# Spellbook of cause fear

spellbook of  +   cause fear   

Appearance

random

Abundance

2.54%

Base price

300 zm

Weight

50

Turns to read

6

Ink to write

15–29

Spell type

enchantment

Level

3

Power cost

15 Pw

Direction

non-directional  

Equivalent

scroll of scare monster

In NetHack, the spellbook of cause fear allows you to learn the cause fear spell.

Effects
Casting this spell has the same effect as reading a scroll of scare monster: it will scare monsters, causing them to to run away. The downside of this method (versus those caused by more mundane or divine sources) is that it is subject to the target's monster magic resistance and immunities; once scared, a monster with full HP has a 4% chance of recovering each turn. It has no effect on pets.

Strategy
Cause fear can be useful if employed correctly. It is mostly used to scare away monsters that are too strong or out-of-depth for you to fight, or as an escape spell in case of an emergency. However, if you have a strong ranged attack or attack spells and can cast this spell reliably, you can combine them to kill monsters whilst avoiding melee combat with them. This is especially useful for wizards, but note that sleep can often allow for a similar effect at a lower cost; causing fear is more useful against large groups of monsters, against sleep-resistant monsters, or if there is nowhere you can retreat to maintain distance once the monster wakes up.

This page may need to be updated for the current version of NetHack.
It may contain text specific to NetHack 3.6.4. Information on this page may be out of date.
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