Doing non-lethal with lethal weapon and vice versa


Running the Game


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So my issue is that trying to do leath with a non-lethal weapon or vice Vera’s says to treat it as untrained.

This is a huge penalty for anyone with higher levels of proficiency vs just a trained person.

Imagine that a lvl 1 fighter tries to do non-lethal with a longsword, now they have a -2 penalty. Now take a fighter with expert or legendary proficiency now they suffer a swing of -4 (from +2 to -2) or worse yet (+3 to -2).

The mechanic for doing non-typed damage should be a static modifier. Or better yet maybe it disappears if a person is expert or higher. I mean a 20th level fighter should be skilled enough to turn his blade sideways and smack someone upside the back of his head.


I was going to say 'reduce proficiency by one step', but that might not be enough of a difference to be significant


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Pathfinder Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I do think non-lethal should be easier to do especially if you are an expert at your weapon. you are able to use it in ways to not only kill but subdue. It also allows the question to be more of a moral or ethical one instead of a mechanic. The penalty to non-lethal always felt like way to encourage murderhoboing

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