D&D 5E Pulling your punches

[wellerpond]

I'm looking for a 5E mechanic that provides an element of chance for the PCs to knock a monster unconscious at the end of a fight instead of killing it. I got the idea in 4E when players with throwing down 70hp of damage with their daily against a monster that only had a few hit points left. I like the concept that, as amazing as heroes are, even they can get caught up in the blood lust of battle and unintentionally be more powerful than they wanted to be.

In 4E I said you could only attempt to pull your punch with an at-will. That kept the players guessing as to how much damage the monster had. And, if it was that important to keep the monster alive, they had to be more deft with their attacks.

With 5E I was thinking they could only attempt to pull their punch at disadvantage, or maybe after the attack, roll a dex check to see if they were precise enough to incapacitate, but not kill. I'm not in love with either of those options.

Anyone have other ideas?

 

[PnPgamer]

You can do it if youd drop enemy with a melee attack.

 

[Astrosicebear]

5E simply allows players to choose that an attack that would drop a monster or NPC to 0 HP knocks them out instead.

No special rules, no special rolls... it just happens at their choice.

 

[DEFCON 1]

They're right in that in 5E a player can just declare they are knocking the monster out on the blow that takes him to 0 HP, rather than killing it. However, if you want a mechanic that gives the possibility that even on that "knockout punch" they still might accidentally kill the creature... my suggestion would be to use the PC's 'insta-kill' rule-- if the single attack that drops the monster to 0 HP does enough damage to drop it to "negative Max HP", then the creature is killed regardless, even if the players said they were only trying to knock it out.

High HP creatures probably won't ever accidentally get killed because they have so many HP that the odds of reaching negative Max on a single hit would be rare... but it would work against a lot of humanoids and such, which is probably when you want it.

 

[Will Doyle]

As I player, I'd prefer a rule that gave me a less effective attack with no chance of accidental death. Accidentally killing the person you're trying to subdue feels a little punitive.

Disadvantage is pretty severe. If I wanted to introduce a penalty, I'd probably go for something like:

Strike to subdue: You can strike to subdue when making a melee attack. If the attack hits, the target takes half damage unless the damage is bludgeoning damage. If the attack reduces a target to 0 hit points, the target falls unconscious and is stable.

 

[Grainger]

.

 

[Kobold Stew]

PHB p. 198, left column.

 

[Nebulous]

5E simply allows players to choose that an attack that would drop a monster or NPC to 0 HP knocks them out instead.

No special rules, no special rolls... it just happens at their choice.

Like in the movies, every punch to the jaw is a 100% KO!!!! (if the plot calls for it)

 

[Rune]

The OP isn't asking what the rule is, guys. He's asking for a variant.

I personally like DEFCON1's variant, but if I were to come up with something different:

I think I'd have all crits deal real damage. I definitely would NOT penalize the strike with disadvantage or otherwise.

 

[Nebulous]

The OP isn't asking what the rule is, guys. He's asking for a variant.

I personally like DEFCON1's variant, but if I were to come up with something different:

I think I'd have all crits deal real damage. I definitely would NOT penalize the strike with disadvantage or otherwise.

Then the randomness could be: if the PC wants to knock the creature unconscious, it has to make an 11+ save (like a death save, so 50/50). Or you could get more technical and give it a Con save vs. the last damage it was dealt as the DC.