Nonlethal Damage
Nonlethal damage (also called subdual damage) represents stunning blows, exhaustion, and incapacitation without killing. It is tracked on a separate running total alongside your normal HP. When your nonlethal total equals or exceeds your current HP, you are knocked out rather than killed.
The Nonlethal Track
Keep a separate running total of nonlethal damage received. Compare it to your current HP (after any lethal damage) at the end of each hit:
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Nonlethal < current HP | No effect beyond the nonlethal total accumulating. |
| Nonlethal = current HP (above 0) | Staggered — one standard or one move action per turn. |
| Nonlethal > current HP (above 0) | Unconscious — knocked out but stable. Not dying; not losing HP per round. |
| Nonlethal ≥ current HP (at 0 HP) | Unconscious — as above. You are at 0 lethal HP and knocked out by nonlethal simultaneously. |
A creature knocked unconscious by nonlethal damage is stable — it does not lose 1 HP per round the way a dying creature does. It simply remains unconscious until the nonlethal total drops below its current HP.
Recovering Nonlethal Damage
Nonlethal damage heals on its own more quickly than lethal damage:
- 1 HP of nonlethal per hour of rest (no strenuous activity).
- Any amount of magical healing removes an equal amount of nonlethal damage in addition to restoring lethal HP. A cure light wounds that restores 6 HP also removes 6 points of nonlethal damage.
- Nonlethal damage cannot exceed your maximum HP — excess is simply discarded.
Dealing Nonlethal Damage
Several methods specifically deal nonlethal damage, and lethal attacks can be converted:
| Source | Notes |
|---|---|
| Unarmed strike | Deals nonlethal damage by default unless the attacker has a natural attack or the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, in which case they may choose lethal or nonlethal freely. |
| Sap | A weapon designed exclusively to deal nonlethal damage. Always deals nonlethal; cannot be switched to lethal. |
| Subduing with a lethal weapon | Any melee weapon can deal nonlethal damage at a −4 penalty to the attack roll. The damage type changes but the weapon's dice and modifiers stay the same. |
| Nonlethal spells | Some spells explicitly deal nonlethal damage (e.g. sleep doesn't deal damage but renders unconscious; touch of fatigue deals nonlethal). A spell can only deal nonlethal damage if its description says so — you cannot spontaneously convert spell damage to nonlethal. |
| Certain feats and class features | Feats like Enforcer and Knockout Artist interact with nonlethal damage to impose conditions or increase effectiveness. See the DB section below. |
Nonlethal Damage and DR
Damage Reduction applies to nonlethal damage normally — subtract the DR value before adding the result to your nonlethal total. Energy resistance does not apply to nonlethal physical damage (it only applies to the energy type listed). Creatures immune to nonlethal damage (constructs, undead, most incorporeal creatures) simply ignore it entirely.
This section will list feats (Enforcer, Knockout Artist, Catch Off-Guard…), weapons (sap, cestus, brass knuckles…), and spells that deal or specifically interact with nonlethal damage — pulled live from the compendium database.