Spare the Dying
You touch a living creature that has 0 hit points. The creature
becomes stable. This spell has no effect on undead or constructs.
Same scenario two different ways.
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The party fights five hobgoblins and a hobgoblin leader type, all
six of which fall during combat. Can the party cleric, as soon as
combat is over, touch the leader and cast Spare the Dying in an
attempt to keep him from dying (potion, heal spell, etc)so that he can be interrogated? -
The party fights five bandits and a bandit leader type, all
six of which fall during combat. Can the party cleric, as soon as
combat is over, touch the leader and cast Spare the Dying in an
attempt to keep him from dying (either medicine skill, potion, heal spell, etc) so that he can be interrogated?
The two example are the easiest case, since both enemy parties are humanoids. Since the spell says "creature" this could be extended to a Worg, which speaks goblin and could be interrogated, or any other talking creature … to include a dragon.
A related topic is use of either the medicine check or healer's kit to do the same thing without casting a cantrip. (Or not having it).
Page 3 Basic DMG
A monster usually dies or is destroyed when it drops to 0 hit points.
The bare bones of reading the rules suggests "no" as an answer … but I may not be looking in the right part of the book. The "zero hit points" threshold (but subject to death saves while "not dead yet") seems directed at player characters, and allows for recovery of a player who falls during a given combat without the final death amount of HP going past zero. If players usually just let the monster die, can't an unusual case overcome the general point in the "Hit Points" topic in the DMG?
Of interest, zombies get to recover in certain cases during combat when they go to 0 HP or less, as a specific feature of being a zombie. They aren't covered by this spell.
(Lore Reference: there were "strike to subdue" rules in OD&D, and even rules/guidance for how to handle a subdued dragon. The question is only for 5e.)
In answering this question, we will assume that the party in neither case attempted "Knocking a Creature Out" before the combat ended. (Basic rules p 76, PHB p. 98, thanks Gamer Josh for assistance in framing question).
Best Answer
The PHB (pg 198) has that section written as such:
Note the use of most and common exceptions.
Additionally, PHB 197 has the following:
Note the use of creature here, not you or player character.
That makes it clear that having an enemy die instantly at 0 is an option that the DM may use. It's completely legal to rule that monsters use the same rules "Dropping to 0 Hit Points" as PCs. If you want to make sure that some of your enemies are alive after the battle to interrogate them, you should: