Good to see there are other incidents where a none lethal approach to ending combat is a viable option, if not supported. Aska the Rager should probably be knocked out to keep her from her suicide mission. I'll admit I haven't gone after the Hag yet in any of my play throughs but rescuing her thralls rather than killing them does make sense, certainly for any good character. It shows that they do have plenty of points where a non lethal solution can be played out. I know that it has a degree of role play allowance however, unlike the tabletop, a video game stops that as soon as it goes against the gameplay or story, so I agree with Abits where this is more a poor gameplay mechanic in its current state. For a really basic example if you knock out some bandits on a bridge but you have to cross that bridge several times during your playthrough than, in its current state, you have to knock them out anytime you end the day and return to the bridge.
I find very few RPGs, of the ones I've played, actually give you non violent options within combat, looking at you Bethesda. Yes you can talk through situations (dice/stat reliance) or simply avoid combat (stealth, going around) but once combat is initiated you're typically left with kill or be killed. It's fine for the most part but it stops making sense when you hit that god vs ant state and the people you fight are about as threatening as a newborn kitten. That's why when I first saw the knock out button I thought that there would be some incidents where, even though the dice gods abandoned you, you could still get out of the situation without turning the streets red. As SaurianDruid says, having a cage in our camp reinforces the impression that we could capture someone, which is why I thought Minthara could be a target for this during the siege. With Kagha it was more she needs to be separated from the shadow druids rather than simply killed and the druids could then sort their own problems out.
If they do have plans for this option hopefully we hear about it sooner rather than later. However, if they don't have any plans for it than like Firesnakearies says it would be better to simply remove or replace it with something else. There's also a good chance that if you knock out some of the more important characters you'll break the quests they're connected to and even some that they're indirectly connected to. In short, while it has a use for role playing I'd say the misrepresentation, minimal practical use and bugs outweighs its benefits currently. My hope as stated in the op is that they actually expand on the option rather than keep it as some minimal use flavour option.
*I don't suppose anyone has tried knocking out the Githyanki rather than straight up killing them?
