Poisons..

[Stormcrow]

I've got a Ninja coming into my group soon and he likes his poisons I was wondering if people could give me an idea of the books that feature poisons so I can compile a list.

[SilverClawShift]

Book of Vile Darkness.

You'll find whatever the heck you need in there. It even has a few poisons that affect outsiders who are immune to poison. Which seems... uh...

Well, whatever, they're there.

There're even poisons which affect the mind instead of the body.

[Stormcrow]

I knew there was a reason I bought that book.. it was calling to me. Now I know why.

[tannish2]

libris mortis if your running into undead, DMG of course, complete scoundrel has some cheap($cheap not WTF cheap) stuff (and some odd effects).

[Zincorium]

Generally speaking, look at poisons which do constitution damage or target an enemies weak point for use in combat. Also make sure that the save DC of the poison is as high as possible.

An example of the weakness targeting would be dexterity poison against dragons, or intelligence against most animals and vermin. The reason you wouldn't go after a score that is high is because temporary penalties have to be massive or affect multiple targets to really make a difference in combat.

Constitution is generally a good choice because it has an instantaneous, directly harmful effect: loss of hit points. At higher levels it actually becomes more pronounced, due to monster's hit dice generally increasing faster than their CR.

The book of vile darkness has a few good ones, oddly the best ones are giant vermin's venom. Other stuff to look for are unconsciousness and other effects that are independent of a creature's ability scores.


Lastly, poison is vastly less damaging in 3.x than it was in 2nd ed, and is almost never cost effective.

[Jade_Tarem]

It's off topic from the OP, but since the title of the thread is "Poisons.."

My friend and I had a conversation about them as part of a long car trip between college and home, and we kept stumbling over the fact that there's no true way (to our knowledge) to make them cost effective. He has a third party book on the making(crafting) of poisons, and alternative poisons, and weapons to use poisons, but nothing in any of the splatbooks talks about making them cheaper. Heck, even finding the most expensive components yourself (rather than buying them) makes poison use too expensive (and DM-dependent) except at the highest levels.

Any ideas/suggestions/info I'm not aware of?

[JackMage666]

Somewhere, there's info for Craft (posionmaking). I think it's in Complete Scoundrel, but I could be wrong. Basically, it says that if the ingredients are common, you'll only need to pay 1/6th the cost to craft it. If the ingredients are rare, something like 1/2, though. I'm not sure, it should be on a book somewhere, though.

But, yes, Craft (poisonmaking) is almost a must for a poison user. Reduces the cost dramatically.

[SilverClawShift]

I always considered poison more of an 'ace up the sleeve' than a combat style. Poisoning every goblin and kobold you fight is a little excessive, and it'll be costly mechanically, and frankly, realistically.

Pouring an expensive dose of CON damaging doom-poison made from a demons bone marrow onto your throwing dagger is what you do before you kick in the door to take out the summoner who's been holding the town ransom with magical beasts, not what you do between random encounters.

At least, that's how I look at it, everyone wants something different out of life :smallsmile:

[UserClone]

How about FREE poison? Use the 5-level Poisoner PrC out of Dragon #312. I <3 it.

[Stormcrow]

Gah is there a repository of like... stuff from Dragon that I can access/purchase somewhere because I allways seem to need stuff from the issues I don't have! :/

[Dhavaer]

Gah is there a repository of like... stuff from Dragon that I can access/purchase somewhere because I allways seem to need stuff from the issues I don't have! :/

There's the Dragon Compendium.

[Stormcrow]

Looks like its worth my money but not helpful in this specific case. I guess I look for some tasty homebrew from here..

[Yiel]

Now I'm not sure about making them cheaper... but the best way to get a good stash of poisons for dire situations is to venture into the Underdark. Every single time I've had a character dragged into an Underdark situation, I've come out laden with every sort of poison imaginable.

[PlatinumJester]

BoED has ravges and afflictions which are the good type of poison despite being hypocrytocal.

It says in BoVD that you can use Craft Alchemy checks to make poison albeit at a -4 penalty.

[Kurald Galain]

How about houseruling that casting the Poison spell on some kind of liquid makes it, well, poisonous?

[Citizen Joe]

Somewhere, there's info for Craft (posionmaking). I think it's in Complete Scoundrel, but I could be wrong. Basically, it says that if the ingredients are common, you'll only need to pay 1/6th the cost to craft it. If the ingredients are rare, something like 1/2, though. I'm not sure, it should be on a book somewhere, though.


It also breaks the Silver piece per week basis of crafting rules and makes GOLD piece per week basis.

[Wraithy]

crafting poisons can be quite difficult in game though. I tried making a poison crafting character once, it was brilliant in combat. however my group despises staying in the same place for more than an hour in game, so when I suggested taking a week off before going into the dunggeon for preparation, not only did the rest of the group get bored, but the DM pumped up the guards on the dungeon entrance. it took us three levels to get into the dungeon.

[Citizen Joe]

Ah the escalation game. PC's find out something will be tough, so they carefully plan things out to get an advantage. DM decides he WANTS it to be tough so he ups the power level to compensate. Solution: Go to the Stupid PC tricks and simulate them to make the DM think you are morons and take it easy on you. Always bemoan how tough an encounter is, even if you never got hit.

[Quietus]

I knew there was a reason I bought that book.. it was calling to me. Now I know why.

yeah, the BoVD has some pretty hardcore poisons in there... DC 54 fort save for 2d6 strength/2d6 strength (Or were those d8's? Can't remember...) anyone?

[AKA_Bait]

Gah is there a repository of like... stuff from Dragon that I can access/purchase somewhere because I allways seem to need stuff from the issues I don't have! :/

Try this site. (http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php) It has most things in it's data base.

[Draz74]

An example of the weakness targeting would be dexterity poison against dragons, or intelligence against most animals and vermin. The reason you wouldn't go after a score that is high is because temporary penalties have to be massive or affect multiple targets to really make a difference in combat.

I dunno. Intelligence Damage vs. a Wizard is pretty worthwhile. Same for other casters.


Constitution is generally a good choice because it has an instantaneous, directly harmful effect: loss of hit points. At higher levels it actually becomes more pronounced, due to monster's hit dice generally increasing faster than their CR.

Well, that, plus, it reduces victims' ability to resist subsequent poisonings. :smallamused: