DM: You make your way forward, out of the canyon and into a thicker part of the jungle. As the moon disappears behind the forest canopy, it becomes more difficult to see. For a split second, however, Rarity is able to notice a blue mist weaving through the darkness.
Rarity: Hmph. How cowardly for a goddess to behave.
DM: You hear a quiet, evil laugh.
Fluttershy: Oh no. We’re doomed!
Applejack: Wha…? Calm down. Nothin’s happened yet. Geez.
DM: Then, an eerie light emanates from all the trees… And you see that each one has become a twisted, carnivorous abomination!
Applejack: Ack- Stop doing that right after I say stuff!
DM: The sight of just one monstrous tree causes an unnatural urge to run away screaming. But surrounded as you are by these monsters, you’re paralyzed by fear.
Rarity: …Trees, really? Well, is this a “save ends” sort of fear?
DM: Yes. And since you noticed Nightmare Moon, you have a bonus to this saving throw.
Rarity: Excellent. <roll> I break free of the effect and immediately inform the others.
DM: Now everypony gets the bonus. <roll> But soon afterwards, the fear grips you again.
Rarity: Excuse me?!
Fluttershy: Doomed!
Rainbow Dash: Oh GREAT. It’s an at-will thing.
Twilight Sparkle: We’re going to be rolling saves forever if we don’t get rid of these!
Pinkie Pie: <gasp!> I got it! I have the perfect plan to get us out of this!
Rarity: ...Nevermind; NOW I’m frightened.
Well, 1. It's probably an Aura effect. (And with each tree having a fear aura, yes, that overlap WILL occur.) and 2. They CANNOT ATTACK. and 3. There are no other creatures to attack the group.
This is not an unfair situation. It's merely a DELAYING one. There's pretty much no way they can lose, other than taking so long that Nightmare Moon completes whatever she's doing.
I think the way it works in 4e is that the Dm is the one who has to roll for the trees against the players will, which is probably why we don't see the rolls right now.
Like Vegetalss4 said, the only saves in 4e are at the end of turns (and they're always "roll 10 or more"). The initial effect is an attack against Will defense; apparently they figured that defenders shouldn't roll dice, probably to "speed things up".
That and I always figured it was fair to have magical creatures/obstacles that force fear or other emotions on you. The PCs wouldn't *normally* be afraid of it, but some magic effect is forcing them to feel it.
Also, yeah, saving throws are very different from previous versions. What used to be saving throws are now just static defenses that work in place of AC against appropriate attacks. In 4e, at the end of your turn, you roll a saving throw against all effects a save can end that you have affecting you, then any one of those rolls that beats a 10 after modifiers ends the effect you were rolling for.
This... Seriously, depending on the campaign, you can end up being more mistrustful about your own "partners" than the enemy.
Makes for good fun, though.
NMM: "Well, making them fall of a cliff didn't work, and setting an angry monster against the group just showed that the Druid isn't entirely useless. So if minerals and animals are out, that just leaves... Of course! Fearsome flora!"
I still remember the combination of Lurker Below (Floor that attacks you), Lurker Above (Ceiling that attacks you), and Stunjelly (Invisible and clings to walls). Throw in a couple mimics and cloakers, along with some gelatinous cubes, and you've got a Room o' Doom
I recall in a Dark Sun game a long time ago, we were raiding a castle of a (recently) deceased Wizard King. We came across a Mimic which started attacking the thief.
The thief's action, instead of attacking it, just looks at the creature which has wrapped a few tentacles around her alread. "You know," she began, "The owner of this castle died earlier today. We're looting this place, and when we're done, we'll be leaving.
"When that happens, no one will be back, probably for hundreds and hundreds of years. You had it easy up until now, because the wizard used you to hide his most important things. But it's going to be really hard to find food after this, assuming all my friends over there don't just kill you.
"So how about this? You give us what the wizard was hiding, play nice, and you can come along with us and set up shop in *our* castle?"
The Mimic thought about it for a long second, then gave them the treasure and followed the party, becoming a guard of their important stuff in their castle.
Now THIS should have been on the page about winning through Diplomacy. It's a pretty brilliant way to take advantage of the fact most D&D monsters have surprisingly high INT scores.
That reminds me, there's a story by John Biles called 'My(stara) Little Ponies: Friendship is Adventuring' that drops Equestria in to the Mystara setting of D&D.
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/2857/My%28stara%27s%29-Little-Ponies%3A--Friendship-is-Adventuring
The viewpoint character is a human adventurer named Marcus who tends to be rather paranoid (Always think outside the box, because the box is full of scorpions). The Elements of Harmony would tease him more about said paranoia if he didn't turn out to be right so often. 8P
The story is complete, (he wrote it on SpaceBattles forums first) he's just putting it up on Fimfiction 1 chunk per week or so, so that people have a chance to digest it without being scared off by the size (and to give it a chance to build an audience)
NMM: "And those were all physical dangers, they're well prepared for those. Hmmm, lets attack their minds next! They have that blue one in the group after all!"
I'd probably go with "You're Going Down" by Sick Puppies (if we were having a battle against a recurring villain), or "Night Surgeon"/"Legal Assassin" from Repo! The Genetic Opera. After all, what are adventurers but people who run around killing stuff and never get in trouble for some reason?
"Vengeance" by the Protomen works against villains you have a personal grudge against, especially if they're the type to send minions to do everything.
When hunting a mad alchemist who had made a flesh golem (yes yes, Frankenstein, I know), I played 'The Hounds' which is a song about hunting down a mad doctor who committed murder. If you look, you can find a song to fit almost anything.
'The Hounds' is about someone framing a 'mad' doctor for a murder that he committed, and then reveling in how stupid everyone is to believe him. Not quite appropriate for the situation, I'd think.
You are all awesome.
May I add to the list... "You got the touch! You got the POWAH!"
And maybe... "Kick reason to the curb and go beyond the impossible! Just who the Hell do you think we are?!!"
Twilight: "Pinkie, you had written, as in preprepared, a song that specifically gives a bonus against fear from enemies with Aura of Fear and no other attack capabilities?"
PP: "Uh-huh! Otherwise the "you'll see that they can't hurt you" line wouldn't have made sense?"
AJ: "And how many other songs do you have?"
PP: "Oh, bucketloads. I have one to save against fear of heights, one specifically against sorceresses, one for assisting peace negotiations, and one for a bonus on making cupcakes!"
Twi: "Why would you...oh, nevermind."
Most bards however DO sing other peoples songs. It's part of the bard-craft. There are no tour groups or the like, every bard learns and plays every song they can.
Also, speaking of music, here you go!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPOOTldlrFQ&list=PLBF4A1C20B2774456&index=126&feature=plpp_video
Yes. This is called Buffy Speak. It is a personal favorite of mine for roleplaying. http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuffySpeak
Try it sometime. It's fun to say the stuff that makes the guy be all not happy about the thing you did with the chick who had the thing with the trick where the thing did stuff!
I would love making a barbarian that talks like this.
My orc favored soul (3.5 spontaneous divine caster; I belive the 4th ed equivalent would be invoker) of Obad-Hai did this ALL THE TIME. I didn't even choose to do it. Granted, it ws largely the effect being tired after helping the party (my then-girlfriend's family) move all day, but still, when the hippie orc is mumbling that we can turn the bottom floor of the recaptured guard tower into a 'horse spot' (so we don't risk them getting stolen while we sleep)... At least the paladin reminded me that the word is 'stable' before she started laughing.