Regaining consciousness question


Rules Questions


Okay, so to my embarrassment I originally put this question to the wrong forum. I've got some useful feedback nonetheless, but let's put it to you guys, if you don't mind.

I'm running a Pathfinder game and my very first game as GM. Fortunately, I'm considered the rules lawyer of the gang, so I don't feel completely in over my head.

At the moment, the party has braved the defenses of the goblin fortress and killed practically every goblin and bugbear in sight (with the exception of the babies and mothers, who they allowed to escape). They've encountered the Goblin King (no, not David Bowie), a 9th level Sorcerer with the Fey Bloodline, and to my surprise they've captured him, tied up, alive but unconscious.

Now, since he's still got a few tricks up his sleeve, and valuable information if the PCs can successfully Intimidate it out of him, I've realized that it might be very important to the game to know exactly when he can regain consciousness.

He's been reduced to -5 hit points, and he has an additional 20 points of non-lethal damage on top of that (yes, it's been counted separately from the regular damage). The party has given him first aid to stabilize him, and I understand he gets to make a Constitution check each hour afterward to wake up after stabilizing, at which point he would be considered disabled and staggered.

The trouble is the nonlethal damage. Does it still count against him being able to wake up or does the recovery check clear him regardless? Should his nonlethal damage count towards the penalty on his rolls to regain consciousness? Also, if he's conscious but in negative hp, does the damage he take from taking a standard action cause him to lose consciousness? (I'm inclined to say no, since there's no explicit mention of that and it would make a disabled character even more useless.)

Normally I wouldn't sweat this too much, but I want to give both the PCs and my Goblin King the fairest chance to accomplish their opposing goals. If he wakes up right away, he's still got two castings of Lesser Geas (verbal component only, so once they ungag him for questioning...) and about 5 rounds of Fleeting Glance that he might be able to use to escape. But if he's out for the next 8 hours and is able to meditate unnoticed for 15 minutes, he'll have even more spell slots available (I assume that counts as sleep, right?). If he's out until the next day, he'll have 4 more rounds of invisibility by way of Fleeting Glance (any word on what action type that is to activate?). And if he's out so long the PCs decide to magically heal him and put him back into positive hp, he'll no longer be staggered.


The non-lethal damage will heal rather quickly :

"Healing Nonlethal Damage: You heal nonlethal damage
at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level. When
a spell or ability cures hit point damage, it also removes an
equal amount of nonlethal damage."

So the goblin king would heal, 9 points of non-lethal damage every hour.
Any applied healing will both reduce the non-lethal damage and increase the hitpoints of the goblin king.

A disabled character at negative hitpoints is in critical condition, almost as good as useless, it can take a standard action but it will likely get him killed, losing 1 hitpoint and falling unconscious and dying once more, unless this action managed to heal hitpoints.

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