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Another poster in another thread made a comment that reminded me about an old bee thats been buzzing round in my bonnet.

Whats a Character? eg. the Deaths Head spell targets "one character" per rnd. Also the Frighten Talent involves staring into a Characters eyes. I recall an old thread which generously said being a Talent you might allow the Frighten Talent to affect cows with a negative but the spell wouldn't work on animals or creatures.

Going futher Suffocation and Phantom Fireball also says Charaters so does that mean many illusions don't affect animals? (PS thanks to The Gun Nut for bringing this up but figured it deserved a seperate thread)

Character basically is anything and everything.
Though you can (and are expected to) make a call for specific situations because we can't plan for every contingency (changing yourself into a raging bull with an illusion spell might frighten people and kittens, but not Horrors, and might get you the wrong kind of attention from a cow...).

Character also distinguishes from target, especially for spells: you pick targets, but characters are automatically affected (friend and foe).

Yes.
Both say you target.
(In "target character" the "target" takes priority. "Character" would just distinguish from something such as "target item" or "target creature".)

OK so this response isn't just about the dfinition of a character but if I started a seperate thread on fear I would loose all the important targeting references above.

So leaving illusions to the side and working through an example like the Deaths Head spell. It says

"transforms the magician’s head into a gore-spattered skull, terrifying those whom he sets his gaze on.... If successful, he may target one character within line of sight each round, making an Effect Test against the target’s Spell Defense as a Simple Action. If successful, the target flees from the magician at his fastest possible Movement Rate until out of line of sight. An affected target may make a Willpower Test against the Effect Step. If successful, he throws off the effect of the fear, otherwise he continues to flee. .."

So it isn't an illusion it actually transforms the casters head into a gore splattered skull and you have no choice in that.

Arma's response was that..

"Character basically is anything and everything. Though you can (and are expected to) make a call for specific situations "

A) So would it be reasonable to say a gore splateered skull would affect any humanoids with say things like gorilla's getting a bonus as their skulls are a slightly different shape, while mountain lions wouldn't be affected at all? Or is it a feeling of magical fear so doesn't really matter what race the target is?

B) Then extending to the Frighten Talent which say "adept scares another by staring silently into the character’s eyes and making a Frighten Test against the target’s Spell Defense" this would then work on the afore mentioned mountain lion as it uses a mechanism that isn't species specific? and finally ..

C) how does fear actually work? OK Nethermancers turn, he uses Deaths Head (or Frighten) and looks at an eligble target, beats their spell defence so they are affected. Do they run away (2X move) immediately or in their next turn, or do they just move away at normal rate in their turn while shooting missle weapons at the Nethermancers allies?

Also the WP test. Does the caster cast, the target doesn't move till its turn at which point it immediately gets a WP test so even though it failed its spell defence its WP test may stop it being affected and it can act normally? I assume the WP is a free action or is it that while he is out of sight of the caster he can free shoot at his allies but he must actually spend a standard action to make the WP test to actively try to break the fear if they choose to?

Many Thanks

A&B: they both actually say "character", there's no real difference there.
Character, in a way, leans towards Namegivers. It could be left out otherwise, in the descriptions. That'd be quite specific, though, and rob you of the possibility to say that a gorilla has a human-like understanding of fear (on top, it's a magical effect, you don't necessarily need to understand that a skeletal head is frightening, just like you don't need to know that fire is hot to be scorched by a fireball...).
Here's where I come back to the call the GM has got to make. The target of these abilities is usually in the GM's control. And the GM decides whether or not it has an understanding of fear (not only in that instance, but on a campaign-wide level). Even if you say all animals do, there's plants that work as creatures, so do they know fear?

C: as fast as possible means using Running, perhaps even Sprint. All when it's the target's normal turn, though.

D: The WIL Test is made on the target's turn, first order of business. If it beats the DN, it won't run.
Here's a copy and paste from a general guideline on how such resistance tests work, because there's several types:

a) An (one) initial Test that completely resists the effect. This is an automatic test, and it's free. This is similar to how poison works. Other tests for the options below may still follow.
b) Chances for a test each round against a hindering effect that still allows you to act freely ("you are Harried until you succeed at a WIL Test"). This takes a Standard Action unless otherwise noted, you are put to the choice to either go on with a hindrance, or sacrifice a round to overcome the effect, continuing without impediment afterwards.
c) Chances for a test each round against an effect that makes it impossible to act (Terror) or forces your actions (you got to flee). These are automatic and free in actuality, because you really can't do anything else. So you roll these every round anyway.

I would think that it is an exception. Walking slowly away from the target probably wasn't declared beforehand, either.

I understand that it's not a combat option. My post should have read like this:

Walking slowly away from the target probably wasn't declared beforehand, either.*

*This comment may have contained sarcasm.

But seriously, who's going to announce that they're using the Running combat option in case they get hit with a fear effect? The effect circumvents anything that they had planned and changes it. That's the whole point of the effect.