Spells such as Hold Person, Hold Monster, or the item Staff of Paralysis have a duration of 1 minute of paralysis, which makes the subject unable to move unless they make a successful wisdom saving throw.
Does that mean that if they were to never succeed (perhaps due to a very low Wisdom), assuming that a round of combat is 6 seconds, that they could be paralyzed for 10 rounds?
As well as after 10 rounds can they be paralyzed again, making them unable to move until they are defeated?
Best Answer
Yes
Yes, if they never succeed on their saving throw, and the caster maintains concentration, they would be paralyzed for 10 turns.
Yes, there is nothing preventing a previously paralyzed creature from becoming paralyzed again so it could be done repeatedly.
However failing the save that many times in a row is unlikely. The table below shows the dice roll required to save on the left versus the number of rounds elapsed along the top. The percentages are the odds of having made the save by the time that round is over. As you can see even for creatures with abysmal saves staying paralyzed for 10 rounds is unlikely.
Save Rounds elapsed