From reading through conditions such as paralyzed (PHB 291) or unconscious (PHB 292), I realized that incapacitated seems to act largely as shorthand so each condition that inflicts it (paralyzed, petrified, stunned, and unconscious, for those keeping track) doesn't have to repeat the text "the creature can't take actions or reactions" every time. But I got to wondering if an effect exists, accessible either to player characters or monsters/NPCs, that inflicts incapacitated and nothing else.
Not even enchantment wizards' Hypnotic Gaze (PHB 112) or the spell hypnotic pattern (PHB 252) inflict only incapacitated; instead they inflict charm and have incapacitated act as a "rider" condition while the charm is active, starting and ending when it does.
So, are there any features that inflict this condition without making it reliant on or a component of another condition, or is incapacitated a (convenient) shorthand?
Best Answer
There are only a few times where the only condition is incapacitated
The Arcane Archer's Banishing Arrow states:
Both the banishing smite and banishment spells state:
The symbol spell states:
The wind walk spell states:
The Tomb of Levistus Eldritch Invocation:
The Short Term Madness table in the DMG states:
The Wild Magic Sorcerer's Wild Magic Surge tables states:
And the Unearthed Arcana Raven Queen Warlock's Sentinel Raven feature states:
Most of these either make the target go to another plane of existence or they affect the player character and not a target. The only one that could be used offensively is the symbol spell's Pain option.
There aren't even very many ways to apply the incapacitated condition with other conditions, which, as user @thedarkwanderer pointed out, would inflict only the incapacitated condition if a monster were immune to the other condition.
The Tasha's hideous laughter spell which inflicts the prone condition:
And finally the feign death spell which inflicts the blinded condition: