frightened condition. It'll be fine.
It's a soft movement denial thing, and a soft damage mitigation thing, so in terms of power level it's situationally powerful. I've played with characters who use fear effects in two campaigns. They don't use it often because it's not often better than other options. It's not something that's worth doing every turn. So it really doesn't need to be a cantrip. Cause Fear is a Warlock spell and it's going to outperform whatever theoretical cantrip you might make.
I mean sometimes things in 5e, DM permitting, things could get the "frightened" condition and not have it be magical... but there spells that do make the frightened effect magical. For the OP, the reason why there isn't a cantrip causing the frightened condition it would be far too powerful.. not even considering what frightened does but due to the fact certain jobs can actually combo off the frightened status effect. At least with it being a spell, even if it is just a 1st level, it at least uses a resource (since cantrips are free).
Overall, as a cantrip, things tend to either work or not work right away.
For most conditions of frightened, it tends to be a time specific thing - e.g. one minute or more - where the affected creature can attempt a save at the end of their turn.
So Overall, it probably would be a bit OP for a cantrip, but I think ChoirofFire's point is spot on too.
Biggest challenge with making it a cnatrip isn't so much the early stage of game where a spell casters save DC might be more modest - but later on - having a high level spell caster hammering opponents with fear without burning slots would probably end up skewing things wrongly.
I have sometimes used frightenend purely based on intimidation rolls in the right situation, and I am all for using the condition - but having it as a staple, endlessly repeatable concept could turn out to be tricky to manage.
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Does anyone know any spells (cantrip) that can cause the effect frightened as a Hexblade Warlock?
There are none officially released.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Frightened as a cantrip would be pretty powerful, basically any condition being causable by a cantrip would be very powerful in fact. Not to mention the Cause Fear spell is a 1st-level spell so repeating the effects as a cantrip would totally negate the purpose of the spell.
The best option I could think of would be to use Friends + a very good intimidation skill, whilst not technically a Frightened condition, a suitably willing DM might allow you to "frighten" people. You might be able to combo it with your Passive Intimidation (10+prof bonus+cha bonus+5 for friends) and automatically make some people in your vicinity cower from your mere presence for a turn. This doesn;'t mean you;d get the full beneifts of the frightened condition on them but it might stop them moving toward you for a turn as they briefly second guess themselves and proibably won;t be much use in combat.
I think people are overly scared of conditions. Frightened isn't a magical condition. You can get frightened just by.... Scary things. There's this idea that because there are specific spells and features that impose the condition, it should be off-limits to characters who don't have those things, but like... No? If a creature is frightened by something, give them the frightened condition. It'll be fine.
It's a soft movement denial thing, and a soft damage mitigation thing, so in terms of power level it's situationally powerful. I've played with characters who use fear effects in two campaigns. They don't use it often because it's not often better than other options. It's not something that's worth doing every turn. So it really doesn't need to be a cantrip. Cause Fear is a Warlock spell and it's going to outperform whatever theoretical cantrip you might make.
I mean sometimes things in 5e, DM permitting, things could get the "frightened" condition and not have it be magical... but there spells that do make the frightened effect magical. For the OP, the reason why there isn't a cantrip causing the frightened condition it would be far too powerful.. not even considering what frightened does but due to the fact certain jobs can actually combo off the frightened status effect. At least with it being a spell, even if it is just a 1st level, it at least uses a resource (since cantrips are free).
Overall, as a cantrip, things tend to either work or not work right away.
For most conditions of frightened, it tends to be a time specific thing - e.g. one minute or more - where the affected creature can attempt a save at the end of their turn.
So Overall, it probably would be a bit OP for a cantrip, but I think ChoirofFire's point is spot on too.
Biggest challenge with making it a cnatrip isn't so much the early stage of game where a spell casters save DC might be more modest - but later on - having a high level spell caster hammering opponents with fear without burning slots would probably end up skewing things wrongly.
I have sometimes used frightenend purely based on intimidation rolls in the right situation, and I am all for using the condition - but having it as a staple, endlessly repeatable concept could turn out to be tricky to manage.