Forest Trolls and Their Poison

[Zombulian]

Forest Trolls (from MM3) have an (Ex) poison that I'm not sure how to deal with. The poison is under the Special Attacks section of their stat block, so spells like Alter Self should grant you access to it, but the text says they use their saliva to create a poison, and the poison is notably absent from their bite attack for the fact that it's made from their saliva.

How would ya'll deal with this?

[Inevitability]

A player with alter self just turns into a troll with saliva on its claws/weapons.

[Fouredged Sword]

Their saliva is not poisonous, but can trivially be made into poison. The bite itself just exposes the target to the raw, non-poisonous base. Perhaps the saliva needs a moment to dry before it becomes poisonous or something. I would let the players who alter self into a forest troll benefit from the ability because it is granted by alter self RAW.

[Zombulian]

Their saliva is not poisonous, but can trivially be made into poison. The bite itself just exposes the target to the raw, non-poisonous base. Perhaps the saliva needs a moment to dry before it becomes poisonous or something. I would let the players who alter self into a forest troll benefit from the ability because it is granted by alter self RAW.

This is a reasonable interpretation. Gosh, Alter Self into a Forest Troll with an Artificer-crafted EWand of Venomfire would be quite potent indeed. The poison doesn't seem to wear off with use...

[StreamOfTheSky]

This is a reasonable interpretation. Gosh, Alter Self into a Forest Troll with an Artificer-crafted EWand of Venomfire would be quite potent indeed. The poison doesn't seem to wear off with use...

Why not?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#poison

One dose of poison smeared on a weapon or some other object affects just a single target. A poisoned weapon or object retains its venom until the weapon scores a hit or the object is touched (unless the poison is wiped off before a target comes in contact with it). Any poison smeared on an object or exposed to the elements in any way remains potent until it is touched or used.

That should still apply.

In any case, agreed with Fouredged. The saliva itself isn't poisonous, but you can make it so with a little time working. Only thing I usually add for a houserule to that is that the poison loses its efficacy after 10 min of being created, and then you'd have to make more (which doesn't take long, but it prevents stockpiling the stuff in vials during downtime).

[Zombulian]

Why not?

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#poison


That should still apply.

In any case, agreed with Fouredged. The saliva itself isn't poisonous, but you can make it so with a little time working. Only thing I usually add for a houserule to that is that the poison loses its efficacy after 10 min of being created, and then you'd have to make more (which doesn't take long, but it prevents stockpiling the stuff in vials during downtime).
When I had done research previous to making the post I had seen some forum posts acting like their poison didn't wear off, but looking at the stats there doesn't seem to be any evidence of something that would contradict the general rule. That stockpiling rule is a good idea, though I like the idea of stockpiling abuse :P