[RPG] Does Haunting Mists deal Wisdom damage once, or repeatedly

pathfinder-1espells

Haunting Mists is a 2nd level spell for Wizards, Sorcerers, Bards and Witches. It seems a pretty nice spell, with some good effects. The spell does some Wisdom damage, however, and I am unsure on how to interpret this, since it seems different from other Fog-Like spells.

An illusion of misty vapor inhabited by shadowy shapes arises around
you. It is stationary. The illusory mist obscures all sight, including
darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature 5 feet away has concealment
(attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total
concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight to
locate the target). All creatures within the mist must save or take
1d2 points of Wisdom damage and gain the shaken condition
. The shaken
condition lasts as long as the creature remains in the mist.

Emphasis mine.

The bolded text says that all creatures on the within the fog must save or take 1d2 points of Wisdom damage. OK. I get that. However…

  • How many times this damage happens? At first I thought that this would deal 1d2 Wis damage only once, but then I looked at other Fog Spells (Notably Cloudkill) and started wondering if this damage happens only once or every turn that the creature remains inside.
  • If this damage happens only once, what happens to a creature that leaves the Haunting Mists, and then enter it again?

Ongoing Research:

Haunting Mists says it is a Figment, however Figment Spells can't do damage:

Figments and glamers cannot cause damage to objects or creatures, support weight,
provide nutrition, or provide protection from the elements

While Haunting Mists in fact do damage:

All creatures within the mist must save or take 1d2 points of Wisdom damage

So, it seens to me that:

  1. Or Haunting Mists type is wrong, and it should be a Conjuration Spell, or

  2. It subschool is wrong, and it should be Shadow instead of Figment, since Shadow Illusions can do real damage. Note that while this spell use the Shadow Descriptor, it is not a Shadow Illusion, and that makes no sense, but go figures!

Best Answer

Looking deep into the spell

The spell states that it is an illusion (figment) [fear, shadow] spell, meaning that it has two parts the [fear] and the [shadow]. The spell goes on to describe that the shadow part has a quality that obscures vision and provides concealment, that much is understood. The fear portion of the spell is the "Illusion of misty vapor inhabited by shadowy shapes that arises around you". The (figment) tells us this "A figment spell creates a false sensation. Those who perceive the figment perceive the same thing, not their own slightly different versions of the figment. It is not a personalized mental impression." This tells us that the spell does not change, and that the shadowy images and shapes that dwell within the mist do not change or get worse, they are the same for everyone.

This means that the spell is not doing physical harm to your body, but instead the images are scaring you mentally (The wisdom damage). It is not a gaseous vapor that you are inhaling every 6 seconds, it is a shadowy illusion spell that has a specific impression meant to mentally scar you. You are either fooled by it or you are not. You don't simply believe that the shadowy shapes and misty vapor is indeed a spell fooling you one second, and six seconds later completely believe they are real. Cloudkill requires a save every round because you are still subjecting your body to the poisons, the illusions on the other hand are figments, they do not physically harm your body.

Fear effects are compounding.

The bottom of the spell description states that "All creatures within the mist must save or take 1d2 points of Wisdom damage and gain the shaken condition." Under the fear description (page 563 cr) it states "In most cases, the character makes a Will saving throw to resist this effect, and a failed roll means that the character is shaken, frightened, or panicked.", it goes on to say that "Fear effects are cumulative, a shaken character who is made shaken again becomes more frightened, and a shaken character who is made frightened becomes panicked." This addresses the "shaken" part of the fear spell.

Final Conclusion

A creature would only make a save. If they fail their save, they are mentally scared and take 1-2 points of wisdom damage on top of being shaken for as long as they remain in the mist. Leaving the mist after failing a save would mean that the character still keeps the wisdom damage, but loses the shaken effect. Should they re-enter it, they would inherit their last fear effect (Shaken, Frightened, Panicked). Fear effects are disbelief based, which means that the second a character makes a successful Will save, they no longer have to make another save, they already know that the spell is just an illusion.

However

It does state that fear spell are compounding, and fear effects go from Shaken to Frightened, Frightened to Panicked. As a DM you could have players make multiple saves should they fail their first one to determine if the level of fear increases, but that is part of the spell is only in place should they already have the shaken condition. The Figment part of the spell suggests that because the spell does not change, the player would not take consecutive wisdom damage, the damage is already dealt upon seeing the shadowy shapes. It is up to you as a DM to decide the final ruling.