How much subdual damage can something (e.g., a Troll) take?

[Cloudgatherer]

The rules already state that enough subdual will kill you (and it makes sense), so this should already be a fact that your players are aware of. If not, let them learn the hard way. They won't forget it after that. Still, that should be player knowledge.

Echo Negative Zero....reference?

 

[Gromm]

Subdual damage can't kill you.
Chopping a troll into mincemeat just makes it take that much longer to get up, you can't kill it that way. It will regenerate eventually.
As far as beating someone to death, it does happen in real life, but in the game they avoid it. You could rule 0 it that any damage past a certain point starts to deal real damage to a non-regenerating creature, but that becomes hard to deal with and awkward. Just have the captive fake unconsciousness and heal all his subdual damage and wait for a chance to escape.
Beating someone into submission isn't a threat unless you start to do real damage, or they're really afraid of pain.

 

[Iku Rex]

Chopping a troll into mincemeat just makes it take that much longer to get up, you can't kill it that way. It will regenerate eventually.

Regeneration does not protect you from suffocation. IMO chopping a trolls head off will most likely kill it. Cutting it into small pieces will definitely keep the various parts from getting any oxygen.

(Remember that trolls have changed since AD&D. No more body parts crawling around.)

 

[kreynolds]

could you you post the relevant rule book page that says this? pleeze?

Uhmm...yeah....apparently those rules only exhist in my head. I was thinking of environmental effects/damage after you fall unconscious.

 

[Artoomis]

SUBDUAL DAMAGE
Sometimes a character gets roughed up or weakened. This sort of stress won't kill a character, but it can knock a character out or make a character faint.
Nonlethal damage is subdual damage. If a character takes sufficient subdual damage, the character falls unconscious, but the character doesn't die.
Dealing Subdual Damage
Certain attacks deal subdual damage. Other stresses, such as heat or exhaustion, also deal subdual damage. When a character takes subdual damage, keep a running total of how much a has accumulated. Do not deduct the subdual damage number from a character's current hit points. It is not "real" damage. Instead, when a character's subdual damage equals a character's current hit points, the character is staggered, and when it exceeds a character's current hit points, the character goes unconscious. It doesn't matter whether the subdual damage equals or exceeds a character's current hit points because the subdual damage has gone up or because a character's current hit points have gone down.
A character can use a melee weapon that deals normal damage to deal subdual damage instead, but the character suffer a -4 penalty on the attack roll.
A character can use a weapon that deals subdual damage, including an unarmed strike, to deal normal damage instead, but the character suffers a -4 penalty on the attack roll.
Staggered and Unconscious
When a character's subdual damage exactly equals a character's current hit points, the character is staggered. The character is so badly weakened or roughed up that the character can only take a partial action each round. A character ceases being staggered when the character's hit points exceed the character's subdual damage again.
When a character's subdual damage exceeds the character's current hit points, the character falls unconscious. While unconscious, a character is helpless.
Each full minute that a character is unconscious, a character has a 10% chance to wake up and be staggered until the character's hit points exceed a character's subdual damage again. Nothing bad happens to a character if the character misses this roll.
Spellcasters who are rendered unconscious retain any spellcasting ability they had before going unconscious.
Healing Subdual Damage
A character heals subdual damage at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level. When a spell or a magical power cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of subdual damage, if any.

Read. Enjoy.

 

[kreynolds]

Read. Enjoy.

You're a bit slow off the mark. I already did. That's how I knew I screwed the pooch.

 

[Artoomis]

You're a bit slow off the mark. I already did. That's how I knew I screwed the pooch.

That was not addressed to you in particular, but to everyone. I've seen countless threads (well, may be not countless, bu I'm not going to try and count them) where rules discussions go on and on without anyone ever looking at the actual rules.

Just doing my bit to help.

 

[kreynolds]

That was not addressed to you in particular, but to everyone. I've seen countless threads (well, may be not countless, bu I'm not going to try and count them)...

I'm not gonna count them either. After all, I only have so many fingers.

 

[Artoomis]

I'm not gonna count them either. After all, I only have so many fingers.

Don't forget to use your toes, too. Lets you get all the way up to 20 - no one will ever need to count higher than that, right?

(Famous last words. If you are familair with computing history, it's funny. Otherwise, not so much.)