Would you use this?

[Darth Stabber]

In my current campaign, the PCs (lvl9) met up with a Vanara Druid who was the town doctor/shaman/apothecary. They asked if he had anything unusual for sale. He offered them vials of indeterminate contents that the druid referred to as a "pick me up", for 100gp a pop. When they asked me after the session what it actually does, I made up the following off the top of my head: when consumed a vanara pickmeup acts as a haste spell for 1d10 rounds, but you take 1 con damage for each round it is active, it is alchemical rather than magic.

Assuming that you lack access strongheart vest (no one in the party does), would you use it?

[Averis Vol]

are you crazy?! its hillarious to put random drugs into the barbarians breakfast and watch him go to town chasing a squirrel. :smalltongue:

in all actuality though, no, 1 con a rounds not a pick me up, thats a downer. its like mixing speed and cocaine and meth into one delicious cocktail of coma. i'd prefer to just buy potions of haste. if you made it say, X non lethal dmg around where X is his con score, then i might take it.

[shadow_archmagi]

Con damage every round says that this potion is a surefire way to get killed.

Unless the Wand of Restoration store just had a going out of business sale, that's naaasty stuff.

[Anxe]

I would use it as poison!

[Darth Stabber]

I would use it as poison!

I am waiting to see if the assassin figures this out.

[Ravens_cry]

I would use it as poison!
Pretty much.
Give it to something that doesn't make use of extra attacks, lets say most mages, or even something that does as long as you can stay out of reach, and you just gave them a serious debuff, possibly even killed them with multiple doses.
Considering that Haste itself is only a third level spell, I'd give it less side effects.

[Epsilon Rose]

I don't know, I might down a swig... If I was undead.

Actually, this does remind me of a rather cool item from the anime Get Backers. One of the characters uses perfumes that are basically aerosol potions that can do various unfortunate things (one did fire damage and another devolved her victims) but two of them were meant to be "beneficial". The first was called speed perfume. Every time she took a sniff of it it drastically increased her speed and she could take multiple sniffs to magnify the effect. The problem was her body couldn't handle the speeds and started taking damage (it actually almost killed her), which is where the second perfume came in. The antidote perfume would end the effects of any other perfume (and maybe other toxins as well; I forget).
If you had mechanics like that it might be kind of cool. Maybe:

Each sip gives you a stacking bonus (increase move speed->extra attack->extra move->extra round) but each sip also gave increasing penalties (subdual damage->actual damage-Con damage [or dex/wis if your feeling nice]-more con damage).
If they're immune to any of the penalties then they can't use that level or above.
The negatives don't start until you've been using it for con mod rounds (or a maybe just a fraction of that, combat tends to be short in d&d) and you can ignore the effects for con rounds (same as before or maybe if they can make an increasing fort save [have it go up every round and increase the amount it goes up by the level of the effect]) or until they become disabling.
Have it continue until they take an antidote or get knocked out/killed.
Maybe make them exhausted/fatigued at the end, maybe base it on a save.

That would let them control both how lethal it is and how much of a benefit they got. One of the problems with your version is that it could run them for 10 round when they only need 3 and have 8 con or it could last them 1 round when they need 6 and have 30 con (though I suppose that's easier to fix).

...I may have over thought this.:smalltongue:

[eggs]

If Haste effects are abundant, probably not. But if it comes down to a really hairy fight that just has to end, or using it offensively (AD&D Haste-style), I could imagine using it, maybe, sometime. And that's definitely enough to justify keeping it around and looking for places to put it, which I think is a lot of fun, even if it never gets put to character-poisoning use.

[Darth Stabber]

I don't know, I might down a swig... If I was undead.

That would let them control both how lethal it is and how much of a benefit they got. One of the problems with your version is that it could run them for 10 round when they only need 3 and have 8 con or it could last them 1 round when they need 6 and have 30 con (though I suppose that's easier to fix).

...I may have over thought this.:smalltongue:

Considering the DN is likely to choose to become a Necropolitan at some point soon this is a concern. The simple answer would be it would be ineffective on that point.

As far as giving them control, that seems a lot to ask for something they got dirt cheap from shady monkey in a back alley. And if you have 8 con and you drink it you know what you are getting into when you say bottoms up. I may give it a fortitude save, that negates all of the effects, and allow autofail.

[Alaris]

Considering the DN is likely to choose to become a Necropolitan at some point soon this is a concern. The simple answer would be it would be ineffective on that point.

As far as giving them control, that seems a lot to ask for something they got dirt cheap from shady monkey in a back alley. And if you have 8 con and you drink it you know what you are getting into when you say bottoms up. I may give it a fortitude save, that negates all of the effects, and allow autofail.

I would argue that, as an alchemy (non-magical) item, it does not work on Undead. Personal opinion and all.

But all in all, I like the risk of the item, and could be worth it, being only 100GP. Anything 10 con or below is taking a risk with his life every time he uses one, and it's risky even on higher con creatures, if they've been wounded.

[Lonely Tylenol]

I would probably go with Haste for 1d10 rounds followed by either exhaustion or Slow for 1d10 hours (it speeds you up, but exerts an incredibly strong force upon your body, which is physically taxing; or, it speeds you up, and then slows you down). I may use such an alchemical potion--if I felt like I needed to, or could survive the affair (but generally, no--it takes a standard action to swig a potion, and you're generally not going to get good returns on those options unless you have some special way to get 3.0 Haste or something equally absurd).

[sonofzeal]

Potential 1d10 Con damage? Precious little is ever worth that.

A static 2 Con damage would make it nice. Halving the rate of Con damage makes it... tough, but still worth using occasionally. As is, though? I'd have to be seriously desperate. And if I was that desperate, I wouldn't waste a move action drawing it and a standard action drinking it.

So... uh, no. I wouldn't use this.

[Big Fau]

Necropolitans and Binders don't care about the Con damage.

[Darth Stabber]

Necropolitans and Binders don't care about the Con damage.

Simple fix: because the stuff burns your life force out to fuel your speed, no damage, no haste.

They were also given some leaves that "help you chill out", and I need an amusing/terrifying effect for those (50gp each), no wisdom damage since they were sold by a druid who also used one.

[Ravens_cry]

Simple, it's a calm emotions effect, with perhaps an intelligence penalty while using it.
Seriously, unless you are running D&D D.A.R.E Edition, you don't have to make them so . . . horrible that no one in their right, or wrong, mind would use it.

[Strormer]

How I would run it is that when you consume the potion you are hasted for 1d10 rounds. Each round of the duration you must make a Fort save or take 1 Con damage. This would make it still a risk, but more so for characters that are not physically tough due to the nature of the drug. It would also mean that it was a great deal for warriors and barbarians.

I like the idea of there being a drug that counteracts the effects and calms you, but ymmv. What I would make sure to do is to have the drug have reduced effect if it is used repeatedly. Say, after they've used it ten times they would only be hasted for 1d8 rounds, then 1d6, 1d4, 1d2, and finally 1 round. This would show their bodies becoming used to it. If it's something they might get again.

[Mystral]

Effect of the downer leaves: Slow for 1d10 rounds, and 1 Int damage per round.

Horrible enough for you?

[Darth Stabber]

Effect of the downer leaves: Slow for 1d10 rounds, and 1 Int damage per round.

Horrible enough for you?

No there needs to be a positive.

And I am not trying to make anysort of anti drug statement, and if I were it would fall on deaf ears given everyone is in their mid 20's and have pretty much made their minds up about the topic. I'm just a big fan of giving PCs plenty of rope to hang themselves with.

[Slipperychicken]

They were also given some leaves that "help you chill out", and I need an amusing/terrifying effect for those (50gp each), no wisdom damage since they were sold by a druid who also used one.

+4 (enhancement) Wisdom, -4 Cha and Dex, Slow, Calm Emotions, and 50% miss chance for 1d4 hours. User enters a peaceful, trancelike state for several hours, has trouble recalling events during this time, and extreme difficulty focusing or maneuvering properly. These are some really expensive drugs (average commoner income is 377gp/year), they better mess you up good.


You could try the Drugs rules on the SRD. Arthorvin seems to approach what you want.

[KillianHawkeye]

What I would make sure to do is to have the drug have reduced effect if it is used repeatedly. Say, after they've used it ten times they would only be hasted for 1d8 rounds, then 1d6, 1d4, 1d2, and finally 1 round. This would show their bodies becoming used to it. If it's something they might get again.

Now all we need are rules for addiction and withdrawal.

[Zanfire]

Now all we need are rules for addiction and withdrawal.

Aren't they already given in one of the evil themed books?

[Morithias]

Aren't they already given in one of the evil themed books?

Book of Vile Darkness Page 41

[ericgrau]

They're only 100 gp though. Haste is 750 gp.

Given that it's not enough con damage to kill you, I think what really matters is round 3 or 4. So -4 con, -10 HP out of about 40 at level 5. Extra attacks. Ya I think I'd deal a lot more extra damage than I'd take so I'd use it. But only if I had a buffing round. I'd also beg the cleric to prepare lesser resto x 2. Or even if I sprang for scrolls to give him that's still only 150 gp.

[Sutremaine]

Binders don't care about the Con damage.
Binders do. Characters who dip Binder for Naberius don't.

It's kind of an expensive trick for a Binder. You don't get more than one vestige at a time until level 8, and kicking out your normal vestige to bring in the ability healing costs a feat or 15,000gp and can only be done once a day. You could bind Naberius beforehand, but none of Naberius' abilities benefit from Haste so it'd be kind of a weird choice. Maybe you're doing negotiations and expect them to turn nasty?

Pity there aren't such things as potions of Expeditious Retreat. They're not listed anywhere on the Potions table, probably because ER is a 'personal' spell and potions act as spells whose target is the drinker. How I loathe personal-range spells. They're 3.5's biggest middle finger to non-casters.

[Morithias]

How I loathe personal-range spells. They're 3.5's biggest middle finger to non-casters.

Personally I thought that was gate, but we're not here to debate.

Although on a weird note that potion is pretty damn potent for it's price. Most drugs are either totally negative and only like 6 gp, or are in the hundreds. There's one that costs 2k even, and kills you if you take it twice!

Hell, Black lotus extra does only 3d6 con damage and it costs 2k for a single dose! Then again it's easier to do weapon damage then drinking damage.