Feature Specification: Knockout and Nonlethal Damage

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Knockout and Nonlethal Damage
I've used the 3.5 edition definition as detailed below as the starting point for our discussion. A fair amount of rework may be necessary as some things in PnP don't translate well to NWN. Admin and H/DM opinions welcome.

For a short explanation of the feature specification format, visit:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/phpbbforum/ ... hp?t=27229

Functional Requirements
Certain attacks deal nonlethal damage. Other effects, such as heat or being exhausted, also deal nonlethal damage (ties in with environment & weather system). When you take nonlethal damage, keep a running total of how much you’ve accumulated. Do not deduct the nonlethal damage number from your current hit points. It is not “real” damage. Instead, when your nonlethal damage equals your current hit points, you’re staggered, and when it exceeds your current hit points, you fall unconscious. It doesn’t matter whether the nonlethal damage equals or exceeds your current hit points because the nonlethal damage has gone up or because your current hit points have gone down.

Nonlethal Damage with a Weapon that Deals Lethal Damage: You can use a melee weapon that deals lethal damage to deal nonlethal damage instead, but you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll.

Lethal Damage with a Weapon that Deals Nonlethal Damage: You can use a weapon that deals nonlethal damage, including an unarmed strike, to deal lethal damage instead, but you take a –4 penalty on your attack roll.

Staggered and Unconscious: When your nonlethal damage equals your current hit points, you’re staggered. You can only take a standard action or a move action in each round (distill this down to walking, no running). You cease being staggered when your current hit points once again exceed your nonlethal damage.

When your nonlethal damage exceeds your current hit points, you fall unconscious. While unconscious, you are helpless (same rules apply here for helplessness as they do for resting).

Spellcasters will have the ability to conduct non-lethal arcane battles. Spellcasters who fall unconscious retain any spellcasting ability they had before going unconscious.

Healing Nonlethal Damage: You heal nonlethal damage at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level (ties into resting).

When a spell or a magical power cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of nonlethal damage (ties into healing).

NWN Object Dependencies
Sap, Whip, Unarmed, Non-Lethal Spell Battle Placeable

Local Variables and External Configs
None

Logging and Debugging (global LOG & DEBUG (on/off) constants)
None

Persistence Requirements
Nonlethal Damage

Event Dependencies
OnHit (Armor Property) or OnPlayerDamaged (using default.nss?) or OnActivateItem

[Fionn]

I would set this as the default for all PC-PC normal damage. Accidentally killing someone in a fist-fight may be realistic, but I don't want the OOC headache. If you want to CvC kill IC, it should require explicit choice.

Spell damage, weapon elemental damage, etc, should likely always be 'real' damage unless the PC is in a specifically tagged area for Spell Battles. If possible, we should create a Spell Battle special ability for all mages that allows them to create such an area temporarily.

[Ariak]

Spell damage, weapon elemental damage, etc, should likely always be 'real' damage unless the PC is in a specifically tagged area for Spell Battles. If possible, we should create a Spell Battle special ability for all mages that allows them to create such an area temporarily.

Actually i've been working on such a system for ALFA. Namely Mage Duel which is a non-lethal duel between arcane casters made into the weave by Mystra. For more info see either the FRCS or Magic of Faerun.

The system involves using a custom invisible placeable to prevent spells from passing either out of the designated "arena" or into the arena from the outside.
Cheating death is done through the OnDeath event, and the system will be implemented as a feat for all arcane casters.

Anyways, i've still some left to do before the system can be tested fully and be put up for approval.
I want this system to be as close as possible to cannon, and that requires some tricky scripting and 3DS MAX modelling which may take some time..