Renaissance Man
First Post
Can I speak? Use command words? Cast spells with verbal components?
Poisoned, Strength drained to zero, helpless...
- Thread starter Renaissance Man
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An0nymo|_|s
First Post
actaully, he went comatos. you are in a coma
Andion Isurand
First Post
a coma only occurs when any of the mental scores are reduced to zero
Having your Strength or Dexterity at zero means you can't move, but you can still take purely mental actions
Having your Strength or Dexterity at zero means you can't move, but you can still take purely mental actions
Last edited:
Li Shenron
Legend
Can you move?
Can you stay up on your feet?
Can you make a somatic component gesture?
Clearly No.
Can you think?
Can you see?
Can you cast a spell with no components?
Clearly Yes.
Can you speak?
Can you move your eyes?
Can you breathe?
Clearly Boh. They all require some functionality of the muscles, but I guess nobody is ever going to rule you can't breathe in this case. Anyway, from SRD:
A character with Strength 0 falls to the ground and is helpless.
Helpless
Bound, held, sleeping, paralyzed, or unconscious characters are helpless. Enemies can make advantageous attacks against helpless characters, or even deliver a usually lethal coup de grace.
A melee attack against a helpless character is at a +4 bonus on the attack roll (equivalent to attacking a prone target). A ranged attack gets no special bonus. A helpless defender can't use any Dexterity bonus to AC. In fact, his Dexterity score is treated as if it were 0 and his Dexterity modifier to AC were -5 (and a rogue can sneak attack him).
A character with Dexterity 0 is paralyzed.
Paralyzed
A paralyzed character stands rigid and helpless, unable to move or act physically. He has effective Strength and Dexterity scores of 0 but may take purely mental actions.
Str 0 -> Helpless -> Dex (treated as) 0
Dex 0 -> Paralyzed -> Str (treated as) 0
The problem here is the following:
from the SRD, if you are helpless, your Dex is treated as 0, but you are not necessarily paralyzed (your Dex is NOT 0, just treated as...); otherwise, if you were really paralyzed, you could take only mental action even when you're helpless because you are bound, which obviously does not imply you can't talk.
I wonder if the PHB has a better explanation. In the end it seems that Str 0 and Dex 0 should be quite the same (and the latter specifically says you can only take mental actions), but I couldn't disagree if a DM decides that you can speak when Str 0.
Can you stay up on your feet?
Can you make a somatic component gesture?
Clearly No.
Can you think?
Can you see?
Can you cast a spell with no components?
Clearly Yes.
Can you speak?
Can you move your eyes?
Can you breathe?
Clearly Boh. They all require some functionality of the muscles, but I guess nobody is ever going to rule you can't breathe in this case. Anyway, from SRD:
A character with Strength 0 falls to the ground and is helpless.
Helpless
Bound, held, sleeping, paralyzed, or unconscious characters are helpless. Enemies can make advantageous attacks against helpless characters, or even deliver a usually lethal coup de grace.
A melee attack against a helpless character is at a +4 bonus on the attack roll (equivalent to attacking a prone target). A ranged attack gets no special bonus. A helpless defender can't use any Dexterity bonus to AC. In fact, his Dexterity score is treated as if it were 0 and his Dexterity modifier to AC were -5 (and a rogue can sneak attack him).
A character with Dexterity 0 is paralyzed.
Paralyzed
A paralyzed character stands rigid and helpless, unable to move or act physically. He has effective Strength and Dexterity scores of 0 but may take purely mental actions.
Str 0 -> Helpless -> Dex (treated as) 0
Dex 0 -> Paralyzed -> Str (treated as) 0
The problem here is the following:
from the SRD, if you are helpless, your Dex is treated as 0, but you are not necessarily paralyzed (your Dex is NOT 0, just treated as...); otherwise, if you were really paralyzed, you could take only mental action even when you're helpless because you are bound, which obviously does not imply you can't talk.
I wonder if the PHB has a better explanation. In the end it seems that Str 0 and Dex 0 should be quite the same (and the latter specifically says you can only take mental actions), but I couldn't disagree if a DM decides that you can speak when Str 0.
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