Wow they improved the spell. It deals pretty good damage to those you choose, at 55 on average. Great for decimating a small group of foes.

That is damage worthy of a 9th level spell. Big improvement from the 2014 version!

Illusion wizard can cast while hidden (non-verbal) keeping it weird

The creatures gain the Frightened condition on a failed save, but what are they frightened of?
Is the illusionary terror at the center of the sphere?

Ability checks and attacks being affected only if the source of fear is within line of sight, and they can't approach the source of fear, but if it's only in their mind it doesn't seem like the Frightened condition does anything outside of the ongoing Psychic damage on following failed saves.
If that's the case, that's perfectly fine. I was just curious and trying to understand better how other people perceive this spell to work.

Looking into it more, Phantasmal Killer (Legacy) used to use the Frightened keyword but it is absent from the 2024 version. 2024 version gives ability checks and attack rolls disadvantage for the duration of the spell. I suppose the same would be done for 2024 Weird.
Having different language for such similar spells,.... weird.

Quote from Bamboo_Earpick >>

The creatures gain the Frightened condition on a failed save, but what are they frightened of?
Is the illusionary terror at the center of the sphere?

Ability checks and attacks being affected only if the source of fear is within line of sight, and they can't approach the source of fear, but if it's only in their mind it doesn't seem like the Frightened condition does anything outside of the ongoing Psychic damage on following failed saves.
If that's the case, that's perfectly fine. I was just curious and trying to understand better how other people perceive this spell to work.

Looking into it more, Phantasmal Killer (Legacy) used to use the Frightened keyword but it is absent from the 2024 version. 2024 version gives ability checks and attack rolls disadvantage for the duration of the spell. I suppose the same would be done for 2024 Weird.
Having different language for such similar spells,.... weird.

 The caster of the spell is the source of the fear, so creatures are frightened of them

They're Frightened of the "Illusory Terrors" in their mind. My best interpretation of that is that the source of fear is centered on the affected creature themselves.

It's not the best of wording and Weird appears to be an upgraded version of Phantasmal Force and Phantasmal Killer. So, I guess it's implied that the affected creature sees the "Illusory Terrors" from all directions for the duration of the spell without spelling it out. Which would effectively make its speed 0 without the actual mechanical punishment of having 0 speed, allowing it to take the Dodge action in its frantic attempts to dodge the "Illusory Terrors".

weird