Rogue Fluff - Making Poison Useful

[Oramac]

Forgetting the obscene cost of poison for a moment, would this idea work?

Say you're working on an assassin character (backstory, not the archetype), and you want him to use poison a lot. Well, other than the crazy amount of gold that would cost, poison isn't terribly effective even if you can afford it.

So, would it hurt anything to refluff Sneak Attack as poison damage?

[BigONotation]

Better to leave Sneak Attack as is and add actual reasonable poisons

[Oramac]

Better to leave Sneak Attack as is and add actual reasonable poisons

I don't disagree, but that's unlikely to happen from WOTC any time soon, and homebrewing it up isn't something I'm terribly interested in doing.

[Coffee_Dragon]

So, would it hurt anything to refluff Sneak Attack as poison damage?

Not unless you have a problem with the ramifications of

a) the assassin having an unlimited supply of some nerve agent that works lightning fast, but

b) not being able to apply in it any other fashion than making a melee attack subject to some conditions.

[Aett_Thorn]

I would say that it would only hurt the assassin, given how many creatures are resistant/immune to poison. But if you're just refluffing it and not changing the damage type, it doesn't really matter.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I think you'd be better off refluffing, say, some spells. Take Magic Initiate (Warlock): Hex becomes a weapon-based contact poison, Poison Spray a noxious gas grenade, and Chill Touch a poison dart.

[Oramac]

I think you'd be better off refluffing, say, some spells. Take Magic Initiate (Warlock): Hex becomes a weapon-based contact poison, Poison Spray a noxious gas grenade, and Chill Touch a poison dart.

That's........probably better, yea. Good idea.

And to reiterate: this is NOT for the assassin archetype. Just a rogue who used to be an assassin.

[Grod_The_Giant]

That's........probably better, yea. Good idea.

And to reiterate: this is NOT for the assassin archetype. Just a rogue who used to be an assassin.
For what it's further worth, I think a spell that simulates the effects of the "Basic Poison" item (one action to cast, one minute duration, creatures struck must make a Con save or take 1d4 poison damage) would be... somewhere between a cantrip and a first level spell. It seems better even than the SCAG melee cantrips, but it's significantly inferior to Hex/Hunter's Mark. You could probably modify it a couple of ways:

Poison Weapon (Cantrip; one action): You coat one weapon with poison. For the next minute, any target damaged by it must make a Con save or take 1d4 poison damage. They can only be affected in this fashion once per round, even if struck multiple times.

Poison Slash (Cantrip; one action): You coat one weapon with poison and attack. As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell’s range, otherwise the spell fails. On a hit, the target suffers the attack’s normal effects, and must make a Con save or take 1d8 poison damage.

Toxic Weapon (1st; bonus action): You coat one weapon with poison. For the next hour, any target damaged by it takes 1d6 poison damage. (Better than Hex/Hunter's Mark in that you can target multiple creatures more easily, so it loses the added effect on top of using a crappier damage typ)

[MrStabby]

After some thought it seems pretty reasonable actually.

A round is six seconds and it is assumed that everyone is acting simultaneously, so a total of six seconds between actions. A sneak attack that reduces an enemy to 0 hp therefore represents a poison that can incapacitate within 6 seconds. If you were to stick some powerful venom direct into the bloodstream then it could incapacitate in that time, even if not killing someone. This is especially true if they are exerting themselves so circulation is fast.

Slightly less plausible for ingested toxins, but that is less likely to need the combat rules to reflect that kind of killing.