Panic Spell and area spells

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Maintenance has nothing to do with it. You're maintaining the spell on all those original victims -- like a Regular spell -- and not on the area. As a general rule, Area spells are simply a way to mass-cast Regular spells on lots of people. Very few Area spells create a persistent zone of magic, and those that do usually say so.

Huh... I guess that explains the relatively low energy cost, then. And when maintained, it's only on victims that remain in the original AoE, right?

[transmetahuman]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Huh... I guess that explains the relatively low energy cost, then. And when maintained, it's only on victims that remain in the original AoE, right?

No, anyone who was in the area at the moment the spell was cast will continue to be affected for as long as the spell is maintained.

Originally Posted by Kromm

Thus, when you cast Panic, only the people in the area when the spell goes off are affected. After that, those people remain affected for the duration no matter where they run to, even if it's out of the area . . . which is why the caster can walk around and have them flee. However, there's no "magical area" ongoing for the duration, so no new victims can be affected.

In short, most Area spells are like casting a Regular spell on each individual in the area. They aren't generally persistent effects that imbue the patch of ground itself unless they say so (like, say, Create Fire).

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by transmetahuman

No, anyone who was in the area at the moment the spell was cast will continue to be affected for as long as the spell is maintained.

Ah... I didn't parse it that way, but I believe you're right. Thanks for the correction.

[Azinctus]

Brilliant. That's much clearer now.

LoveJ, you get some sort of vague moving fear effect for the rest of the duration (either your god is giving you some leeway, or people are just intimidated by your fearless antics) but next time you cast panic it works as Kromm described.

[GURPSFredo]

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but does the explanation that Kromm gave means that Slow Time affects only living beings in area affected and not, for instance, falling rain?

[Balor Patch]

No, when specific rules, such as given for Slow Time, are not compatible with a general rule the specific overrides the general.