GalacticAxekick
2016-11-03, 04:18 PM
In the words of a friend I was DMing for, "too expensive, too long to craft, too low dc's, too small effect; they just suck in every concievable way." With 150gp to buy Assassin's Blood, 75gp and 30 days to craft it, a DC 10 Con save for 1d12 damage, I'm inclined to agree.
To amend this, we decided that poison (and poison preparation) should be different in a few ways. It should cost much less, it should be faster to craft, it should have reasonable DCs: these are numerical changes, mostly. But regarding effects, we thought the system should be more distinct. We decided poisons would deal attribute damage.
An average injury poison would deal 2d4 (mean 5, min 2, max 8) damage.
An average inhaled poison would deal 1d4 (mean 2.5, min 1, max 4) every round of exposure.
An average ingested poison would deal 3d4 (mean 7.5, min 3, max 12).
Many poisons impose a condition as long as their target attribute is damaged.
The target attribute is recovered (either all at once of d4s at a time) with a Con save.
The target attribute can drop no lower than 0. At 0, a severely debilitating condition is imposed.
For instance, a poisoned dart might impose a DC 12 Con save against a Lv1 Fighter, who fails. Rolling 5 on the 2d4, the Fighter drops from 15 Strength to 10, attacks without Strength bonuses to hit or damage, and struggles to move under the weight of her own armour.
Poisoned again by a second dart, taking 8 damage to Strength, the Fighter drops from 10 Strength to 2, and takes a -4 penalty on attacks and damage. Only with exceptional effort or luck can she hit her targets, now, and even then, damaging them is a trial.
Finally, the unlucky Fighter is poisoned by a third dart. It rolls a meager 2 damage, but this is enough to reduce her Strength to 0. Utterly exhausted, she falls prone where she stands and drops her equipment. She is effectively paralyzed, though totally lucid.
This is an unlikely scenario, given her opportunity to make Con saves to recover Strength. But the potential for this sort of thing sounds fun to me. A brief rundown of attributes and associated poisons:
Strength measures sheer power and athletic training. Poisons that target it might reduce speed, force the target prone or force it to drop equipment. At 0 Strength, a creature is too weak to move and is paralyzed.
Dexterity measures motor skills. Poisons that target it can parallel the above effects, in addition to impairing speech and causing involuntary movements like stumbling about. At 0 Dexterity, a creature has no motor control and is paralyzed.
Constitution is a measure of health and vitality. Poisons that target it reduce HP, as well as resistance to other poisons, and so they are especially coveted (and expensive!). At 0 Constitution, a creature's vitals begin to fail, and they must make death saving throws or be stabilized.
Intelligence is a measure of memory, reasoning and focus. Poisons that target it might cause amnesia, prevent the formation of new memories, or impair sane reasoning. At 0 Intelligence, a creature is unable to think or remember, and thus utterly vacant.
Wisdom is a measure of perceptiveness and judgement. Poisons that target it might impair senses, cause hallucinations, and cause misjudgment of stimulus as of frightening, delighting, etc. At 0 Wisdom, a creature is totally divorced from the world around them, either do to absence of sense or the wrongness of their senses.
Charisma is a measure of willpower and force of personality. Poisons that target it might dull self awareness (and social graces with it), impose apathy or open a creature to suggestion. At 0 Charisma, a creature is without will is utterly vacant.
Notice that Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Charisma all make the target more or less helpless. Constitution puts them at risk of death, but allows them all their normal actions. Wisdom denies them awareness of the world around them, but allows them all their normal actions. Ideally all six would be quite distinct, but I struggled to differentiate Str & Dex, or Int & Cha.
To amend this, we decided that poison (and poison preparation) should be different in a few ways. It should cost much less, it should be faster to craft, it should have reasonable DCs: these are numerical changes, mostly. But regarding effects, we thought the system should be more distinct. We decided poisons would deal attribute damage.
An average injury poison would deal 2d4 (mean 5, min 2, max 8) damage.
An average inhaled poison would deal 1d4 (mean 2.5, min 1, max 4) every round of exposure.
An average ingested poison would deal 3d4 (mean 7.5, min 3, max 12).
Many poisons impose a condition as long as their target attribute is damaged.
The target attribute is recovered (either all at once of d4s at a time) with a Con save.
The target attribute can drop no lower than 0. At 0, a severely debilitating condition is imposed.
For instance, a poisoned dart might impose a DC 12 Con save against a Lv1 Fighter, who fails. Rolling 5 on the 2d4, the Fighter drops from 15 Strength to 10, attacks without Strength bonuses to hit or damage, and struggles to move under the weight of her own armour.
Poisoned again by a second dart, taking 8 damage to Strength, the Fighter drops from 10 Strength to 2, and takes a -4 penalty on attacks and damage. Only with exceptional effort or luck can she hit her targets, now, and even then, damaging them is a trial.
Finally, the unlucky Fighter is poisoned by a third dart. It rolls a meager 2 damage, but this is enough to reduce her Strength to 0. Utterly exhausted, she falls prone where she stands and drops her equipment. She is effectively paralyzed, though totally lucid.
This is an unlikely scenario, given her opportunity to make Con saves to recover Strength. But the potential for this sort of thing sounds fun to me. A brief rundown of attributes and associated poisons:
Strength measures sheer power and athletic training. Poisons that target it might reduce speed, force the target prone or force it to drop equipment. At 0 Strength, a creature is too weak to move and is paralyzed.
Dexterity measures motor skills. Poisons that target it can parallel the above effects, in addition to impairing speech and causing involuntary movements like stumbling about. At 0 Dexterity, a creature has no motor control and is paralyzed.
Constitution is a measure of health and vitality. Poisons that target it reduce HP, as well as resistance to other poisons, and so they are especially coveted (and expensive!). At 0 Constitution, a creature's vitals begin to fail, and they must make death saving throws or be stabilized.
Intelligence is a measure of memory, reasoning and focus. Poisons that target it might cause amnesia, prevent the formation of new memories, or impair sane reasoning. At 0 Intelligence, a creature is unable to think or remember, and thus utterly vacant.
Wisdom is a measure of perceptiveness and judgement. Poisons that target it might impair senses, cause hallucinations, and cause misjudgment of stimulus as of frightening, delighting, etc. At 0 Wisdom, a creature is totally divorced from the world around them, either do to absence of sense or the wrongness of their senses.
Charisma is a measure of willpower and force of personality. Poisons that target it might dull self awareness (and social graces with it), impose apathy or open a creature to suggestion. At 0 Charisma, a creature is without will is utterly vacant.
Notice that Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Charisma all make the target more or less helpless. Constitution puts them at risk of death, but allows them all their normal actions. Wisdom denies them awareness of the world around them, but allows them all their normal actions. Ideally all six would be quite distinct, but I struggled to differentiate Str & Dex, or Int & Cha.