the following will be added to the errata doc, but should be considered official as of 04/07/15:

Under "Helpless" pg. 318, remove the following:
"The attacker may, at his option, elect to withhold Wound damage inflicted by a melee attack against a Helpless creature to reduce its Stamina to 0."

Under "Solidify Water" pg. 429, add the following red text:
Adaptation: Increase the CTN by 6 to attempt to solidify the water within a living being. The spells type changes to Sustained with a Speed of 4(+6)/3, which attacks the Target’s Discipline. If successful, the Target is held Helpless. Any damage (including Wound damage) dealt to the Target automatically ends the spell. Once a Target is affected by this spell, he gains a cumulative +3 bonus to his Discipline for the remainder of the Scene against this spell.

So there is now no way to knock out a helpless opponent without killing them?

Sure there is...Vanquish via Stamina. You just can't do it in 1 hit.

Except it's more than likely the character is going to be Vanquished by Wounds first, since you can't avoid doing the Wound Damage with this change.

If they are helpless and your still in combat and you don't want to risk them dying tie them up and gag them...

If your out of combat i am sure a judge can arbitrate that you can knock them out without killing them.

~T

I forsee very different GM attitudes about how easy it is to effectively tie up a statue. It's not like you can move their arms together and tie their wrists and ankles together.

Another reason to invest in a set or two of manacles (maybe a large set too)

Thank you Matt (and everyone else).

Can this post be stickied?