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The text for Heroic Defiance specifies that it allows you to delay the onset of one harmful condition for one round. Hideous Laughter is unusual in that it has two main effects: 1) It renders the target unable to take any action (but is explicitly NOT helpless), 2) makes them fall prone.
Now, being prone is a condition, so Heroic Defiance should be usable to prevent you from falling prone. But what about the former part? Being unable to take an action (but not stunned, helpless, or anything else like that) means that it isn't actually a condition, so doesn't meet the literal interpretation of the feat.
This question thus has two parts:
1) Could Heroic Defiance prevent the "take no action" part of the spell's effects, since it is essentially a condition but isn't explicitly listed as such?
2) In the case of a spell inflicting multiple effects simultaneously, does a feat such as Heroic Defiance only affect part of the results, or all of them. (for instance, in this case would it prevent the target from falling prone, but doesn't stop the laughter?)
For the record, in our campaign I ruled according to the literal interpretation, and the DM agreed with it: That my PC didn't fall down, but couldn't take any actions due to laughter.
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3) The last question that this brings to mind on a related note: Hideous Laughter allows a second save the next round. If one failed the first save, and used Heroic Defiance to avoid falling down, does one roll the second save the next round before the prone part actually kicks in? Or does the second save not get rolled until the spell has *fully* taken effect for one round? If one takes the line that Heroic Defiance could, in fact delay the onset of both aspects of the spell at once (perhaps through multiple usages - I'm playing the Unbreakable fighter archetype which gives multiples usages of the feat at high levels), would one be able to make the second save before having suffered any ill-effect? Or would one have to suffer a round of spell effects before making the second save?
Actually, this is more of a general question: When does one make the second save for an effect that has been delayed by Heroic Defiance? On the next round before the effects actually kick in, or on the 3rd round after the effects have actually had a round of effect?
I am not 100% sure the feat could even prevent going prone. As prone is not a harmful condition.
After all, most people sleep prone and regain hit points while they rest. Also if you want +4 to AC vs ranged attacks, go prone.
True, but when I'm surrounded by hostile combatants beating on me with swords, I consider going prone to be an extremely harmful condition....
Hmmmm... On second reading, the text for "Heroic Defiance" stipulates that it can delay the onset of a "harmful condition OR affliction." which would seem to indicate that it could include anything, including dangerously all consuming laugher, that one could be afflicted with.