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Nonlethal coup de grace

From Stormravengaming

Blurb
You can attempt a nonlethal coup de grace with a weapon that deals non-lethal damage. If the non-lethal damage you deal isn't enough to render the target unconscious, he must make a Fortitude save or be rendered unconscious anyway.
This rule modifies Coup de Grace, Player's Handbook page(s) 153.

When you attempt a coup de grace with a weapon that deals non-lethal damage, you automatically hit and deal a critical hit. You cannot deliver a coup de grace to a creature that is immune to critical hits. Calculate the non-lethal damage from the resulting critical hit just as you would normally. If the non-lethal damage isn't enough to render the subject unconscious (Player's Handbook p146), the subject must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + non-lethal damage dealt). If the save fails, the subject is rendered unconscious. The subject immediately suffers enough non-lethal damage to make its current non-lethal damage total equal to its current hit points + 10.

Example
You perform a non-lethal coup de grace on a helpless gnoll that currently has 13 hit points. You hit the gnoll and deal 11 points of non-lethal damage, not enough to knock it out. However, the gnoll must make a DC 21 Fortitude save. If it fails the save, its non-lethal damage total immediately rises to 23 (current hit points + 10), and it falls unconscious.

This is roughly the equivalent of being killed when you fail your saving throw against a lethal coup de grace, since death occurs at -10 hit points.

This rule was originally presented in Sage Advice, Dragon Magazine #314, p101.

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