Subdue

The Subdue skill is focused on dealing incredible amounts of damage to targets in a precise and controlled way, while most methods involve assassination, skilled Adventurers can also take non-lethal approaches to keep kill counts low or to take prisoners. The key ability of the Subdue skill is the Sneak-Attack, an automatic critical hit that is only achievable under certain conditions, while any sort of attack can benefit from Sneak attack, the lethality is restricted to what method was used to perform the attack.

Because of the high damage involved, the Subdue skill is often used in conjunction with the Finishing Blow mechanic, even if an Adventurer doesn't drain an entire target's health pool with a Sneak attack, the target may be forced to make a physiological save to avoid being knocked out or killed outright! Finishing Blow is not exclusive to the Subdue skill, it functions with any attack that deals health damage.

Lethality
♦ Blunt Physical attacks are treated as non-lethal until a target's health drops below 0, then it becomes lethal.
♦ Piercing and Slashing physical attacks are always treated as lethal unless specified. 

Perk Name	Requirements	Effect
Upon reaching Rank 1: the following Perks are automatically applied:
Sneak Attack	Automatic	The Adventurer gains the ability to strike precisely and decisively, to take down a target as quickly as possible, but only if they have opportunity: The Adventurer can only perform a Sneak attack when one or more of the conditions are met: ♦ The Adventurer strikes an unaware target, an individual with no opportunity to defend or react to them. ♦ The Adventurer strikes a target from an angle they cannot easily react to, usually at most a 180 degree angle directly behind the target's facing. ♦ An incapacitated target, a target affected by some form of physiological or psychological status condition that prevents them from taking action. When the Adventurer meets any of those conditions, they can: ♦ Convert an Attack action into a Sneak Attack, Sneak attacks are always treated as critical hits. ♦ Critical hits deal 2.5x Direct Damage and are treated as dealing maximum Damage-Spread, no roll required. ♦ A Sneak Attack still requires a successful ToHit check in order to work, they are not auto-hit. ♦ Sneak Attacks are still subject to Damage-Reduction effects of the victim, even if it connects.
Critical Multiplier	Automatic	The Adventurer's Critical hit chance and damage are increased the more they invest in the Subdue skill: ♦ The Adventurer's Critical-Hit Chance threshold (base 100-96) is reduced by 1 for every 20 Subdue Skill-Rating they own. ♦ The Adventurer's Critical-Hit damage multiplier (2.5) is increased by +0.5 per Subdue Skill-Rank they own.
Each Skill-Rank beyond 1st grants a new Skill-Perk that can be enhanced by the Subdue skill.
Piercing Attack	-	The Adventurer's Sneak-Attacks and Critical-Hits can bypass some of the target's Damage-Resistance: ♦ The Adventurer's now gains 2 points of Piercing to their attack for each Skill-Rank in Subdue.
Superior Piercing Attack	Piercing Attack	The Adventurer is able to pierce even the incredibly thick hides and armours of giants: ♦ The Adventurer's Sneak-Attack and Critical-Hits gain an additional point of Piercing equal to their victim's Size-Rating.
Merciful Attack	-	The Adventurer can hold back their strength when using a Sneak-Attack in the efforts of incapacitating a target non-lethally: ♦ The Adventurer can opt to take a 50% damage penalty to their Sneak-Attack's final damage to make their attack non-lethal, even with weapons that are normally lethal. ♦ This modifier also suppresses any secondary effects of the weapon to avoid interfering with the non-lethal takedown attempt.
Finishing Touch	-	When the Adventurer's attack would normally trigger a Finishing Blow, they can opt to attack again and finish the job themselves: ♦ After triggering a Finishing Blow, and provided the Adventurer has the Action-Points, they can skip the check and attack the target again directly. ♦ This follow-up attack is treated as a Sneak-Attack. Finishing Touch may not be possible if the target has certain resistances or immunities to Finishing Blow: ♦ The Adventurer gains 25 Action-Points and cannot follow up with a Finishing Touch if the target is immune to Finishing Blow, but would be subject to the check if they weren't immune. ♦ If the target resists Finishing-Blow but is not immune, the Adventurer can perform a follow-up attack, however this attack cannot be a Sneak-Attack.