| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The other day I came up with this ability. It could be added as a global rule for any character to perform, but it might be too strong, and should require a feat investment. My explaination is also a little clunky, I will admit. Any help streamlining it would be appreciated:
Knockout Strike: A character may perform a knockout strike as a full-round action on an adjacent enemy that is unaware of them (failed to beat your Stealth check) and is not moving vigorously*. To perform a knockout strike, a character must make a Stealth check, opposed by the target's Perception (positioning your weapon close to them without them noticing). If successful, you perform a knockout strike, which is an automatic critical hit. The target must then make a Fortitude saving throw with a DC equal to the amount of damage taken, If they succeed, they simply take the damage and are aware that they were attacked, and may call for help, initiate combat, etc. If they fail, they either fall unconscious (if non-lethal damage was dealt) or are immediately reduced to -1 and begin dying (if lethal damage was dealt).
Knockout strikes may be perform with light weapon at no penalties. If a one-handed weapon is used, the character takes a -2 penalty on the Stealth check to perform the knockout strike. If they used a two-handed weapon, they take a -4 penalty on the Stealth check,
*Not engaged in combat, running, or performing any task that requires more than minor, relaxed movements.
My goal with this is to give rogues something they are automatically better at than most other classes (a fighter with weapon specialization/training that focuses on stealth could get in the same ballpark) as well as give casters that want to be assassins an option for taking out targets without using a spell (which can't be used to deal non-lethal damage typically).
As is, there's no way to execute that classic, quietly-take-out-all-the-guards scenario unless you're really lucky or all the guards are low enough level that a simple sneak attack can drop them in one hit.
When I first starred playing DnD I thought that that was what the sap was for, but all it is in the default rules is a club that can't land a killing blow.