What is “Poison” damage?

[TripleD]

“Alright so the Dire Platypus hits you with its back spur. Take 2d6 poisoned damage.”

“Ah man. So we’re all stumbling and woozy?”

“No that’s that poisoned condition. It’s something different”

“Oh. So it just burns and stings?”

“No that would be ‘acid’ damage. It’s something different”

“I see... so what exactly just happened to us?”


Like it says on the tin: when a character is hit with poison damage, what exactly is happening to them? When I try to think of explanations it usually turns into a description of either the Poisoned condition or Acid damage. What does poison damage, in and of itself, mean?

[Malifice]

You know how if I stab you enough you weaken and die?

You also know how if you get cold enough, you weaken and die?

Or how if I burn you for long enough, or cover you in enough acid, you weaken and die?

Like that; just with poison.

[Arkhios]

Like it says on the tin: when a character is hit with poison damage, what exactly is happening to them? When I try to think of explanations it usually turns into a description of either the Poisoned condition or Acid damage. What does poison damage, in and of itself, mean?

I think it's just a general representation of "you don't feel so well". Remember, Hit Points are an abstraction, not how much blood you have lost or how many more scars you have gained.

[gloryblaze]

I view poison damage as things like numbness, illness, organ failure, etc. Have you ever been stung by a bee, or bit by a spider or a snake? It hurts like a mother, but it doesn't cause physical burning or dissolving like acid would.

[Malifice]

I think it's just a general representation of "you don't feel so well". Remember, Hit Points are an abstraction, not how much blood you have lost or how many more scars you have gained.

Yep.

And a 'hit' doesnt mean you've actually been struck at all. You may have spun out of the way at the last second (losing 'hit points' to slashing damage) or skillfully parried the blow with your shield (losing 'hit points' to slashing damage) or the attack luckily glanced off your armor (losing 'hit points' to slashing damage) or whatever.

HP are luck, resolve, the will to live and health. They're implicitly plot armor, and a representation as your status as a Main Hero and not some no-name Redshirt.

Fall 100' into an active volcano and take 20d12 fire damage, and 20d6 falling damage, but miraculously survive? Its narrated thus:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeGBFWYYcP4

Spock has a lot of Hit points.

You can bet your bottom dollar that if a Resdhirt (with only 10 HP) was also dangling over that volcano, they would have died (narrated as them falling directly into the lava).

[TripleD]

You know how if I stab you enough you weaken and die?

You also know how if you get cold enough, you weaken and die?

Or how if I burn you for long enough, or cover you in enough acid, you weaken and die?

Like that; just with poison.

I guess it’s just the fact that there’s a “Poisoned” condition that is throwing me off.

To go with your examples, there is “piercing” damage, but no “stabbed” condition. “Fire” damage, but no “burned” condition. What makes poison so special?

TL;DR it strikes me as odd that you can die of poisoning without ever being poisoned


I view poison damage as things like numbness, illness, organ failure, etc. Have you ever been stung by a bee, or bit by a spider or a snake? It hurts like a mother, but it doesn't cause physical burning or dissolving like acid would.

I like it. Pain without extensive physical damage, somewhat akin to Psychic damage. It also draws a clearer line between Acid and Poison damage.

[danpit2991]

Damage (the reduction of hit points) in this case caused by poison.

poison is a substance that is toxic to a particular life form, it can be specific like chocolate is to dogs or general cyanide to just about everything.



ok now that my snark is gone

damage and hit points in D&D is an abstract concept that doesnt correlate to psychical damage after all a dagger to the chest will kill almost everybody weather level 1 or 20 it tries to take into consideration things like training and skill, general fitness and how tired you are poison is functionaly just another "type" of damage like fire or force its purpose is to reduce the nebulous concept of hit points and possibly add a status rider like unconscious,sickened or even death.

think about it like this you are bitten by a snake if it has no venom its just a few minor scratches and punctures no big deal but when you add venom it "deals" extra damage by causing tissue destruction or neurological damage in many cases leading to death that is real life in D&D terms you take a larger hit to your HP pool and maybe get a condition added thats about it


edit: looks like i was too slow points already made

[Malifice]

TL;DR it strikes me as odd that you can die of poisoning without ever being poisoned

Nerve gas.

You just... kinda die. Straight up. In seconds. Unless the gas hasnt fully gotten to you.

Game terms it deals [ballpark] 20d6 poison damage per turn at the start of your turn, Con save DC 19 [half]. On a failed save you are also poisoned for 1 hour.

Kirk [15th level with 150hp] and some Redshirts [20 hp each] are exposed to Nerve gas. The redshirts all start choking and coughing and go down dead instantly, alerting Kirk to the danger so he can escape [but losing 75 hit points of 'luck, skill will to live and resolve' in the process].

Kirk might even be sick for a while afterwards.

They all took the same damage. Kirk is a hero though. He's special.

[Arkhios]

TL;DR it strikes me as odd that you can die of poisoning without ever being poisoned

Dying from poison damage is basically as if you suffered a severe anaphylactic reaction. Your body just ceases to function.

Poisoned Condition is more like you feeling "sick" for an extended period of time, nothing else. It's rather merciful compared to damage.

[Unoriginal]

Poison damages can be represented by different organs shutting down or not working properly, making you more vulnerable to hits/out of breath/too distracted to defend as wellas before.

The Poisoned condition is when you feel so sick/bad it hinders your capacities even more than that.

[Dyndrilliac]

Poison damage is a one-time effect. It's for when you get hurt by poison, but not enough to get sick from the poison. The Poisoned condition is a sustained/recurring effect. This is for when you get hurt badly enough by poison (typically the result of failing a CON save) that you become sick for some prolonged period of time.

[ad_hoc]

Poison damage is the same as biological/neurological damage.

The body is a chemical factory. We survive by breaking down molecules into other molecules. Our body communicates with itself through neurons and hormones. Damaging those systems will cause real harm to the body. Or in other words, damage and kill cells.

Think of the poisoned condition as an unpleasant drugged feeling. For example, alcohol is a CNS (central nervous system) depressant. This is why people stumble around and slur their speech when they're drunk. Nauseation, muscle spasms, sensory impairments such as blurred/double vision, etc. could all be part of the poisoned condition.

[OldTrees1]

I think of Poison damage as the space between Necrotic damage and Acid damage.

[Blacky the Blackball]

If you think of hit points as "the ability to keep on fighting", which includes luck, divine grace, morale, pain, and fatigue, then imagine the difference between fighting someone with a normal dagger and a dagger dripping with poison.

When trying not to be killed by the normal dagger, you certainly don't want to get a serious stab or slash from it, but you can take multiple nicks and scratches - none of which is a serious injury - without significant adverse effect. So you can keep fighting for a while before you're tired and hurting and your luck runs out to the point where you get stabbed properly. This is represented in game terms by each successful attack by the dagger doing 1d4 "damage" to you until you run out of hit points.

But when trying not to be killed by the dagger that's dripping poison you can't even afford to be nicked by it; so you're going to need to put more effort (and expend more luck and divine grace) into not getting even the slightest scratch from it. This will bring you to the same tired and hurting state where your luck runs out and you get stabbed as before, but because of the extra danger and extra effort you'll reach this state much more quickly than you would in the first scenario. This is represented in game terms by each successful attack by the dagger doing 1d4 normal "damage" plus 2d6 poison "damage"; thereby making you run out of hit points much sooner.

Of course, if you're resistant to poison then the amount that needs to get into your system to incapacitate you is greater and you therefore might be able to take a scratch or two without that happening - but you'll still need to put in more effort to avoid such things than you would if facing a non-poisoned dagger. You'll therefore be tured and hurting and out of luck quicker than with a non-poisoned dagger but less quickly than if you weren't resistant; and this is represented in game terms by each successful dagger attack doing 1d4 normal damage but you only taking half of the extra 2d6 poison "damage".

[Gardakan]

For a visual perspective, I've described fangs of Yuan-Ti with poison damage as kinda radioactive (glowing with cartoonish green energy).

Poison is a lot of things... it basically affects the system through some sort of contact. It can be a lot of things that are simply ''poisonous'' to a hitpoints point-of-view.

[Unoriginal]

Like it says on the tin: when a character is hit with poison damage, what exactly is happening to them? When I try to think of explanations it usually turns into a description of either the Poisoned condition or Acid damage. What does poison damage, in and of itself, mean?

Just to add something:

Poison can definitively feel like it stings and burns. It's just it feels like it, like a mosquito's or spider's bite would, or like a wasp's poison would, when Acid damage is when your flesh actually melts.

[bc56]

Poison damage and the Poisoned condition indicate two types of poison. Poison damage comes from an effect that is fast-acting, such as most manufactured poisons and the bites or stings of venomous animals. On the other hand, the condition represents fighting off the effects of a slow-acting poison.

The difference is like this:

Claudius pours the virulent, expensive poison into King Hamlet's ear. King Hamlet (20HP) makes a save versus 12d6 poison damage, and fails, taking 42 damage and dying.

On the other hand, Agenty McAgentface is captured by enemy spies. They attempt to knock him out by placing a chloroform-soaked rag over his nose and mouth. Agenty makes a save versus poison and fails, and the chloroform makes him woozy and less able to fight (poisoned condition)

[Joe the Rat]

Anything that draws down your ability to keep going is hit point damage; anything that takes you to 0 is Serious Business.
Broadly, poisons can cause tissue damage (hemotoxins, which is probably where the "poison is acid" trope comes from), or attack the nervous system (neurotoxins). Pain, loss of function, draining your energy reserves, actual damage to tissues or organs - that's poison damage. Antitoxin don't help here, because the damage is done (which gets into the "too many things can happen in six seconds" issues I have - I miss damage over time and secondary effects), but it would help if you predose (somehow).

Wasps do poison damage. I stepped on one (the sunovabirch held on to my damn toe and kept stinging), resulting in a lot of intense pain. You could barely find a wound, but the sensation intensity was comparable to smashing my thumb in a door, or that time a short-fuse firecracker exploded in my hand. Damage, but not particularly debilitating to doing other things.

It was the benadryl that gave me the poisoned condition.


On the other hand, Agenty McAgentface is captured by enemy spies. They attempt to knock him out by placing a chloroform-soaked rag over his nose and mouth. Agenty makes a save versus poison and fails, and the chloroform makes him woozy and less able to fight (poisoned condition)
If he fails by 5, he immediately goes unconscious (a la drow sleeping poison).