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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7219122" data-attributes="member: 53980">I doubt that a player would want to do that all the time. You'd need a very unusual concept for that.Just because it is so easy as a game mechanic, doesn't mean that the characters know that it's that easy (unless the campaign concept is something extremely meta, like players who've been sucked into an MMO).As for why not do it from a player perspective? That's really up to the group/player. Some groups will want to regularly take prisoners. Some won't. This makes both options equally valid.If subdual attacks are sub-par, then Joe might catch flak from the group for playing a character who refuses to kill. On the other hand, the 5e RAW allows him to be just as effective as any other member of the party.I've actually had a player who narrated their character as attacking with everything they had, but declaring that the character automatically missed because he didn't want to steal another player's kill. There's a mile of difference between narrating that something unfortunate happens to you character and throwing out randomness altogether.Actually, as  [MENTION=20564]Blue[/MENTION] pointed out, this rule is quite flawed. You can game it to actually boost your damage (because forgoing the lower damage roll is the same as rolling the damage with advantage). Why would attempting a subdual attack and then deciding at the last second to deal lethal damage lead to more damage than a normal attack?Most of the time, subduing an enemy is a serious inconvenience. Granted, if you happen to fight someone that you need to interrogate that's one thing, but how often does that happen? Killing the enemy is typically much more convenient because you don't have to worry about what to do with them afterwards. It's one thing to kill someone in the heat of battle while they're trying to kill you, but most people would say that it is a very different thing altogether to kill that same guy once you have him helpless and at your mercy. Subduing the enemy leads to something I very much like to encourage. Namely, role playing! Conversely, if you penalize subdual attacks then IMO you are prompting your players to be murderhobos. The rules are how the players (but not their characters) interface with the game. Reward something and your players are likely to engage in such behavior again. Penalize something and they will be far less likely to do so in the future.</blockquote>

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