Boosting Poison use?

[BIGMamaSloth]

I'm making a rogue headed for Assassin in the game I'm running, and decided poison use is route I've never tried before that could be really fun. So I had a couple of questions about poison. First of all, doesn't anyone have a list of good effective poisons? secondly are there any other suggestions for this build feat-wise or equipment wise? I don't want to have everything devoted to it, or I turn into a one trick pony, but i do want to be moderately effective.

P.S. I know poison tends to not be that good past low levels, but i very much doubt this game goes past say, level 8 or so anyways.

Edit: On a related note, I can't seem to find the Poison rules in The SRD? are they in there? if so a link would be nice.

[Amphetryon]

Here (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4854.0)'s a good primer on the subject.

[Keld Denar]

Ask and ye shall recieve! (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4854.0)

[BIGMamaSloth]

Ah, brilliant! I honestly did not expect a handbook this big and comprehensive.

SO is Avenger exactly the same as assassin in every way except alignment requirements? cause that sounds perfect.

[Thurbane]

If you can get a weapon made of Gehennan Morghuth-Iron (Arms & Equipment Guide) you can force an extra save vs. poison every time you attack. It is a low DC for little damage (DC 12, 1 Dex/1d4 Dex), but it's an extra save you force a foe to make on top of whatever other poison you are using. Not cheap, however...

SO is Avenger exactly the same as assassin in every way except alignment requirements? cause that sounds perfect.
It's also a class originally published as an April Fool's joke on the WotC website...not every DM will allow it in their game.

[ericgrau]

You got it right; the sweet spot is levels 5-10. I know the guide says they're better at lower levels, but they're not as affordable and thus not as spammable then. The key is action economy and spamming. Even though there's a high chance that the monster will save, it doesn't cost you an action so your damage doesn't decrease vs. no poison, and eventually a foe will fail a save. It works best on arrows so you can pre-apply several doses. Otherwise in melee you're looking at a minor benefit (low chance of success) for a minor cost (didn't reduce your damage nor take an action, only paid for 1-2 doses). Fixes to the melee problem and other things I'm sure are in the above linked guides.

Here are the SRD poison rules, it's under special abilities: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#poison

[Ashram]

Drow of the Underdark has the Toxic and Virulent enhancements, both +1; Toxic allows you to make two attacks before your poison becomes inert, and Virulent makes the poison work twice as fast.

[Baka Nikujaga]

http://i39.tinypic.com/2elgzo5.jpg
On the off-chance that your DM will let you use an extremely obscure resource, I would recommend using Kingdoms of Kalamar's Blood and Shadows rules for modifying poisons (as it contains rules for everything from increasing damage to save DCs.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2nsz4av.jpg
Of course, not every DM thinks that KoK is "official."
Even if they do have Illithids.

[killem2]

I find the DC saves on those things, pretty much to be crap for the majority of them.

If the people in my group wanted to use poisons, I'd have to hunt down a homebrew option for increase the DC for saving against them, if you took the time to make them extra potent. Sorta like an armor smith will do if they want to make stuff faster, they add +10 dc to their checks, except with poisons it means they become more potent.

[deuxhero]

My favorite poison user is build is the Hexblade (Dark Companion) 4/Paladin of Tyranny/Blackguard build, with your blackguard pet having Hidden Talent (psionic minor creation) that lets you make all the (plant based) poison you will need.

Cha to saves twice and 3 good fortitude classes mean you won't be hit by your own poison even if you roll a 1

[Fax Celestis]

Possibly a better route would be psychic warrior into psychic assassin (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723d). This'd give you access to prevenom weapon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/prevenomWeapon.htm) and truevenom weapon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/truevenomWeapon.htm), as well as not-poison abilities that act similarly like strength of my enemy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/strengthOfMyEnemy.htm).

Also, be sure to notice the difference in text between prevenom and truevenom: truevenom says "as long as it's in your grip or until discharged." Prevenom just says "as long as it's in your grip", which means it can certainly last a lot longer.


My favorite poison user is build is the Hexblade (Dark Companion) 4/Paladin of Tyranny/Blackguard build, with your blackguard pet having Hidden Talent (psionic minor creation) that lets you make all the (plant based) poison you will need.

Cha to saves twice and 3 good fortitude classes mean you won't be hit by your own poison even if you roll a 1

Hexblade's cha-to-saves is only against arcane spells.

[deuxhero]

Don't forget to use Psionic Minor Creation if you are going psionic.