Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="tetrasodium" data-source="post: 9249781" data-attributes="member: 93670">I'm not sure what you are getting at by referencing the paralyzed condition(dex=0 & helpless+can't move) because I'm missing the relevance in your statement to the post it was quoting.   I was on the fence if [USER=23751]@Maxperson[/USER] 's claim could be the RAW or just bad recollection & internet wisdom repetition. It sounds like[spoiler="PHB134 &136 'dexterity modifier"]There was a sidebar about something else on 135Dexterity Modifier: If your Dexterity is high, you are adept at dodging blows. If your Dexterity is low, you are inept at it. That’s why you apply your Dexterity modifier to your AC.Note that armor limits your Dexterity bonus, so if you’re wearing armor, you might not be able to apply your whole Dexterity bonus to your AC (see Table 7–6: Armor and Shields, page 123).Sometimes you can’t use your Dexterity bonus (if you have one) If you can’t react to a blow, you can’t use your Dexterity bonus to AC. (If you don’t have a Dexterity bonus, nothing happens.) You lose your Dexterity bonus when, for example, an invisible opponent attacks you, you’re hanging on the face of a crumbling cliff high above a river of lava, or you’re caught flat-footed at the beginning of a combat.[/spoiler]Looks pretty explicit that he was right but I'm going to include the other relevant rules bits I collected first just for completeness  & because I already copy/pasted them into spoilers before getting to dex mod specifically[spoiler="phb137 'flat footed'"]Flat-Footed: At the start of a battle, before you have had a chance to act (specifically, before your first regular turn in the initiative order), you are flat-footed. You can’t use your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) while flat-footed. (This fact can be very bad for you if you’re attacked by rogues.) Barbarians and rogues have the uncanny dodge extraordinary ability, which allows them to avoid losing their Dexterity bonus to AC due to being flat-footed. A flat-footed character can’t make attacks of opportunity.[/spoiler][spoiler="phb137 'surprise round'"]them.The Surprise Round: If some but not all of the combatants are aware of their opponents, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. Any combatants aware of the opponents can act in the surprise round, so they roll for initiative. In initiative order (highest to lowest), combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a standard action during the surprise round (see Standard Actions, page 139). You can also take free actions during the surprise round, at the DM’s discretion. If no one or everyone is surprised, no surprise round occurs.Unaware Combatants: Combatants who are unaware at the start of battle don’t get to act in the surprise round. Unaware combatants are flat-footed because they have not acted yet, so they lose any Dexterity bonus to AC.[/spoiler][spoiler="phb308 glossary 'flat footed'"]flat-footed: Especially vulnerable to attacks at the beginning of a battle. Characters are flat-footed until their first turns in the initiative cycle. A flat-footed creature loses its Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) and cannot make attacks of opportunity.[/spoiler] [spoiler="PHB310 glossary 'Modifier'"]modifier: Any bonus or penalty applying to a die roll. A positive modifier is a bonus, and a negative modifier is a penalty. Modifiers from the same source do not stack, and modifiers with specific descriptors generally do not stack with others of the same type. If more than one modifier of a type is present, only the best bonus or worst penalty in that grouping applies. Bonuses or penalties that do not have descriptors stack with those that do.[/spoiler][spoiler="phb314 glossary 'surprise'"]surprise: A special situation that occurs at the beginning of a battle if some (but not all) combatants are unaware of their opponents’ presence. In this case, a surprise round happens before regular rounds begin. In initiative order (highest to lowest), those combatants who started the battle aware of their opponents each take a partial action during the surprise round. Creatures unaware of opponents are flat-footed through the entire surprise round and do not enter the initiative cycle until the first regular combat round.[/spoiler][/spoiler]</blockquote>

Verification