Pathfinder 1E Paralyzed = Prone?

[Marshall Gatten]

Personally, I've always thought it was silly to have rigid paralysis at all. A paralyzed person can't stand, no matter how carefully you try to balance them on their feet. Their legs are more speghetti-like than stone-like. A standing person truly paralyzed would fall in a heap and be prone and unable to move on their own. But the rules specify that they are rigid. Silly rule, but there it is. My ruling that paralyzed people can't balance due to the rigidity is my compromise between rules and logic: Okay, they are stiff - so stiff that they still fall down.

Mind effects, on the other hand, are entirely different. Hold Person, for instance, won't make you fall down: It makes your mind want you to be still. Physical paralysis means you're on the floor. While on the floor, the rules say you're stiff. Fine. But you're still on the floor. Mental paralysis causes your mind to stop your body where it is and makes it stay there, allowing the fine balance adjustments to make that possible.

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[Ahnehnois]

This would be one of those places where rules aren't medically accurate. If they were really paralyzed, they'd suffocate fairly quickly.

 

[orion90000]

First, when (most) people go to sleep, their brains trigger paralysis on the body to keep them in bed instead of acting out their dreams. This is how I interpret how hold person works.

Can they fall over? yes
Can they move their arms? no.