During game play we were victems of the dance of death from those skeletal snake construct monsters I can't recall their name ... necromancy something.
Anyhow the dance cancause the victem to become dazed for a number of rounds. The GM adjudicated that when a character was dazed, he dropped his weapon. I'm notsire it that was right or not.
Secondly, the same creature when it bites can cause paralysis. The GM adjudicated that those paralyzed fell prone.
Neither penalties as far as I know is RAW. Were these just houserules or are they actually RAW?
Houserules.
Your GM was probably confusing Daze with Stunned. As for Paralysis, you are considered helpless and that has the same modifier to your AC that prone does so maybe he confused that too.
If only there was a section of the book that lists conditions and what they do. Your poor DM made stuff up.
...when a character was dazed, he dropped his weapon.
Clearly a houserule, the panicked condition says that the character drops what they are holding but dazed makes no mention of dropping anything. In fact, a dazed character still has full AC, so to me that implies they are still mostly functional.
...those paralyzed fell prone.
While not spelled out, paralyzed does say flying creatures can fall(wings stop) and swimming creatures can drown. I don't think it is a stretch to say there is at least a chance for a paralyzed creature to fall over. I would say it depends on what they are doing. Sitting at a table eating, probably not. Jumping around in combat trying to avoid getting bitten, probably. IMO a case could be made that falling over is RAW (I've seen people argue crazier stuff as RAW). Of course a case could be made that it isn't. Let the trial of "Falling Over" vs "Not Falling Over" begin...
A character drops his weapon when Stunned, not Dazed. Perhaps you were actually stunned?
As for paralysis:
"A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act. A paralyzed character has effective Dexterity and Strength scores of 0 and is helpless, but can take purely mental actions. A winged creature flying in the air at the time that it becomes paralyzed cannot flap its wings and falls. A paralyzed swimmer can't swim and may drown. A creature can move through a space occupied by a paralyzed creature—ally or not. Each square occupied by a paralyzed creature, however, counts as 2 squares to move through."
"A character with a Dexterity score of 0 is incapable of moving and is effectively immobile (but not unconscious)."
"A character with a Strength score of 0 is too weak to move in any way and is unconscious."
"Unconscious creatures are knocked out and helpless."
Yeah, so, it's not explicitly spelled out anywhere (though it is in the playtest of D&D Next), but it's pretty well implied that yes, you'd fall down, too.
The paralysed one is undefined. It doesn't say you do fall over, and I've always played it that paralysed creatures basically stop, statue-like, without falling over, but an over-balanced statue could easily fall over. I think the intent of the rule is that you don't generally fall prone, but now that you mention it, it's certainly open to interpretation.
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Somewhat of a house rule, since raw it doesn't say you fall over, but I mean RAW you don't go prone when you DIE either so thats not saying much.
During game play we were victems of the dance of death from those skeletal snake construct monsters I can't recall their name ... necromancy something.
Necrophidius
Yeah, so, it's not explicitly spelled out anywhere (though it is in the playtest of D&D Next), but it's pretty well implied that yes, you'd fall down, too.
Huh??? No it isn't implied. Paralyzed says exactly what happens..."A paralyzed character is frozen in place and unable to move or act...". All paralyzed does is prevent you from taking any physical actions, hence why physical flyers fall (can't flap wings) and people drown (can't swim). If it meant that you fell down while standing on solid ground it would say so...after all the game does have a defined term for falling down. PRONE.
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Done some research. As stated above, you can move through a space containing a paralysed foe, but it counts as difficult terrain, yet:-
You can't move through a square occupied by an opponent unless the opponent is helpless. You can move through a square occupied by a helpless opponent without penalty.
• A paralysed creature is helpless
• Movement through a helpless foe's square is at no penalty
• Movement through a paralysed foe's square counts a difficult terrain
The only thing that makes sense to me is that paralysed creatures are not prone! If they were prone and helpless, why would they count as difficult terrain given the quote above?
Pretty much what Lab Rat says.
If the character can't move, the only way he can fall or be knocked prone is through being knocked down or through some other force outside the character, such as gravity or other creature actions/environment activity.
Done some research. As stated above, you can move through a space containing a paralysed foe, but it counts as difficult terrain, yet:-
You can't move through a square occupied by an opponent unless the opponent is helpless. You can move through a square occupied by a helpless opponent without penalty.• A paralysed creature is helpless
• Movement through a helpless foe's square is at no penalty
• Movement through a paralysed foe's square counts a difficult terrain
The only thing that makes sense to me is that paralysed creatures are not prone! If they were prone and helpless, why would they count as difficult terrain given the quote above?
The Helpless condition and the Paralyzed condition are two separate conditions.
Yes, the Paralyzed condition says the creature is classified as helpless, but merely for the purposes and/or conditions that must apply in order for some abilities to take effect.
The other important thing to note is that Paralyzed characters/creatures still allow what you described above, but at a caveat; that the movement to go into that square is doubled. If it were a creature that merely had the Helpless condition, the caveat would not apply.
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I mostly agree with what people have said in this thread, but I thought I'd just throw in some food for thought. ;-)
A pet peeve of mine is calling something a "house rule" when it's just a honest mistake. House rules are deliberate changes to what the gaming group perceives as being the "RAW". Usually their purpose is to make the game better for the group, somehow. More importantly, house rules are something that the GM has communicated to the group before using the new rules (though sometimes GMs forget to...) I believe what the GM did was just a mistake from his part, not a house rule.
