[General Stuff] Giving Diseases and Poisons a bigger punch

[LoneMage210]

Are there things out there (offical or fan made) that can be done to give these two kinds of afflications more of a punch against characters in general?

The reason here is that taking dumb luck in mind, often players tend to reach a point that these two end up being... well useless as in "Why bother when using a SoD spell is better at that job"

That and I don't think I have enough splats to make them work out but eh...

[The Viscount]

If you're talking about as a DM, one of the bigger punches you can throw is the Plague Blight from Libris Mortis. The nasty thing has a disease that has no incubation period and requires a save against damage every round. Mummy rot's a classic, though it'll usually only kick in once a fight has ended. As for poison, Poison Spell, Deadly Poison, and Lolth's Caress make it more dangerous, to say nothing of the infamous Venomfire.

[RollynT.Glal]

One "fix" I'm hoping to implement is add in the overdose rules drugs use if needed examples can be found is the Book of Vile Darkness. The specifics of the overdose should probably vary based on the drug, poison or disease (though non-magical diseases would probably work a little differently) but the DC for resisting the overdose should be anywhere from +1 to +5 standard DC for the substance. Overdose rules sometimes carry a secondary effect that differs slightly from that of the standard substance.

I'm interested in how this develops. Best of luck!

[graymachine]

The biggest drawback to poisons, as far as I know, is the cost and rarity. Drop the price so that it can be included more readily; it should be easy to get, but having a couple of doses shouldn't be costly. Also re-skin the higher poisons to be more mundane things; a DC 20 poison shouldn't need to be made from the blood of Asmodeus's still-beating heart.

[Pally din]

The level at which the players encounter it. Lower is more challenging, so Poision from a druid comes a spell level earlier than from a cleric.

Plauge Carrier spell, puts the contagious period back into the Contagion spell. So, maybe the player does not even realize they are affected, and then they have to deal with the already spreading disease days latter.

And aside from bumping up the DC by choosing more the more exotic, the DM can also 'prep the battlefield' as V did by casting a few things which lower saves beforehand.

[LoneMage210]

So in short, it's not so much "give Posions and Diseases a bigger punch" but more like "understanding which ones to use in your arsenal"... seems fun...

I asked this dilemma in other groups and well, they say 3.x and Pathfinder are not the kind of format if you want Diseases to have the biggest punch, as something to think about.

[Fyermind]

boosts that increase the save DC or make poisons do things even on a successful save will make them more effective.