Any rules for lead or metal poisoning?

[Coidzor]

It seems like both white lead, the pigment for lead-based paint, and lead sugar (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead(II)_acetate) in one form or another would be available or readily made.

[John Longarrow]

Lead is a very slow acting poison that takes a very long time to start having an impact. I'm not sure what your goal in game is, but it can take years before a person builds up enough to have symptoms.

Rome had an endemic problem with lead poisoning in antiquity due to the lead used in pots and to line the aquaducts.

[Zaq]

I'm not aware of any RAW that deals with that sort of thing. This is likely at least partly due to the fact that lead poisoning is (usually) slower and more long-term than the sorts of things that D&D usually deals with, not to mention that its effects tend to be pretty complex (and horrifying).

What sorts of in-game scenarios are you hoping to use these rules for? A crazy tinkerer who's been breathing lead fumes for years? A conniving noble who laces a target's food and/or drink with lead for a while? Some sort of (magic-based/alchemy-based/handwave-based) toxic lead attack that would have immediate or near-immediate effects? A community with too much exposure to environmental lead (in the water, soil, or both, though probably not the air, since leaded gasoline is unlikely to show up in D&D)? Homebrew seems like your best bet, but before we can do that, we need to figure out what role you want the lead rules to play.

[Coidzor]

I'm not aware of any RAW that deals with that sort of thing. This is likely at least partly due to the fact that lead poisoning is (usually) slower and more long-term than the sorts of things that D&D usually deals with, not to mention that its effects tend to be pretty complex (and horrifying).

What sorts of in-game scenarios are you hoping to use these rules for? A crazy tinkerer who's been breathing lead fumes for years? A conniving noble who laces a target's food and/or drink with lead for a while? Some sort of (magic-based/alchemy-based/handwave-based) toxic lead attack that would have immediate or near-immediate effects? A community with too much exposure to environmental lead (in the water, soil, or both, though probably not the air, since leaded gasoline is unlikely to show up in D&D)? Homebrew seems like your best bet, but before we can do that, we need to figure out what role you want the lead rules to play.

I'm mostly hoping to find a way to use it in an immediate sense as a standard sort of consumed poison like Arsenic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/poison/arsenic) is in Pathfinder, through acute lead poisoning.

Although a way to poison someone gradually over an extended period of days or weeks would be of interest if anyone recalls that from a Dragon Magazine.

I've also become inordinately amused by the mental image of an Elf or other similarly long-lived or immortal creature who deliberately sets out to destabilize a kingdom or civilization by making their plumbing be extra leaded.

[Stealth Marmot]

I'm mostly hoping to find a way to use it in an immediate sense as a standard sort of consumed poison like Arsenic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/poison/arsenic) is in Pathfinder, through acute lead poisoning.

Although a way to poison someone gradually over an extended period of days or weeks would be of interest if anyone recalls that from a Dragon Magazine.

I've also become inordinately amused by the mental image of an Elf or other similarly long-lived or immortal creature who deliberately sets out to destabilize a kingdom or civilization by making their plumbing be extra leaded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning

Might I suggest mercury instead? It's a liquid so it could probably be introduced easier and it is probably quicker acting.

[DarkSoul]

I dunno, I've always thought of "metal poisoning" as "damage". :D

[Thurbane]

Gehennan Moghuth-Iron? That's a pretty extreme example. From the Arms and Equipement guide - it's an extramdimensional metal that makes any weapon naturally poisonous. It's a pretty weak toxin (DC 12, 1/1d4 Dex).

[Coidzor]

Gehennan Moghuth-Iron? That's a pretty extreme example. From the Arms and Equipement guide - it's an extramdimensional metal that makes any weapon naturally poisonous. It's a pretty weak toxin (DC 12, 1/1d4 Dex).

Extreme in what way? Other than rarity/difficulty in obtaining due to being a planar special material.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_poisoning

Might I suggest mercury instead? It's a liquid so it could probably be introduced easier and it is probably quicker acting.

Any rules for Mercury would be neat as well, certainly.

I'm not worried about introducing it that much, especially since lead sugar will mix in with regular sugar nicely since it looks like it and is sweet. And historically dissolves in wine quite nicely.

[Thurbane]

Extreme in what way? Other than rarity/difficulty in obtaining due to being a planar special material.

Extreme as is far as it seems far more toxic than mere lead poisoning.