Looking for a special ability...

[vulcan_idic]

That, upon a successful hit, causes (probably if a saving throw is failed) sleep or unconsciousness...

Planned use:
A merciful returning shuriken with the above ability for a good character to take out enemy guards and so on while scouting/spying/escaping without causing any lasting damage and yet taking the opposition out of the game long enough for the character to get their business done.

 

[diaglo]

mimic the effects of ghoul touch. just change it to sleep instead of paralysis

 

[Bauglir]

I believe the BoED has a 'merciful' weapon enhancement that converts all the damage that weapon deals to subdual damage - sneak attacks with such a shuriken would get the job done (unless the guards in question are high level, in which case you probably shouldn't be dispatching them in one shuriken hit anyway ^_^)

 

[vulcan_idic]

I believe the BoED has a 'merciful' weapon enhancement that converts all the damage that weapon deals to subdual damage - sneak attacks with such a shuriken would get the job done (unless the guards in question are high level, in which case you probably shouldn't be dispatching them in one shuriken hit anyway ^_^)

I'm already applying the merciful enhancement as I noted in the first post. Even very few first level commoners would be taken out by one point (min and max damage for a shuriken) of subdual damage... which is why I'm looking for another ability... the point is the effect, not the damage. Mostly I'm just sounding the idea of the boards so I can find out if something already exists before I go to the trouble of jerry-rigging something between my DM and I... it just seemed the sort of thing that surely someone had come up with before.

 

[sledged]

Have you considered a non-leathal poison?

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

A spell storing weapon and a sleep spell could work?

Edit: Or an intelligent weapon with a special quest to make people sleep and free use of the sleep spell?

 

[vulcan_idic]

Have you considered a non-leathal poison?

Considered it, and I can always go with that, but I'd rather have a magic ability for two main reasons:

1.) While not necessarily bad in this case, many people hear poison and think "evil" - a magic ability might help avoid prejudice due to connotation rather than denotation - as in the "Is poison use evil?" thread

2.) The other main reason is the need to reapply... for a character non-proficient with poison use the chances of knocking themselves out is significant.. and related to point one classes that give poison use abilities are usually evil restricted... in addition in a combat situation trying to move stealthily through an enemy camp there is not a lot of chance to stop and reapply the poison when it wears off...

These factors together make me think a magic ability would be more useful in this instance than a poison with only a "KO" feature.

 

[vulcan_idic]

A spell storing weapon and a sleep spell could work?

Another good thought. I considered this too, but on the whole the character using it is not a spell caster... so they could throw it once, twice, maybe three times (depending on the amount spent) and then nothing. This is again a good alternative, but not exactly what I had in mind.

Edit: Or an intelligent weapon with a special quest to make people sleep and free use of the sleep spell?

This is a very strong possibility... this may be the best response... I'll have to review the information on intelligent items to see if this would work...

 

[Kemrain]

Sounds like you want a Zat'nik'tel.. Pity there are no Goa'uld in DnD.

- Kemrain the Unconscious.

 

[Pielorinho]

Another idea: create a PrC modeled on assassin that loses the killing blow (or whatever) ability and poison use, but gains the sleepy strike ability: functions just like killing blow, but knocks opponent out instead. Gain some other stuff to make up for those losses; maybe sneak attack damage? Remove alignment restriction.

Daniel