A Medusa Walks Into A Bar....

[The Spectrum Rider]

I'm curious about exactly when characters must make their first save against a gaze attack. (Assume only a passive gaze attack, without the monster using it actively.)

A medusa walks into a bar. Do characters have to make their saves right away? Or do they wait until it's their turn in the intiative?

Suppose, after the medusa walks in, but before character A's turn, some creature - oh, let's say a blind kobold - does something that provokes an AoO from character A. Does character A get to act on it before looking at the medusa and making a save?

What if it were the medusa provoking an AoO?

The Spectrum Rider

 

[gfunk]

Under GAZE ATTACKS in the 3.5 SRD, you will find the following:

Each character within range of a gaze attack must attempt a saving throw (which can be a Fortitude or Will save) each round at the beginning of his turn.

I take this literally, meaning your actual turn. If you get an AoO before your first action (e.g. through Combat Reflexes) it still does not count as your turn. So you would not have to make the save until your regular action.

 

[shilsen]

What Gfunk said.

Later in the section he quoted, it says that if the creature is actively using its gaze attack, then it is possible "for an opponent to save against a creature's gaze twice during the same round, opnce before its own action and once during the creature's action." Whether the creature with the gaze attack uses it actively or not, characters around it make a save when their turn in the initiative comes up.