Ye Olde Inn

The Admiral wrote:Can a hero, paralysed by a cloud of chaos spell, take a healing potion to save themselves from death?

Good question. The Cloud of Chaos Spell Card reads as follows:

This spell paralyzes all Heroes located in the same room or corridor. A paralyzed Hero is unable to move, attack, or defend himself. The spell can be broken at once or on a future turn by each victim rolling one red die for each of his Mind Points. By rolling a 6, the Hero frees himself.

I guess the argument is whether the first sentence, which states the general effect of the spell paralyzing Heroes, supercedes the specially stated limitations of the second sentence (no attack, defense, or movement.) If so, the paralyzation can be considered to also prevent the drinking of potions and other activities not defined as an action. Otherwise, paralyzation is simply and fully defined as not being able to attack, defend, or move.

Well, consider that the spell only ends after a 6 is rolled. It is entirely possible for that a Hero won't do this until after combat is finished. Should a paralyzed Hero be allowed to perform other actions not specifically listed by the spell, such as searching for treasure or disarming a trap? I'd say that runs contrary to the listed prohibitions so strongly as to render the general meaning of paralyzation as ludicrous. I feel the designer of Cloud of Chaos gave the players credit in figuring out the inclusive logic behind the word: no activity--listed or otherwise--is allowed. That includes casting spells, as well.

TL;DR: No--a Hero paralyzed by Cloud of Chaos can't save himself by drinking a healing potion.

I would houserule the spell like this:

This spell paralyzes all Heroes located in the same room or corridor. A paralyzed Hero is unable to perform any actions including but not limited to move, attack, or defend himself.

But RAW is extremely simple. It tells you affected heroes are paralyzed. Then it proceeds to explain what being paralyzed does. It prevents moving, attacking and defending. Nothing more nothing less.
If you just want to play by the rules, YES! A hero can drink a potion, search and even cast spells.

Not being able to do anything at all is the more thematic and logical way to play it in my opinion.

Potion of Healing - Beer hat... Potion of healing in hollow-tooth capsule, or just the Suburban Commando somehow he already had it ready to go at the last second, method.

Zargon's call, but that's how I would explain it working in a "realistic" manner.

RAW seems to indicate that drinking a potion is NOT an action, so even if you houseruled Cloud of Chaos to affect all actions, it would STILL allow the Hero to use a Potion of Healing.

The ONLY way Cloud of Chaos could prevent using a Potion of Healing would be to houserule Cloud of Chaos to affect ALL actions, and ALSO houserule that using a Healing Potion is an action.