Could you blind someone as part of a nonlethal attack when reducing an Enemy's health to zero? [closed]

Question

Been wanting to try my hand at killing fewer enemies, but at the same time with how ubiquitous simple healing magic is for our faceless NPCs, I've been thinking of how to implement more permanent ways to disable opponents that isn't necessarily lethal, nor relies on complex magic to trap or bind them after defeating them. The simplest I can think of is just blinding them via an attack to the eyes or something. People can be blinded without dying, and I figured if it's done as part of an attack that knocks an opponent unconscious, it should be kosher, but I don't know how viable a strategy this is.

Obviously the main issue is that called shots aren't a thing in 5e. Barring some special class feature or a spell, just because I say I'm trying to blind someone doesn't necessarily mean I can, even if my attack lands. This is fair enough if the enemy is still at full HP: even if they take damage I obviously can't just add a debilitating status effect to the attack unless it's an actual feature. Just as well I can say I'm going to stab someone through the heart or cut off their heads, but all that doesn't really happen until the target's HP drops to zero.

But if I do manage to take them out, would this sort of physical, crippling disability be a viable thing a player can do to an enemy?

Answer 1

You can work with your DM and adapt the optional rules from the DMG for Injuries.

The Dungeon Master Guide (pages 272-273) provides some guidelines for lingering injuries:

Damage normally leaves no lingering effects. This option introduces the potential for long-term injuries. It's up to you to decide when to check for a lingering injury. A creature might sustain a lingering injury under the following circumstances:

• When it takes a critical hit
• When it drops to 0 hit points but isn't killed outright
• When it fails a death saving throw by 5 or more

To determine the nature of the injury, roll on the Lingering Injuries table. This table assumes a typical humanoid physiology, but you can adapt the results for creatures with different body types.

The table (summarized below) is the following:

d20 roll	Injury
1	Lose an eye
2	Lose an Arm or a Hand
3	Lose a Foot or Leg
4	Limp
5-7	Internal Injury
8-10	Broken Ribs
11-13	Horrible Scar
14-16	Festering Wound
17-20	Minor Scar

In particular, Lose an Eye reports:

You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight and on ranged attack rolls. Magic such as the regenerate spell can restore the lost eye. If you have no eyes left after sustaining this injury, you're blinded.

You and your DM can work around this optional rules, for adapting them to NPCs and enemies, since these are a DM tool for injuries on the players' characters.