None-lethal damage

[UpgrayeDD]

Have you ever been playing an rpg and thought to yourself one of the following

 

"Do I really have to kill this guy?"

"I'd love to beat the $^ out of them!"

"Crap I lost rep!"

"My companions are a bunch of pansies..."

"Thats an expensive looking watch you're wearing..."

"This guy just called me an ass-hat. No one calls me an ass-hat!"

 

I personally think that none-lethal damage would make a nice addition to the game. You could make it so that their Unconsious body is lootable like a corpse. What better way to deal with the man who insulted your clan then to beat him senseless and send him home in his nickers. There are a lot of times in rpgs that it would make more sense to knock a guy out instead of running him through.

 

It would also give the devs more ways to differentiate weapons. For example a quarterstaff would be able to deal noneleathal damage much more efficiently then a rapier or heavy pick. Implementation doesn't seem like it would be that hard since they likely already have animations for unconsious or knocked-down foes. Once they figure out how they want each weapon to be affected by a none-lethal toggle somewhere on the UI they'd be done.

 

Thoughts? Opinions? Ideas?

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I don't think there is such a thing as "none-lethal damage".....

 

However non-lethal damage could be pretty cool.

[UpgrayeDD]

I don't think there is such a thing as "none-lethal damage".....

 

However non-lethal damage could be pretty cool.

In PE2 they could try to include nun-lethal damage

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I don't think there is such a thing as "none-lethal damage".....

 

However non-lethal damage could be pretty cool.

In PE2 they could try to include nun-lethal damage

 

I wouldn't object to that at all.

[Atreides]

I hope letting people live's done in a way so players don't feel they're losing out on gear drops.

[Heresiarch]

I hope letting people live's done in a way so players don't feel they're losing out on gear drops.

Beat 'em bloody, trip em' naked and let 'em run around? Oh, I see where's the fun in that.

 

I think I would still prefer chopping off heads. Like in a situation where a merchant saw you trying to steal from him and you run him through with a sword, before he tries something funny. Much more old-school. And leave non-lethal takedowns to special cases, where plot requires them. It is no Dishonored 2 after all.

[rjshae]

With a split between Stamina and Health, I think a "non-lethal" attack would be okay under some circumstances. In particular, if the game allows the players to take captives for ransom, or engage in fisticuffs in a bar brawl, then Stamina-focused attacks seem like a reasonable mechanic. But it should be clear under what circumstances that makes sense.

[AGX-17]

It has already been established that "Stamina" will be the primary statistic for taking damage in combat and the full loss of it will result in knockout, while a "health" statistic will result in death if completely depleted. Please read/view the updates, this has been covered in them.

 

And I have to take issue with the poll options. Beating someone within an inch of their life is not "non-lethal" it is "letting the internal bleeding and organ failure finish the job." Clubbing someone over the head to induce unconsciousness or using a chemical like ether or chloroform is non-lethal subjugation. Curbstomping is not generally considered a non or less-lethal form of subjugation. I have yet to see any evidence that savage beatings are less lethal than simply tackling and handcuffing someone.

 

Even if your intent was not to kill, a savage beating can be and often is completely lethal.

Edited November 21, 2012 by AGX-17

[teknoman2]

as i said in an older topic, you may get into a bar fight with another adventuring party. you could get the option to just drop them all at 0 stamina but not 0 hp, and then let them get back on their feet with or without looting them. or get a side quest that says "that bandit is wanted dead (1000g) or alive (2000g)" and you can beat him down and take him alive, or if you have got a hint that he has a stash of gold, you can get him to say where it is and so on.

so giving the chance to knock down someone without killing him, opens up a whole world of possible gameplay mechanics.

[UpgrayeDD]

It has already been established that "Stamina" will be the primary statistic for taking damage in combat and the full loss of it will result in knockout,

if you could please would you mind post the source stating that full stamina loss results in knockout. My understanding was that it was an easily renewable health buffer before you took harder to heal damage.

[teknoman2]

It has already been established that "Stamina" will be the primary statistic for taking damage in combat and the full loss of it will result in knockout,

if you could please would you mind post the source stating that full stamina loss results in knockout. My understanding was that it was an easily renewable health buffer before you took harder to heal damage.

there has already been an entire topic of hard flame about this and Sawyer confirmed that stamina and hp loss are independed of each other and based on the damage type. a blunt weapon takes away more stamina than hp, while a piercing weapon has the opposite effect. if you drop to 0 stamina you fall unconscious untill your stamina is restored and can be subjected to a coup de grace in that state, if you drop to 0 hp you die and there is no resurection.

[rjshae]

Another option to be considered is entangling attacks. A net or a web spell could be as effective as a baton to the back of the head for subjugating a foe. Transporting the captive is a factor as well; does the party guard the captive while exploring the rest of the area or do they take the captive along? Would the captive have an opportunity to escape during overland transport? Is special gear needed to prevent this?

[The Guilty Party]

This really requires story/plot support. You can non-lethal punch people all day long, but if the story is waiting for you to strike the killing blow, then you'll never get all these 'but I don't want to kill him!' choices you're looking for.

[TMTVL]

If the story is entirely depending on you dealing the lethal blow, it's not an RPG, it's an action-adventure. It's called a Role Playing Game, some people are gonna want to play a role of their choosing instead of a role assigned to them, and allowing such is what differs RPGs from strategy games. Or beat'm ups with role-playing elements.