Designing Tranquilizer Darts

[crossxpoison]

What would the mechanics of this look like? A save or be paralyzed seems like it would be too OP. I was thinking along the lines of some sort of CON DC save that would stack negative effects as time went on: disadvantage on attack rolls, disadvantage on Str, Dex, Con checks, things like that. Maybe it would eventually lead to something like the sleep spell.

The reason I want this to work is for a pacifist abjuration wizard I am playing. I have a nuts AC but I can't do too much yet for the rest of my party (only Lv 4). This would give me something more to do in combat that won't kill my enemies. However, I want to keep it as balanced as possible so my DM will allow it. Any help would be appreciated!

[JellyPooga]

Oil of Taggit
Drow Poison
Essence of Ether
Torpor

Pick your poison :smallamused:

[MasterMercury]

Carrion Crawler venom?

[crossxpoison]

Thank you, I looked these up and they look awesome. Do they seem a bit overpowered? Or is that to be expected with such rare poisons?

[JellyPooga]

Due to bounded accuracy, poison isn't near as bad as it was in previous editions, but even the stronger poisons have relatively low DC's and are fairly easy to resist. The cost prohibits low level use and the effects aren't actually that drastic, so you should be OK to use them balance-wise (if anything poisons are a little weak).

You might want to dip Thief Rogue 3 to apply/use the poison as a Bonus Action to save your regular Action doing it.

Then you've got the problem of obtaining said poisons. In a city, if you've got Black Market connections? Not so much of a problem. In the back end of beyond in some redneck village, on the other hand? Yeah, you'll have some trouble restocking.