Players are in battle and one of the pc’s is paralyzed. (Crit failed against the spell Paralyze).
The pc in question is a Liberator Champion.
Now being paralyzed states: “…and can't act except to Recall Knowledge and use actions that require only the use of your mind (as determined by the GM).”
Would they be able to use their Liberating Step or not?
I would say yes, but if your question is "can they use Liberating Step to free themselves" then the answer is no
An enemy damages, Grabs, or Grapples your ally, and both are within 15 feet of you.You are not your own ally
I should have clarified. Not use it on themselves, but if the paralyzed champion can use liberating step on the ally and enemy who triggered Liberating Step.
I’m leaning towards “Yes,” they can. As stated by cavernshark. There aren’t any traits nor descriptive text that indicates the champion must be able to move/speak to do their reaction.
However, I wasn’t 100% certain if I was missing a rule or not.
A GM should always be careful about saying no when a player comes up with a use for some weird clutch ability that otherwise gets few uses.
This is an opportunity for a liberator champion to finally feel like their wonky ability has value. Liberator's ability is one that so often is seen as 'much weaker than what LG or NG Champions gets. Here you have a rarer sort of attack that totally devastates a PC - and the two things finally line up for a moment that this player gets to shine.
Let the player have the win. Don't worry if technically it's unclear.
If this was a common ability, then I'd call uncertainty the other way.
Like "Can I recall knowledge to know that?" - that's just a generic skill use, so my "rule of cool" says no if it's not sure.
But "Can I use this weird thing on my character sheet that hasn't come up once in 27 game sessions, to stop that one weird monster power that we've never been hit with before - even though it's the major scene with that ability being 'the thing' that was to challenge us and my use would give us a massive edge?"
- Uncertainty here goes for the player.
Anytime the result would leave the players telling stories about it for years to come - give them the stories to tell.
Remember when you use some rare ability to take them out the only one who ever wants to hear your cool story of how you did a TPK is yourself. But when they get to use some rare ability to avert disaster everyone wants to hear the story - even randos on the Internet - and they will pat both you and that player on the back for creating cool memories together.
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I took Liberating Step through a multiclass and I have to say, it's not weak. If you read carefully, you see that it also works after a regular hit, there doesn't need to be any grabbing involved.
So shenanigans you can do include:
* Monster spends one action to move to a PC, second to attack and is about to do a third - but then your ally steps away. Monster has one action left and doesn't have anyone in reach to attack.
* PC steps out of being flanked / sneak attacked.
* PC steps into position to flank the enemy
* PC steps away just before enemy can spend their next action to Grab or Rend
* PC steps away in the middle of an enemy's multi-attack routine like Draconic Frenzy
That said, I'd allow it while paralyzed because it doesn't require you to move or speak.
Paladin's reaction attacks the enemy's HP - so it is often considered the best by those who measure effectiveness of a character by their DPR. But I don't agree. I think it is actually the weakest of the three Good Champion reactions.
Redeemer attacks the enemy's attacking chances.
Liberator attacks the enemy's actions.
Liberator's ability is one that so often is seen as 'much weaker than what LG or NG Champions gets.
It's generally only seen that way by people that haven't actually played with Liberating Step or considered just what it can do. Not by people that are really familiar with all three of those reactions.