Hello, I had a question regarding what is technically two rules that can contradict each other. What happens if someone gets hit with non lethal damage, but said damage still hits them for twice their max health? I know that there are rules for each thing separately, (one being that if someone is hit non lethally then they are not outright killed, and the other being that if a character gets reduced to 0 hit points and takes more than their max in access damage from the same attack, they are outright killed) but I haven't been able to find something on them together. The scenario I came up with as an example is that a level 3 rogue, with 14 strength or dexterity, is sparring with a level 3 wizard who only has 5 max health (6 from level one, rolling a 1 from both levels two and three and having an 8 in their constitution giving them a -3 overall, as unlikely as it is it helps my point). If the rogue hits the wizard non-lethally with a rapier and gets max damage with it, 8, plus her 2 extra from strength/dexterity, then she will hit for a total of 10 damage, doubling the wizard's max health which would normally outright kill him. My question is, which rule does it follow? Would the wizard be outright killed because he was hit for twice his max health, or does the fact that the rogue was doing non-lethal damage mean that the access damage doesn't carry over? Thanks for any help that can be given.
PS. Sorry if i put this in the wrong section, i'm fairly new to the forums and didn't know where this question would go.
There's no such thing as 'non-lethal damage' per say in 5e. If you make an attack that would reduce a character to zero hit points with a melee weapon, you can decide - as soon as the damage is dealt - that you want to instead knock them out, regardless of anything else.
PHB. 198: '"When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant damage is dealt"
That means you can choose not to kill someone if you don't want them to die - from a flavour point of view, you're not aiming for a lethal strike, but instead cracking them over the temple with the hilt of your rapier, hamstringing them so they crumple into a heap on the floor, or doing something that knocks them out, but doesn't kill them.
If you choose to do this, then the rules around instant death on Page 197 are overridden by this specific rule about knocking foes unconscious on Page 198.
Hello, I had a question regarding what is technically two rules that can contradict each other. What happens if someone gets hit with non lethal damage, but said damage still hits them for twice their max health? I know that there are rules for each thing separately, (one being that if someone is hit non lethally then they are not outright killed, and the other being that if a character gets reduced to 0 hit points and takes more than their max in access damage from the same attack, they are outright killed) but I haven't been able to find something on them together. The scenario I came up with as an example is that a level 3 rogue, with 14 strength or dexterity, is sparring with a level 3 wizard who only has 5 max health (6 from level one, rolling a 1 from both levels two and three and having an 8 in their constitution giving them a -3 overall, as unlikely as it is it helps my point). If the rogue hits the wizard non-lethally with a rapier and gets max damage with it, 8, plus her 2 extra from strength/dexterity, then she will hit for a total of 10 damage, doubling the wizard's max health which would normally outright kill him. My question is, which rule does it follow? Would the wizard be outright killed because he was hit for twice his max health, or does the fact that the rogue was doing non-lethal damage mean that the access damage doesn't carry over? Thanks for any help that can be given.
PS. Sorry if i put this in the wrong section, i'm fairly new to the forums and didn't know where this question would go.
There's no such thing as 'non-lethal damage' per say in 5e. If you make an attack that would reduce a character to zero hit points with a melee weapon, you can decide - as soon as the damage is dealt - that you want to instead knock them out, regardless of anything else.
PHB. 198: '"When an attacker reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker can make this choice the instant damage is dealt"
That means you can choose not to kill someone if you don't want them to die - from a flavour point of view, you're not aiming for a lethal strike, but instead cracking them over the temple with the hilt of your rapier, hamstringing them so they crumple into a heap on the floor, or doing something that knocks them out, but doesn't kill them.
If you choose to do this, then the rules around instant death on Page 197 are overridden by this specific rule about knocking foes unconscious on Page 198.
This helped thank you 💕💕💕🦧