paralyzed question

[borc killer]

Last time my group got together we had an interesting issue come up.

The cleric was hit with a poison arrow that did 3d6 str damage. Took him down to 8 or 9.

He cast a spell out of the CD… something like Storm Surge or Storm Rage or something like that. Anyway the effect was that he could Fly and shoot lighting out of his eyes (and also had a wind wall effect that no one noticed till after the fight so just ignore that part). Well anyway he was hit by a second arrow and was brought to 0 str and thus paralyzed.

Could he have used a standard action to shot the lighting out of his eyes? I ruled no as paralyzed says you cannot take an action. However the players argued that this was a purely mental action, which disagreed with and we moved on. So... was a that a purely mental action and can you even use mental actions when you are paralyzed?

Thanks

 

[darthkilmor]

Paralyzed

A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can’t swim and may drown. A creature can move through a space occupied by a paralyzed creature—ally or not. Each square occupied by a paralyzed creature, however, counts as 2 squares.

Unless the lighting out of the eyes is a kind of gaze attack, IE he actually needs to Look at his target, I'd guess the player might be right, mental action. (without the spell text though its hard to say for sure.)

 

[borc killer]

Unless the lighting out of the eyes is a kind of gaze attack, IE he actually needs to Look at his target, I'd guess the player might be right, mental action. (without the spell text though its hard to say for sure.)

I'll try and pull the spell out tonight. It said "as a standared action" and says nothing about it being a mental action.

 

[blargney the second]

I'd let him use it. (subject to change depending on spell text)

 

[moritheil]

Stormrage is a pretty high level spell. I'd probably allow it. It's not like those lightning bolts are infinite in supply, anyhow.