Fear

Category: Baldur’s Gate Spells

Level 3 Illusion spell available to Bards, Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Wizards. A 9m cone that makes enemies drop their weapons and run. Disarming half an encounter for one slot is not a subtle effect, and it is one of the most underrated spells at this level.

Spell description: Hostile targets drop everything and become Fearful: they have Disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack Rolls.

Spell properties

  • Range: Self
  • Area: 9m (30ft) cone
  • Duration: 2 turns
  • Concentration spell
  • Save: WIS save
  • Conditions applied: Fearful; Weapon Dropped
  • Cost: Action + Spell Slot
  • Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Fear at higher levels provides no additional benefits.

How to obtain Fear

  • Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard at Class level 5

Source item: Servitor of the Black Hand Gloves

FEAR

Level 3 Illusion Spell

Hostile targets drop everything and become Fearful: they have Disadvantage on Ability Checks and Attack Rolls.

On save: The creature is not Frightened and keeps its weapon.

Range: Self Save: WIS save AoE: 9m (30ft) Cone Duration: 2 turns
Action Level 3 Spell Slot

CONDITIONS APPLIED

Duration: 2 turns

Condition: Fearful

WIS Save
  • The creature must move away from the caster and cannot approach.
  • Its Attack Rolls have Disadvantage.
  • Its Ability Checks have Disadvantage.

Condition: Weapon Dropped

  • The creature drops its weapon on the ground where it stood.
  • It must spend an Action to pick the weapon back up.

When to cast Fear

The weapon drop is the part people miss. A Frightened enemy does not just run, it throws its sword on the floor, and it has to spend an Action picking it up again afterwards. Two turns of Fear is often three or four turns of an enemy doing nothing useful.

Then steal the weapon. Fear a group, walk over, and pick their swords up off the ground while they are running. They come back unarmed. It is deeply unsporting and it works.

The cone comes out of you, which for a squishy caster means walking towards the people you are afraid of. Position first, cast second, and remember the cone is wide enough to catch a whole approaching line.

Two turns is short and it is a Wisdom save, so it fails against the disciplined enemies you most want it to land on. It is a crowd tool, not a boss tool.

Looking for more spells? Check out our full sortable and filterable list of all BG3 spells in the database.

Browse all BG3 Spells →

Spell properties

Level
Level 3
School
Illusion
Casting resource
Action + Spell Slot
Damage type

Range
Self
Duration
2 turns
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Notes & sources

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Spell mechanics, descriptions and values are based on Baldur’s Gate 3 version 4.1.1.7209685 and may change with future patches. Where applicable, sources are cited within each article.

Copyright disclaimer & licensing
Some or all of this work is © Larian Studios.
Some spell icons and game data are property of Larian Studios and used here under their fan content policy. Any fan-created works using content from Larian fall under: Larian Fan Content Policy and / or Baldur’s Gate 3 Fan Content Terms. Some of the icons used in these spell cards were downloaded from Sammy8932 on NexusMods.

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