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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fanboy2000" data-source="post: 4549755" data-attributes="member: 19998">No one's going to read a post this long....Has anyone here had sleep paralysis? (I’m actually going somewhere with this. Whether or not I want to go there is a different matter….)I have. For anyone unfamiliar with it, sleep paralysis is when a person wakes-up but can’t move. The mechanism that allows conscious movement hasn’t turned back on yet. When I get, It can take me a little while (a few seconds that seem a lot longer given that I just woke-up) to do something like twitch my fingers. I don’t consider trying to twitch my fingers an action. The definition of sleep paralysis is that I can’t take any actions, I’m paralyzed. My point is that our bodies do a lot of things without conscious input. (Unconscious actions.) But those actions can take conscious input if we so wish. I good example is breathing. People breath continuously, if all is going well, but rarely is any conscious control exerted over the process. Of course, people can exert conscious control over their breathing. They can breath deeply, shallowly, quickly, slowly, and sigh. (This is not a closed list.) My point is that breathing, something we can exert control over, isn’t typically considered an action. If Link tells Mario that Luigi is just standing around doing nothing, Mario doesn't assume that Luigi has stopped breathing. Nor is any voluntary breathing movement ruled out by the statement.Our bodies spend a lot energy keeping us alive without any conscious input. Out hearts beat, our lungs breath, and out white blood cells fight off infections without input.  In game, this concept applies to “actions” (for want of a better word) that don’t count as actions. 3.5 codified this concept with the sentence “The melee combat rules assume that combatants are actively avoiding attacks.” The 3.5 PHB goes on to explain: “[e]ven if a character’s miniature figure is just standing there on the battle grid, you can be sure that if some orc with a falchion attacks the character, she is weaving, dodging, and even threatening the orc with a weapon to keep the orc a little worried for his own hide.” [pg 137] It’s possible that assumption has changed in 4e, but I doubt it.This seems to say to me that the game assumes certain things aren’t actions in need of separate mechanical resolution, they’re subsumed in other actions. Dodging and weaving is covered by the attack mechanic, for instance. When a person has been severely wounded, it makes sense that the body would take steps to heal itself and, if it knows it is in imminent danger, to get-up and fight off the threat. When a person is unconscious, no conscious thought can be put it the process. (The way a boxer might put conscious thought into getting up after a heavy blow.) But, if the person regains consciousness, then thought can be put into the process of recovery and defense. The conscious thought would accelerate the recovery of the body to the point where it can fend off danger. It seems possible that a person, trained in inspiring people, can 1) make an unconscious person conscious, and 2) cause that person to start pumping adrenaline so as to get up and fight. That said, a more rules oriented approach is necessary.Actions in combatThe 4e PHB has a table of actions in on pg 289. At the bottom of that table is a category called “No action.” There is only one thing in that category, delay. (3.5 had this category as well.) Are there other things in this category that aren’t on the list? Possibly, the 4e PHB alludes to this on 286 when it tells the reader to use the list as a guideline for actions not covered in the rules. But does this list cover “actions” that are in the rules, but are not assigned an action category? I would hope so. The 4e PHB says flatly that when a character’s hit points go from negative to positive for any reason that person goes from unconscious to conscious. Now, it makes sense that a person’s body is busy try to sort the situation out itself, that’s what the death save is about. It also makes sense that outside influences and accelerate this process and revive a person from unconsciousness. That’s what doctors do. This idea of the body working automatically, even with outside or conscious prodding, leads me to conclude that going from unconscious to conscious in 4e is probably “no action.” When a PC is down to negative hit points, the PC’s body takes unconscious steps to repair itself and fight off any imminent danger. Any thoughts a PC may have regarding this while unconscious (or some primal attempt to fight back regardless of the state of the body) are “no actions” by the rules. (Sense the rules systems refers to PCs doing something without classifying the actions bolsters this conclusion for me. If it was another kind of action like an interrupt, then the game effects would be slightly different and probably warrant closer scrutiny.)When another PC, who is playing a leader who’s training specifically includes ways to keep others fighting effectively, uses words to “heal” the other PC, I would characterize the actions as follows: Healing Word Itself: Minor Action (says so right in the power)Target PC going from conscious to unconscious: No action (for reasons stated above)Target PC spending a healing surge: No action (the spending of healing surge in 4e seems to always be subsumed in another action.)Getting up from prone: Move action taken on the target PC’s next turn.</blockquote>

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