Phobias

Phobia or Mania

A character afflicted by a phobia or a mania persistently fears a particular object or situation. She realizes that the fear is excessive and irrational, but the fear is disturbing enough that she avoids the stimulus.

Phobia

A DC 15 Will check is required for a character to be able to force herself into (or remain within) the presence of the object of her phobia, and even then the character takes a -2 morale penalty as long as the object of fear remains. In severe cases, the object of the phobia is imagined to be omnipresent, perhaps hidden—thus, someone with severe acrophobia (fear of heights) might be frightened when in an enclosed room on the upper story of a building, even if there were no window or other way to see how high up the room was. As many phobias exist as one cares to notice or name—the lists provided below cover merely some of the more common phobias that might affect d20 characters.

Mania

Manias are rarer than phobias. A character affected by a mania is inordinately fond of a particular stimulus and takes great pains to be with it or near it. When the character’s sexuality is involved, the mania may be termed a fetish. Thus, teratophobia would be an inordinate fear of monsters, while teratophilia would be an unhealthy (possibly sexual) attraction to them. See the following lists of phobias for ideas on what sorts of disorders could manifest as manias.

Real-World Phobias

The following list provides examples of phobias from the real world that lend themselves to inclusion in a d20 campaign.

Certain real-world phobias can easily be broadened to include monstrous creatures and specific magic effects in a fantasy environment. For example, ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) could be extended to include medusae and other snakelike creatures, or ichthyophobia (fear of fish) could be extended to include aquatic creatures with fishlike qualities, such as the locathah and the sahuagin.

Fantastic Phobias

With some imagination and a little knowledge about how “phobia” terms are formed (most come from ancient Greek words), it’s possible to come up with a list of phobias tailored to a fantasy setting. The following list is provided as a starting point.