Oh, man, you're right. Exceeding someone's CON with a single unarmed attack is nearly impossible.
Standard d20's nonlethal rules don't make it much easier, especially but if you make it significantly easier to KO someone than kill them, people are just gonna start punching their opponents out and giving'em the old coup de grace.
I think that combining the Standard d20 whittle-down-the-HP mechanic with the drastically more modest Massive Damage threshold of d20 Modern would be closer to what the d20M designers intended -- a strong guy could still one-shot someone on a critical hit, but otherwise, it's gonna be the same long and tedious exchange of nickel-and-dime blows that regular combat is in this game.
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Standard d20's nonlethal rules don't make it much easier, especially but if you make it significantly easier to KO someone than kill them, people are just gonna start punching their opponents out and giving'em the old coup de grace.
I think that combining the Standard d20 whittle-down-the-HP mechanic with the drastically more modest Massive Damage threshold of d20 Modern would be closer to what the d20M designers intended -- a strong guy could still one-shot someone on a critical hit, but otherwise, it's gonna be the same long and tedious exchange of nickel-and-dime blows that regular combat is in this game.