Poison

[3d6]

Poison – “ain’t nothin’ but a good time.” (ugh)

With poisons, I've done many different things and I got the itch to put them in these here tables for my own use and your consideration and use if you desire. Not startingly original, there’s a ton of poison articles/forum/blog posts out there, the literature is vast; this is just my take.

To generate a random poison: roll on TABLE 1, and then roll on the indicated Poison Type table. Then roll on TABLE 7 for onset time and then 16 2/3% chance of a roll on TABLE 8 for an additional effect.

(On these type of tables, of course, you might make choices, depending on the situation, instead of rolls, or roll 1d4, or 2d6 take the lowest, for lesser poisons, or 2d6 take the highest for real killers, whatever).

TABLE 1: Poison type
1. Type I; minor damage, save for none
2. Type II; severe damage, save for none
3. Type III; failed save is death, successful save for no effect (“save or die” poison)
4. Type IV; minor to severe damage, save for one-half damage
5. Type V; effect spread over time
6. Type VI; Failed save is death, successful save is minor to severe damage taken

TABLE 2: Poison Type I (save for no damage)
1. 1-3 hit points
2. 1-4
3. 1-6
4. 1-8
5. 1-10
6. 1-12

TABLE 3: Poison Type II (save for no damage)
1. 2-16 hit points
2. 3-18
3. 4-24
4. 5-30
5. 6-36
6. 6-48

Poison Type III: Failed save means death, successful save for no effect (“Save or die” poison).

TABLE 4: Poison Type IV (save for one-half damage)
1. 1-6 hit points
2. 1-10
3. 3-18
4. 4-24
5. 5-30
6. 6-36

TABLE 5: Poison Type V (timed effect; save at the beginning of each 10 minute period (for 1-3 on table below), or each minute (4-6 on below table). If the save is made, then no damage is taken for that round, and no further damage (thus if the first save is made, there is no damage).
1. 1-4 hit points per 10 minutes for 10-40 minutes
2. 1-8 per 10 minutes for 10-40 minutes
3. 1-8 per 10 minutes for 10-60 minutes
4. 1-4 per minute for 1-4 minutes
5. 1-6 per minute for 1-4 minutes
6. 1-6 per minute for 1-6 minutes

TABLE 6: Poison Type VI. Failed save means death; successful save means damage shown is taken
1. 1-4 hit points
2. 2-12
3. 3-24
4. 4-40
5. 5-60
6. 6-120

TABLE 7: Poison onset time
1. Instantaneous
2. 1-10 minutes
3. 10-60 minutes
4. 1-6 hours
5. 1 day
6. 1-4 days

TABLE 8: Additional poison effects table (16 2/3% chance any poison has one of these)
1. If caused by a wound, limb is disabled (infection) for 1-6 weeks (if not caused by wound, no additional effect)
2. If ingested or poison gas, no activity for 1-4 weeks (illness) (if not ingested or gas poison, no additional effect)
3. 33 1/3% chance of 1 point reduction of one physical characteristic (strength, dexterity, or constitution), lasting for 1-6 days
4. 33 1/3% chance of 1-4 point reduction of one physical characteristic (strength, dexterity, or constitution), lasting for 1-6 days
5. If caused by wound, induces paralysis (additional saving throw allowed)
6. If ingested or poison gas, euphoric (unaware/disbelieving of danger)

There are antidotes to some poisons.

Some poison articles: Judge’s Guild Journal #19, The Dragon #32 + 1e DMG p. 20 + check the forums!

I do think it is vital to retain the Save or die. It doesn’t need to be common, just the possibility and threat needs to be there. (MHO).

[Bob]

I like this quite a bit. Simple system with a lot of variety. You should send a copy of this to Mike Mearls so he can see some alternatives to the pure save or die mechanic. Good stuff.

[3d6]

Hey, Bob. Thanks a lot. Enjoy.

Poison in D&D is one of those things, I think its been discussed and house ruled since about the day after D&D was first published, and here we are today! Three areas most common: traps, monsters, and weapons. Poison traps are "anything goes" as far as I'm concerned, in terms of poison effects, any and all listed here.

Poison monsters, I tend towards dire effects, including often save or die. The good thing about that is it makes you think, come up with a way to defeat, or avoid, out of the norm, by magic, fire, water, traps, carpentry (build a giant centipede cage, like a shark cage), find another way around, whatever. (Having said that, I do use weaker than save-or-die poison for some monsters). I think it's generally not good to have, say, save-or-die poison giant centipedes fall out of the ceiling with no warning, or some such, but use the poison monsters rarely/differently from the ordinary.

Limiting the use of poison weapons is best, imo (by the usual, time-tested means of making such poison rare, expensive, unstable -- lose effectiveness, have the possibility of poisoning oneself, and attract attention from the assassins guild). Also, running campaigns with basically good alignment characters.

One thing to think about is that onset times can be a hassle. Depends on the players; they may like the idea of having some time - a few minutes or days, can be dramatic. On the other hand it may also just extend their misery, and/or they may become argumentative, nit-picky, lawyerly about keeping track of time, which isn't worth it.