Knocking a Creature Out
The rule in 5e is specific about scope. When you reduce a creature to 0 Hit Points with a melee attack, you may choose to knock it out instead of killing it. The creature falls Unconscious and remains stable. That is the entire mechanic. Note what it does not say: it does not leave the target at 1 Hit Point, and it does not apply to ranged attacks or spells. The popular table lore that you “leave them at 1 HP” is invented. The creature is at 0, unconscious, stable.
The distinction matters because a stable creature at 0 is one failed rescue away from complications, and because a caster who wanted to subdue a foe cannot do it with Fire Bolt. Melee only. The choice is declared when the blow lands, not retroactively after the DM narrates a corpse.
Used correctly, it removes a threat without a body, which is the whole point for interrogations, bounties, or players who would rather not explain a fresh kill to a town guard.
At the table: A rogue drops the last cultist with a dagger; declare the knockout as the hit resolves, and the cultist goes to 0 Hit Points, Unconscious and stable, available for questioning next round.
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