Can you choose to do less damage on melee attacks?
For example a random fighter can deal 2d6 +9(strength) +2 (Weapon Enhancement) +1 weapon training with his two handed sword.
Can the fighter choose to drop his strength bonus, or weapon training bonus to damage?
Can he choose to do the minimum weapon damage of 2?
Lastly, if this is possible does it affect the attack roll?
Assume non-lethal damage is not an option – Say trying to apply an injury poison without hurting or killing someone, or trying to apply a different on-damage effect. Such as an injury based paralysis.
If one of the aforementioned effects were tied to the weapon itself are there any remaining options to lessen damage — similar to how spellcasters can lower the caster level of a spell down the the minimum needed to cast that spell?
Best Answer
I know of no way for a character to choose to do less damage than they roll. Of course, they're free to use a less-powerful weapon or not use damage-boosting abilities.
Characters can, however, choose to deal non-lethal damage with a weapon that normally deals lethal damage by taking a -4 penalty on the attack (or using a weapon that normally deals nonlethal damage, like a sap. There are two Paizo-authored feats I've found to remove the penalty to attack: Bludgeoner (which removes it when using a bludgeoning weapon), and Stage Combat (which removes it for weapons for which you have Weapon Focus). The third-party feat Nonlethal Force simply removes the penalty (this GM would allow this feat).
Using a normally-lethal weapon to deliver non-lethal damage should still count as injury (it still deals damage, just of a nonlethal type), so an injury poison would still be delivered. Any other "on-damage" effect would likely come down to the precise wording of the effect. Some examples I've dealt with recently:
Additionally, there are a number of methods of applying a poison without a traditional weapon attack: