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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 4005265" data-attributes="member: 2067">My favorite points:#1: Bad things should happen to characters, not players. It's bad for a player if he can't play.#2: Having bad things happening to characters is good. Having BORING things happening to characters is bad.Oddly, this convo mirrors the "should PC's die?" debate pretty strongly. Death is like Paralysis Times A Million. And the same reasoning is used: there are more interesting things for PC's to do than NOTHING.Still, I am of the opinion that "dazed" is kind of weak sauce for the mind flayer. The idea should be not to penalize the PC, but to make them (and, to a lesser extent, the player) feel helpless. The idea is that you can't stop the twisting tentacles and the deadly embrace that leads to your horrific death. That's a potent little piece of drama, there, and 4e doesn't have it quite right. They give you the feeling of mental anguish, but not the feeling of helplessness that, IMO, makes the Mind Flayer truly frightening.What might be good, taking into account the "Go To Jail" comparison in Monopoly, is if it paralyzes. Maybe even gradually in a kind of "Wisdom Damage" way, where it happens gradually.BUT, because the character is still aware, they can try to "throw off" the paralyzation. They can still save against it while paralyzed (or, following the 4e model of Defenses, they can choose to roll their Defense instead of assuming Base 10). They might take a little bit of 'psychic' damage each round they try this. They might also spend an action point or a 'second wind' to automatically succeed on their save. They can choose to take a lot of damage (buckets o' hp lost) in exchange for throwing off the effect (very heroic!). They might elect to 'shut off' their mind, entering a rage-like state that ends with them being Dominated. The idea is to keep the feeling of helplessness that total inaction gives the character (You can't run. You can't hide. You are totally exposed. Death is coming for you and you can't close your eyes) while still giving them some options, even at a cost. And that way, characters who are running low on hp, who don't have a second wind or an action point, who can't risk flying into a rage or being dominated after the fact....the risk of being totally helpless is still quite dramatically there. Heck, I'd even be happy with the Mind Blast doing damage, with the special rule that if this damage 'drops' the character, they remain completely aware of their surroundings, but cannot act (they're paralyzed, not bleeding). That way, you're not any worse off for it, but it's a bit more horrific.</blockquote>

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