Drow weapons in the MM help

[Bellberith]

so, the drow in the monster manual apparently have poisoned weapons. but they are just poisoned, the poison damage on them is pretty high, and there is no save.

also it doesn't say the drow poison runs out at all.... are these shortswords/scourges/staves/hand crossbow bolts permanently poisoned? there are a few other things in the MM like this that don't make sense.

if these swords happen to be permanently poisoned (nothing says otherwise as far as i see) would you ever allow a player to loot them?

(i noticed in the MM it says under "arms and armor" in the drow section that the magic fades if the blade is exposed to sunlight, but it doesn't say the blades themselves are all imbued with magical poison. i think they are referring to the variant drow magic items in the section above.)

[rlc]

i don't have the book, but just from reading what you're saying, i don't really see a problem with a magic item being a permanently poisoned sword, especially if there's a way to get rid of the enchantment. i'd just make it a somewhat high level item.

[hymer]

I think it's supposed to be a quality of the monster rather than the weapon; the drow know how to make/acquire and use poison. Avoiding it running out is probably more a reflection of the decision of keeping things as simple as possible.
I don't really understand why they chose to let the staff be poisoned, and I'd probably decide against this being the case if I use one of those. The drow mage should be able to cope just casting Poison Spray on things he wants to poison to death. But I'd let PCs who disarm the other drow use their poisoned weapons for the remainder of that encounter, and then rule the poison to have run out aftewards.
But it's mostly opinion, of course.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

is there really no duration listed for the poison effect? it should have a duration listed.

if not, i'd do 1-2 rounds of Poisoned effect on damage.

[Bellberith]

is there really no duration listed for the poison effect? it should have a duration listed.

if not, i'd do 1-2 rounds of Poisoned effect on damage.

it doesn't say the target gets poisoned..... they just take 3d6 poison damage with no save.

[Envyus]

Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10ft.,
one target. Hit: 7 (ld6 + 4) piercing damage plus 10 (3d6)
poison damage.
Hand Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 30/120
ft ., one target. Hit: 7 (ld6 + 4) piercing damage, and the
target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or
be poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more,
the target is also unconscious while poisoned in this way. The
target wakes up if it takes damage or if another creature takes
an action to shake it awake.


Shortsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one
target. Hit: 5 (ld6 + 2) piercing damage.
Hand Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30/120
ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1 d6 + 2) piercing damage, and the
target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitutio.n saving throw or
be poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more,
the target is also unconscious while poisoned in this way. The
target wakes up if it takes damage or if another creature takes
an action to shake it awake.

Only the elite has this effect and only it only does damage. This is not an issue.

[Bellberith]

Only the elite has this effect and only it only does damage

yes only the elite has that effect but it isnt the elite's special ability, that means it has to be on the sword.

[Envyus]

yes only the elite has that effect but it isnt the elite's special ability, that means it has to be on the sword.

Nope Drow just keep lots of nice poison on them. It's likely just a poison coated sword.