Swallow whole vs saves


Rules Questions


If a wizard gets swallowed by a huge creature and the wizard makes the concentration check to cast a fireball inside the stomach does the creature get a reflex save ???


Going by the book, you always get a save, even when it makes very little sense.

A GM might rule-of-cool it and make the creature fail its save automatically, but that does raise issues of consistency - can the wizard save if he's still trapped inside the creature? What about someone who's asleep? What about someone in a narrow corridor with nothing to hide behind?


Does that count for reflex saves ?? Or just fort and will saves when your inside a creature ??

Liberty's Edge

RAW you can always try to save (if the effect allows a save, obviously). It works for every kind of save.

The GM can add circumstance bonuses or penalties if he thinks they are warranted, but the target can always try to save. In saves there is a factor of luck. Maybe your fireball was mostly absorbed by some undigested food, not the stomach walls. Or there was a lot of acid in the stomach and the heat was somewhat mitigated.


Old thread on always getting a reflex save. Paralyzed/helpless creatures are treated as having a Dex of zero, which means they're worse at reflex saves. You could apply a similar effect here, but it would be a house rule.

Liberty's Edge

Swallow Whole (Ex) wrote:


A swallowed creature keeps the grappled condition, while the creature that did the swallowing does not.
Grappled wrote:


Grappled creatures cannot move and take a –4 penalty to Dexterity.

So, the swallowed creature has a -2 to Reflex saves.


When you are swallowed whole you take damage each round in addition to gaining the grappled condition. That would be considered continuous damage and require a concentration check in addition to the check for being grappled. Assuming the caster makes both concentration checks to cast the spell the creature swallowing the caster would get a reflex save vs the fire ball.

The caster is also going to take the fireball damage and will require to make the save with the penalty for being grappled.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Swallow whole vs saves All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Rules Questions