What the game needs is an ability to knock out a target and without starting a fight. Unlike paralysing a target with a spell or a poison for a few seconds, should it be possible to knock someone out for like two to five minutes.

A special knock out blow needs to deal a some small damage, but otherwise put the target to sleep without causing an aggression. It also shall have a chance to fail and to start a fight. Possibly with an integration into the skill system so one can improve the failure rate, reduce the damage and extend the sleep duration.

Such a feature would save me from using semi-instant kills with a legendary daedric dagger while sneaking. I would give up the 15x and 30x damage multipliers for such a feature. No more need for the "OVER9000!!!" sneak attacks for me.

Or: change how paralysation works and turn it into something that can be used for more than killing.

They took knocking out a NPC away in one of the patches in Morrowind and it has never come back.

As for the 15 or 30X multiplier, that is in place because a Thief normally svcks at combat, if you have rolled a pure Thief, so they need a way to have an assured kill. If the Perk is too powerful for your play style, then don't choose the combo or use a weak dagger. Or, use a Sword instead of a Dagger. Or, use Heavy Armor Boots. Or, use a follower that wears heavy armor.

that would be useful for a thief who follows the old rules of not killing anyone. i like it

Tell that to the mercenaries and bandits! They do not stop until they are dead... So if I have to kill them I might just give them a quick death.

Also, I did not know Morrowind ever had a knock out feature.

I do wish the bandits would yield and mean it, or run away.

Yep, prior to one of the patches in Morrowind, you could knock out an NPC with Hand to Hand, then loot them while they were unconscious. They were only mildly irritated the next time you saw them, like if you had Intimidated them. I miss that.

That would be so awesome. I miss more response from the general public. People you ticked off etc.

it is rare, but sometimes they do flee, or yield.

Once I ran up to a Nord who called me milk drinker, and well, my character takes so seriously that someone insults his favorite drink(and god, is he pissed that there is none in skyrim) so we battled and soon the guy was on his knees yelling: I yield, I yield!...so I sheathe my weapon, the guy stands up, and goes on his way.

The other time I was killing some bandits, so I go and slash them up one by one, till only one remained. The guy was at distance with the bow ready, so I started running to him, when he yelled : “you know, death is overrated” and ran away till he was out of sight….i stood there for some minutes thinking on that, and laughing a lot.

And now for topic creator: Yes, a way to knock out people instead of killing would be nice, but if all its needed is avoiding combat, invisibility is the best

I think that this feature would just be a source of trouble for people - knocking out Dremora and essential NPCs with unique items would throw off balance to newer players.

But, being able to knock out Aela or Saphire and steal their clothes wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing

Oh, it should have limitations. One should not be able to knock out a skeleton, a ghost or any undead nor a daedra. NPCs with helmets should be impossible to knock out at first and at best at a high skill (if it comes with a skill). Otherwise the use of helmets would get ridiculed.

And you should not be able to loot more than you can pick pocket of a sleeping NPC. If your attempt fails will you wake the NPC up.

I have also had bandits flee from me. I've had them say I can not best you and run away.

true, happens a lot when your level is high, I found myself chasing fleeing draugr deathlords more thna once

True, I have seen some too. They will however return and get back into the fight. Also, they will only run away if you deal a lot of damage to them. It is the exact opposite of what a knock out should do, though. I do not want to walk into a house as a thief and bash everyone so hard that they run away. I'd like to sneak up an NPC, knock it out to avoid a senseless kill and have the NPC live a little longer.

Followers kill with little mercy... If the bandit fails to run far will my Lydia shoot them in the back. I never take her into any caves btw. The girl had a bad childhood.

Well, in Morrowind, during the time we could do this in game, the NPC was wailing away with a weapon or magic the whole time I was punching them. So, if my Hand to Hand and my Armor was not up to snuff, it would not end well for me. It was not like I could walk up and punch someone and knock them out, it took a while even with good H2H skills. Plus, if you wanted to avoid the crime issues, you also have to successfully taunt them into fighting you. This was not a technique for a low level character.

Knocking out NPCs would be great. If you were in sneak and they had no idea who knocked them out (and the knock out was successful) then they should not want to be aggressive towards you. But if you just walk up to their face and knock them out then they would know who knocked them out and if they ever saw you again they should be agressive towards you. And in all cases there should be a potential to not knock out or a knock out ability that one can level up so that at lower levels it is less effective or lasts for less time and at higher levels you could knock out stronger enemies or have the knock out last for longer periods of time.

I would love to have a knock out feature. I would (as a thief) walk into a merchant's store, get into a corner where they couldn't see me, and then sneak up to them and knock them out and steal everything I could carry. And it would be really exciting if there was a possibility that they would wake up and catch me at any moment.

Great idea OP!

Kind of all seems to be rooted in Skyrims rather limited simulation of wounding and morale.

Knockout seems especialy simple to add in the form of an alternate near-death state (where they now just crawl around a bit), perhaps caused by blunt attacks only. Wouldnt add much nasty exploitability as it would be just as easy as kiling them.

What I dont understand however is that NPCs do on some very rare occasions (as mentioned above) flee. The code is clearly there but is rarely ever used. Perhaps the makers were afraid players might feel guilty cutting down fleeing bandits for their loot?

I would also LOVE a knockout feature. There are other ways to end confrontation:

Tying them up
Transport them with magic
cast a forget spell (like calm except it lasts)
convince them to join you
force them to join you
turn them into animal
seduce them
arrest them

I am sure there are more, that's what I could think of right now.

I just want creative solutions to ending conflict - where you have to THINK.

Not that I think it matters, but you forgot kissing and make-up six.