To Coup De Grace, or Not To Coup De Grace?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

Liberty's Edge

1 person marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

Over in this thread there's a long aside about whether or not the coup de grace is ever a reasonable tactic for the DM to use against the PCs. I figured that it is an interesting enough topic to warrant its own thread.

My take on it:

I have GMed for tables where CdG against the PCs would absolutely not have gone over well, but in other "grittier" games, I have used it often, and to good effect.

I think CdG is best used in two instances:

First, when a bad guy - usually the BBEG - somehow has a character or all of the characters helpless in his clutches. It's pretty rare, but it has happened.

Second, when a desperate opponent realizes that they can not win, so they opt instead to just maximize the suffering of their opponent. In a world with magical healing, wounding or critically injuring don't present much of a roadblock. If I know you're going to kill me, I'm taking one of your friends with me.

What are your opinions? Is it ever appropriate? Why or why not?

Sovereign Court

When a player makes some really poor decisions its hard to argue against. However, sometimes fights get swingy in PF, at no fault of a player, so I think a little leniency is in order. Really the context of the situation should decide whether you employ a CdG or not. Yes often times it makes sense for an enemy to outright kill a PC because of magic healing and all but is it in the games best interest? Each tables comfort level will be different and only its members can decide on that right level.

At my table CdG is often expected. We do have a bit of an old school mentality though and character death isnt something we frown upon. Even unlucky crit death thats not spectacular is ok by us. On thing that has helped a lot is using hero points. On occasion a character really hits home for a player and with hero points they can save their life.


I largely agree with you, on both instances. More on the second than on the first. If you've got the PC's helpless, there's probably something that you can do with them other than just kill them. Capturing them keeps your options open, whether that be to ransom them for untold sums, or to sacrifice them to a thanatodaemon in exchange for limitless cosmic powers.

On the other hand, if you're losing anyway, make it expensive. This is particularly true if you are losing but likely to escape; as you point out, wounding won't even slow down a party of good guys in hot pursuit. Killing someone is likely to be expensive and difficult to fix.


Final boss battle only. In that case, it's all or nothing; you either survive, or you die. No matter what, that battle is the end of the campaign; there is nothing after it but kudos for victory or finding out what your defeat meant.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber

MagusJanus, are you opposed to killing PCs until the final battle, or just to using CdG?

Pan, I fully agree with playing to your table's comfort level. "Gritty" fights, nasty injuries, and frequent overwhelming encounters for a group that is just hanging out for beer and pretzels is a sucky thing to do.

I also use hero points in my game, and have even allowed PCs to save an ally from a "completed" CdG by using hero points*. I think that may have made a lot of difference in the way my PCs view things like CdGs.

*I don't use them as presented in the rules, I use them more as a mechanic to allow PCs to perform actions that are normally impossible. Monte Cook or Sean Reynolds (I think it was one of those two) wrote an article years ago that talked about using hero points as a way to allow truly "heroic" acts. An example given was sprinting across a battlefield and picking up a comrade about to be crushed under a wall, then getting out of the danger area. I wish I could find it.


It depends on the circumstances, alignment, opportunity. If it's in the opponents nature to do so, then yes. It doesn't have to be the BBEG or a final boss.


I'm opposed to using CdG until the final battle. Players can die before that, and they sometimes do. How many depends on how lethal of a game I'm running.


1 person marked this as a favorite.

There is no right or wrong answer to this. It all comes down to group playstyle, just like many other things that a group may or may not like including sundering PC's equipment.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
wraithstrike wrote:
There is no right or wrong answer to this. It all comes down to group playstyle, just like many other things that a group may or may not like including sundering PC's equipment.

I know. :-)

I'm interested more in discussion than I am in "right answers".

Dark Archive

I support PCs being at constant risk. I also support intelligent enemies dropping a coup if, for example, they have identified at least two heal capable classes of the party. You need to make sure they stay down in order to defeat the rest of the party. It is acceptable to coup for this reason, at least assuming they're constantly making sure neither of'em will stay down. There are times when it's necessary to simply finish someone.


Coup is fine when it's appropriate, I recently had a player charge right into a rival adventure group..... he was a slayer. They nailed him with deep slumber and their druid finished him off that turn.

It's only smart to eliminate a threat.


Not a big fan of CdG on players. Just doesn't feel right to me putting whether they live or die on a saving through or insta-gibbing them. I always though the game was most fun if you got to take actions and make reactions and try to stop things from happening. If a player is about to be CdG'd he doesn't have a lot, if any, choice in the matter. So I just can't see it being very fun.

Talcrion wrote:
It's only smart to eliminate a threat.

Then they killed the rest of the party in their sleep, right?


As I run my games, it depends on the kind of creatures in the encounter. If it makes sense for the enemies' logic, intelligence and situation to go for a coup-de-grace, they go for it. If no, they don't.
As an example: Mindless undead, constructs, oozes or vermin don't coup-de-grace, because well, unmoving target is ded. Coordinated intelligent enemies will, if the situation allows for a risk-free shot: otherwise, they'll keep shutting down other menaces.


MrSin wrote:

Not a big fan of CdG on players. Just doesn't feel right to me putting whether they live or die on a saving through or insta-gibbing them. I always though the game was most fun if you got to take actions and make reactions and try to stop things from happening. If a player is about to be CdG'd he doesn't have a lot, if any, choice in the matter. So I just can't see it being very fun.

Talcrion wrote:
It's only smart to eliminate a threat.
Then they killed the rest of the party in their sleep, right?

Actually it was a pretty well pitched battle once the Slayer went down, the Sorc ended up pinned in a corner with no more 5 foot steps to get away from their barb. The inquisitor ended up in a shootout with their ranger. and Their druid was free to support the rest of the team. The sorc that originally dropped the slayer with a sleep spell never even got another action before he was dropped by focus fire from the rest of the team the next turn.

A person doesn't stop being a threat just because they fall asleep. It only takes a move action to be right back into the fight once they are woken up by teammates.

Grand Lodge

4 people marked this as a favorite.
Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

If the PCs decide to use it, so will the NPCs. If not, they won't.


2 people marked this as a favorite.
TriOmegaZero wrote:
If the PCs decide to use it, so will the NPCs. If not, they won't.

We should just use a swarm of witches when the PCs have a single witch. This will end well.

Its not like PCs are any more valuable than NPCs or NPCs are more expendable or anything.

Shadow Lodge

Non-sequitur.


TOZ wrote:
Non-sequitur.

Gotta' add more details sometimes.

Liberty's Edge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition Subscriber
TriOmegaZero wrote:
If the PCs decide to use it, so will the NPCs. If not, they won't.

I've put other actions on the "nuclear options" list before, but I don't think I've ever done so with CdG.

Sushewakka wrote:

As I run my games, it depends on the kind of creatures in the encounter. If it makes sense for the enemies' logic, intelligence and situation to go for a coup-de-grace, they go for it. If no, they don't.

As an example: Mindless undead, constructs, oozes or vermin don't coup-de-grace, because well, unmoving target is ded. Coordinated intelligent enemies will, if the situation allows for a risk-free shot: otherwise, they'll keep shutting down other menaces.

I'm also very careful on what sort of creature uses CdG. I may have vermin continue attacking (read: eating) a downed opponent, but it wouldn't be a coup de grace. Things that are smart enough to try to eliminate risk, but not smart enough to calculate the relative risk of a temporarily unconscious fighter vs. a up and casting cleric probably won't take the CdG action either.

Dark Archive

4 people marked this as a favorite.

Witch Swarm, CR Infinity

Tactics: Fly and spam slumber hex.


Coup de Grace rarely makes sense for an enemy unless everyone's down first. I have some of the more blood hungry enemies do it (like a Ghoul after they've paralyzed someone) or enemies basically built around the concept of CdGing (like an Intellect Devourer) but for the most part it makes little sense for an enemy to go "Welp, I'ma finish off this non-threat while his buddies are whoopin' on me".


Rynjin wrote:
Coup de Grace rarely makes sense for an enemy unless everyone's down first.

The main reason that it would make sense tactically is if a serious threat is temporarily helpless, but you expect them to recover. For example, if the BBEG (whom I will refer to as "you," 'cause the GM is both controlling them and making the decision about whether to CdG) has the party's only cleric down, it might be worth it for a bunch of intelligent undead to kill her and eat the possible attacks of opportunity.

This, of course, assumes some rather rare conditions:
* There's a single threat that is much more dangerous than the rest of the party
* That threat is incapacitated
* That threat will recover shortly
* The threat posed by everyone else if you do the CdG is not particularly serious
* That you can correctly assess the above

Most of the time, the cleric (or whoever) doesn't appear any more dangerous than anyone else, and most of the time, downed people stay down (esp. if the cleric isn't around to do mass heals). Also, most of the time you don't want to eat the AoO from the front-line fighter standing next to the cleric. So in generally, there's usually no tactical reason to go for a CdG.

Of course, monster personality might play into it. A dragon might simply like playing with its food. I think that would make a very memorable encounter, but you probably want to find a way to warn the party beforehand that this dragon plays for keepsies.....


4 people marked this as a favorite.

I've used the threat of a Coup de Grace more than I've actually ever done it. Players will move to save a downed ally or draw off an enemy just because they worry that a CdG is on the table. It definitely adds a level of tension when someone goes down in a hard to reach area with certain baddies.


knightnday wrote:
I've used the threat of a Coup de Grace more than I've actually ever done it. Players will move to save a downed ally or draw off an enemy just because they worry that a CdG is on the table. It definitely adds a level of tension when someone goes down in a hard to reach area with certain baddies.

That's my thought as well. Letting the PCs know that they have plot armor will encourage bad habits.

In my game, dumb skirmishers will often draw a CdG because they get downed "behind enemy lines" so there's a) no risk to the monster killing them, and b) nothing else that the monster can effectively do with its turn. The opinion around the table is that this is evolution in action, and the average tactical acumen of the thieves' guild just went up by a fraction of a percent.


knightnday wrote:
I've used the threat of a Coup de Grace more than I've actually ever done it. Players will move to save a downed ally or draw off an enemy just because they worry that a CdG is on the table. It definitely adds a level of tension when someone goes down in a hard to reach area with certain baddies.

I definitely let them know they don't have plot armor. Nothing like an enemy taunting them about all of the fun things to do with a still-living body while standing over it...

Plus, after the first time they lose someone without CdG coming into play, I found most players tend to move to protect and aid the fallen anyway... because I've made it clear that they can die and I won't stop it. This usually leads to them surviving more often, thinking more about tactics that prevent people dying, and sometimes getting downright devious and devising strategies I never thought of. All of which I actively encourage.

After all, some of the best ideas I got for how to make a villain truly evil I got from adapting strategies the players used before ^^

Plus, I play as well, so I like to encourage those who may be GMing for me to allow devious strategies ;)


2 people marked this as a favorite.

Overall, I don't think it is a question of CdGs or not. They can be fine, if it makes sense, especially something like death knell, which actually assists the bad guy.

As a player (and GM) however, having too many character deaths have a negative impact on the game. It doesn't necessarily make it gritty, as some suggest, but rather introduce that narrative speed bump, where some new character needs to be incorporated, despite the fact that they (and the rest of the group) might be streched for motivation to join forces. Especially after several character deaths we get to the point where none of the original group (or just a single PC) is alive, and actually have something investion in the overarching plot.

And my experience is that the second, third and fourth character made, tends to be more mechanics and less background story, when people get unsure, whether they die the next game or not. As a player, I don't think it does me or the game anything good, when I am primarily thinking of backup characters between games, giving me that itch to try something else rather than enjoying what I've got (But that is mainly right now at the height of my record, with 12 character death so far, at lvl 13 in Way of the Wicked).

Silver Crusade

9 people marked this as a favorite.

As GM I once scored a Total Party Kill with coup de grace. I warned the PCs, very clearly, that a shape-shifting assassin was on their trail and nearby. They got separated. I physically separated the split up players, for effect, and highlighted the danger of a shape-shifting assassin.

One lone PC, played by my brother, encountered the doppleganger assassin, identified it, and drove it off. He was wounded, trapped, and lost, and had a difficult 12 hours trying to find his way back to the party.

The other three got back together, missing just the one PC. They waited for him to return, all the while discussing dopplegangers, infiltration, and assassins.

The doppleganger assassin found them. It assumed the form of the missing PC, whom it had recently battled, and attempted to infiltrate the group.

This was a tricky situation. I told the absent player (who happened to be my brother), in private, that the doppleganger had replaced him and attempted to infiltrate the party. I asked him if he was willing to roleplay the doppleganger. I encouraged him to drop hints that he was not what he seemed to be, and to give them every opportunity to detect his true nature.

My brother took up the challenge with elan. He walked back into the room with the other players. He played the doppleganger to the hilt, making sure to drop several clues. They blithely chatted about how tough the day had been and how worried they were that the shape-shifting assassin might threaten them in the night. My brother, still playing the Doppleganger, made some cracks about shape-shifting assassins in their midst that were so funny I had to leave the room to have hysterics.

When I came back the players were unanimous that their PCs were tired and ready to rest. They explained how they secured the room they were in. I asked them if they were taking any special precautions against possible infiltration. "Nope", they said. "We've secured the room. We'll do our regular watch rotation, with just one person on watch."

I gave them one more chance. I reminded them of the nearby shape-shifting assassin after them, and pointed out that they had been separated earlier. There was a Paladin, and he did not think to Detect Evil. Each player, including my brother the doppleganger, truthfully claimed not to have been recently replaced by a doppleganger. Then they all went to sleep and left the doppleganger assassin on watch.

After they were all dead, and a little shocked, they realized they might have let their metagame knowledge influence their better judgement. They were unanimous that a sleeping coup de grace was reasonable and appropriate, although they surely didn't like it. They eventually laughed about it.

Shadow Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens Subscriber
Magda Luckbender wrote:
As GM I once scored a Total Party Kill with coup de grace. I warned the PCs, very clearly, that a shape-shifting assassin was on their trail and nearby. They got separated. I physically separated the split up players, for effect, and highlighted the danger of a shape-shifting assassin.

I recently ran a glorious adventure where the party witch left the party to go buy items in town, and returned back to the group without his familiar. Now, this witch loves his familiar. He talks about the familiar non-stop. The familiar is constantly making snide comments, and is a source of massive discussion, party in-jokes, and is pretty much the group mascot.

The players knew they were fighting against a network of doppelgangers, and they knew the doppelgangers knew all about them and their relationships. And not one questioned that the talkative, center-of-attention familiar was just... missing.

Later that night, they split the party, the druid's animal companion got eaten (and she freaked out and went AWOL), and with the half of the party still remaining badly wounded...

The full-health witch cast a fireball centered directly on her teammates and revealed he had been a doppelganger for several game sessions.

It's amazing the hints people just don't notice.


The Shining Fool wrote:
What are your opinions? Is it ever appropriate? Why or why not?

Absolutely appropriate.

Though in my group a coup de grace is generally reserved for BBEGs or "bosses". (Or if the PCs do something ludicrously stupid, which is exceedingly rare.)

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder Adventure, Adventure Path, Pathfinder Accessories, Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

I've seen it happen in PFS. Mostly in the early scenarios, since the campaign coordinators have said that it should only be used by GMs if specifically listed in tactics. An early scenario had a ghoul with the listed tactics, and I saw an unfortunate wizard get left next to the ghoul as the party waited for it to come after them.


I think it's perfectly appropriate, but it all depends on the situation.

If the PCs set up camp in a hostile area and don't even bother to have one party member keeping watch, then a DM is being extremely generous if the PCs wake up, or at least wake up with all their gear intact.

In the case of the BBEG, the "Before I kill you, Mr. Bond" trope has been done to death. A smart bad guy would kill the heroes if he had the chance, not leave them shackled, in an easily escapable situation with one sleeping/incompetent guard at the door.

On the other hand, it depends on the personality of the BBEG. If he has some sense of rivalry or respect for the PCs, maybe he wouldn't kill them if he had the chance, hoping they would return the favor at a later date...

He might also be just a sadistic psychopath, and wants to keep them alive and prolong their agony as much as possible.

I try to be lenient with my nastiness towards my PCs, and give them chances on occasion that I shouldn't give them, but no....I don't think that coup de grace should ever be taken off the table for the enemy. In fact, I don't think anything should be taken off the table for the enemy. If the PCs can do something, the BBEG should be able to do it too. The PCs just have to be able to work together and do it better than he does.


Kazandra wrote:
On the other hand, it depends on the personality of the BBEG. If he has some sense of rivalry or respect for the PCs, maybe he wouldn't kill them if he had the chance, hoping they would return the favor at a later date...

This also depends on the personality. If he believes that falling in combat is honorable, he may choose to coup de grace an opponent he defeats that he respect just to make certain they have an honorable death.


I had a situation like this come up in my game last week. It was AoW. (Age of Worms) The particular encounter in question was the battle with the harpies in Blackmarsh. Two harpies are in a room, and encountered by the PC's who were running around, not being stealthy at all. The rogue and druid happened to both be within the 20ft mark. (In this particular fight, the acoustics of the room dampened the sound caused by the harpies song) They both failed their will saves. The cleric hung back because he passed his knowledge nature check to know "don't listen to their song." So he hung back. The rogue went to harpy A, the druid went to harpy B. The druid couldn't tell her wolf to attack because she was captivated, so he hung back as well. Each harpy performed a coup de grace because they're intelligent enough to know the meal they just got should last them a week. Rogue died, druid rolled a nat 20 on her Fortitude save. Cleric is left with one option... Charge. Won the fight practically solo.


I usually do not Coup-De-Grace with intelligent opponents unless the following conditions are met:
1)Helpless PC keeps getting back up and continues to be threat
2)Monster has intelligence: I typically do not allow Coup-de-Grace from anything with less than a 2 intelligence. People have used the Dog going for the throat as a contradiction to this philosophy, but it is quite erroneous when you consider the hundreds of other animals that wouldn't know how to go for a vital area (snakes, lizards, vermin, fish of any kind, etc.) Because a dog instinctively goes for the throat, people liken it to a Coup-De-Grace. Same philosophy with Zombies and Skeletons.
3) Monster has personal enmity for PC.

That said, there has been one exception to this, an encounter in Age of Worms. In this, the party is basically fighting an 'Evil Party' who has full knowledge of their tactics and abilities. In this fight, I had one of the bad guys not only Coup-De-Grace the PC, but then kick his body in the lava to prevent the 'Quicken Breath of Life/ Heal' Combo that instantly restored dead PCs. The bad guys knew the PCs could do this, and the Player wasn't sore since that's the level where Resurrection magics can undo even being burnt to ashes.


Incredibly situational for me. If I had an npc with a particular grudge against a pc, and that pc was down I'd consider it. I'd also consider it as a way to end an encounter...ie pc(s) is down, npc is likely to bring another(or more) down with their next action, I might have them draw AoOs by CdGing the down pc to keep from potentially killing everyone else...but it would have to be a bloodthirsty bastard to begin with, and likely wouldn't happen unless I felt the combat was dragging.

Personally I make efforts to keep from killing PCS, but will only go so far. Low level pc charges big scary thing he has little chance of hurting, big scary thing might make a half hearted swipe to scare the pc away, so one attack, it using power attack or expending any resources. I'm pulling punches sure, but ill make the roll in front of the PCS so y can see the bonuses (we play on roll20) and hopefully realize they're out matched, and if it's a crit or I just roll high enough damage kill them, then they're dead.


We have one GM who will stop to coup de grace any downed PC even if it means the monster getting killed for it. Whether or not a GM "should" use CdG is a matter of play style. If resurrection magic is available in the game and not highly frowned on by the group I don't see a problem with it. If not then it seems a little cruel although some groups enjoy cruel.

Most tables I play at have adopted house rules that CdG is just an auto-crit or maybe an auto-crit with x1 more damage. This might sound really wimpy to some folks, but at low levels or even low hit points it is essentially just as deadly. When some mummies spent their turns doing big damage to our higher level Barbarian instead of courteously ignoring him the effects were nearly deadly too. As GM I also enjoy using Ghouls and feel more fair if a single failed save on paralysis doesn't lead to "save or die". Getting gnawed on for double or triple damage each round isn't something most PCs can take for long, but at least it gives their allies a chance to come save them. I suggested this house rule myself while playing a Witch who was being a little too effective with Slumber.


For me the story is paramount, frequent deaths undermine this, but real peril is also necessary to give a sense of achievement.


It depends on the situation and the NPC. There has to be either a good reason or a lot of hatred as well as opportunity. Mostly when you drop an enemy you just move on to the next. Stopping to coup de grace a character while being actively threatened by others is an act of extreme hatred / emotion. Or ferocious stupidity :) If there is a strategic reason (i.e. "he's their magic guy and that will cripple them") and opportunity it's a likely move from a smart character. So it's a possibility. Someone mentioned slowing pursuit above, that seems likely. If there is personal animosity involved it seems like a fair possibility. Hatred would have to outweigh personal risk in the mind of the NPC. So, in short, possible based on the situation but not too common.


Our GM uses it with intelligent enemies and especially after someone uses healing during combat. His motto is, fool the enemy once ok, fool him twice isn't going to happen.

Most enemies are not confronted with adversaries with magic healing, so at first, it does make sense for them to avoid the coup de grace because they would consider their enemy already dead. Of course if the enemy is in melee with another PC it would attack that direct threat.

Our gm has brought our game to a delightful level of mayhem and has kicked up the intensity to 11. Our Mummy's Mask game is a lot more fun that way.

Grand Lodge

I reserve coup de grace for when an enemy has an ideal opportunity, I.E. at least 2 rounds away from the next closest enemy, otherwise, unless they suspect the enemy is going to get back up again, they'll focus on shutting down the next threat. It's saved a PCs life once, but eventually one of them is going to end up alone with something they shouldn't have tried chasing down.

Silver Crusade

I recently played in a particularly brutal PFS game in which a PC went down adjacent to a foe who seemed quite likely to coup de gras. My PC tried to save the downed ally, and also went down adjacent to the foe. It surely would have slain one of us, but our heroic party Paladin ran up and literally stood over our fallen bodies, spitting defiance. Later, when we recovered, we graciously thanked the brave Paladin. I think Paladins live for moments like that.


CdG is not usually a thing in my games. A sneaky person killing people in their sleep is by far the most common use (most notably by the 0th level 12 year old who killed 6 experienced warriors in their sleep - the dice were with him that day).

For the most part, CdG is not a great tactic in combat. If you're spending basically an entire round to make sure someone who looks dead really is dead you're better off just hitting them with a couple normal attacks.More likely, you'll focus your attacks on those opponents that are still standing since they actually pose a threat.
Against helpless opponents you usually have to contend with the not-helpless opponents as well, and unless you are within reach you'll have to spend movement getting into reach and hope someone doesn't down you first or drag the helpless target to safety, etc.
But given that the conditions are right, we do use CdG. Tactically it makes sense to remove an opponent as quickly and effectively as possible. Characters die in these games, even the characters you really like.


The BBEG failed a CdG on a charmed/dominated PC in the AP I am running. It really brought the potential and finality of PC death to the game; which had been going fairly easy for them due to great decisions and roleplay up to that encounter.

So, yea, as a DM, it is not off limits and the PC's are aware of that up front. I will use it if it tactically makes sense or NPC emotions vs. the PC's are high.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 16

Not a fan, I think it rarely makes sense to CdG someone, both for action economy and provoking AoO, as well as lack of gain (unless opponent has access to Heal, most other healing spells will be inefficient, and they'll come back prone).

If you've lost the battle but have a chance to take someone out, it's far more normal to try to bargain for your life by holding the KO'd victim hostage.
Even for the stereotyped bloodknights that want to take as many foes with them to Valhalla when they die in battle, there's no glory in chopping the head off a KO'd guy.


Petty Alchemy wrote:

Not a fan, I think it rarely makes sense to CdG someone, both for action economy and provoking AoO, as well as lack of gain (unless opponent has access to Heal, most other healing spells will be inefficient, and they'll come back prone).

If you've lost the battle but have a chance to take someone out, it's far more normal to try to bargain for your life by holding the KO'd victim hostage.
Even for the stereotyped bloodknights that want to take as many foes with them to Valhalla when they die in battle, there's no glory in chopping the head off a KO'd guy.

Coming back prone means you can stand up and fight again. If you know the enemy has a healer then CdG makes sense. I have seen ko'd opponents get back up and change the outcome of a fight. Had they been killed it most likely would have been different.

Typically if someone is conscious again due to healing, but has low hit points they will be given a more healing. Then they will reenter the fight. Of course this also depends on the situation. Some monsters might hit hard enough that going back into the fight will just put them down again. In those cases it may be better to let them stay unconscious, but in those cases a CdG would also be a waste of actions. I guess it boils down to "how much trouble will this opponent cause if he gets back into the fight".

I am not a fan either because I don't like doing it to players, but I think there are times when it is the tactically right thing to do.


I rarely use it, but it's in the toolbox, certainly. It's pretty much restricted to creatures that are both particularly cruel AND not necessarily the best decision makers; think things like monstrous followers of Lamashtu and the like.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
The Shining Fool wrote:

Over in this thread there's a long aside about whether or not the coup de grace is ever a reasonable tactic for the DM to use against the PCs. I figured that it is an interesting enough topic to warrant its own thread.

Because the half dozen or more identical threads on the exact same subject weren't enough.

Shadow Lodge

Someone catch that necromancer!


As mentioned earlier, it's rarely worth it to even USE CdG, but I certainly don't avoid it in my game...

Never had an opportunity to use it, but will do so should the chance come up.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / General Discussion / To Coup De Grace, or Not To Coup De Grace? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.