TheNerdQueen
2019-11-19, 09:24 AM
Types of Poisons
In my last post, I described the concept of "Soft Broken", which at its most simple, is where the players ability matters more than the characters ability. Today I want to discuss a sadly underutilized mechanic that I love: poisons. First question *what is a poison?*
For today, a poison is a non magical substance created in order to cause harm or that can cause harm if applied correctly. Poisons can be injected, ingested, and inhaled.
Starting with the most simple type, injected poisons are poisons that are applied to a weapon, or something similar, and are injected directly in the victims bloodstream. These kind of poisons are the least subtle, because people can tell if someone has just shot them with a blowgun. In my opinion, these are the kind of poisons that are the least helpful, (although they can be useful). When it comes to these types of poisons, most people think of basic poison, where you apply it and it deals 1d4 poison damage. My advice: don't limit yourself. Try many different types of poisons, whether injected, ingested or inhaled. I will list specific advice later.
Next, ingested poisons. Probably the most useful of the poisons in an intrigue campaign, as these are the kinds of poisons that you use to poison the enemy king at his fancy dinner party. Depending on what you use, these can range from the most subtle poisons to the most obvious (kidney bean poison I'm looking at you). When people think about these kinds of poisons, they generally think of dangerous plants such as nightshade, or deadly elements like arsenic.
Finally, inhaled poisons. These poisons are probably the most difficult to convince your DM to let you use. These poisons are also the most obscure, with not a lot of usage. However, this is the AOE of the poison world, and with a bit of creativity, you can go wild with it (frenzy poison would be fun). These poisons are also the best bet for non lethal poisons, as the poison will be spread out, by default, making it easier to reach more people. However, this means that this is possibly the worst kind of lethal poison, as it will be difficult to make a inhaled poison that is concentrated enough to kill a crowd of people, and even if you could, an injected or ingested poison would probably work better.
How to Build a Poison Character
A character built around poisons require one thing in order to be able to make poisons: proficiency in the poisoners kit. Thats it. Of course, there are many more things one can do in order to be better at doing the poison thing. Here are a few things that I would recommend:
1) Proficiency in Nature, (and Survival if your DM gets finicky, though this is far less important). Considering how many, if not most poisons in the DnD world, heck even in real life, are derived from organic compounds, proficiency in Nature means that you will be able to find and identify poison ingredients much more easily.
2) Have high Charisma and Constitution. Poisons shine in social campaigns, and without charisma (or dexterity, depending on the situation) you won't be able to access an opportunity to use poison at all. This also means that you should have proficiency in the relevant skills that would allow you to access said opportunities, persuasion for charisma, and stealth for dexterity. Having a high constitution score, and ideally poison resistance, though thats a bit of a reach, makes it harder to succumb to your own poisons, because frankly, that would be embarrassing.
3) DO YOUR RESEARCH. I cannot overstate how important this is. In order to make poisons that aren't specifically stated in the Dungeons Masters guide or Players Handbook, you will need to know real world poisons and their effects. This can also help in turning common objects into poison, such as getting 100% alcohol from wine, which is very deadly, and then add it back to the drunk king's booze. Nobody will suspect a thing. This goes for all poisons, so please do your research. Remember: not all poisons deal poison damage.
Importance of the Poisoner's Kit
The Poisoner's Kit is useful for more then making poisons. According to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, proficiency in the Poisoner's Kit grants the following (to quote):
History. Your training with poisons can help you when you try to recall facts about infamous poisonings.
Investigation, Perception. Your knowledge of poisons has taught you to handle those substances carefully, giving you an edge when you inspect poisoned objects or try to extract clues from events that involve poison.
Medicine. When you treat the victim of a poison, your knowledge grants you added insight into how to provide the best care to your patient.
Nature, Survival. Working with poisons enables you to acquire lore about which plants and animals are poisonous.
Handle Poison. Your proficiency allows you to handle and apply a poison without risk of exposing yourself to its effects.
This is very useful for a variety of reasons, one of which is not falling victim to your own poisons, the main risk of poisons. It also helps you keep people alive that you want alive that were poisoned by your poisons. It also allows you to pinpoint enemy poisoners, so that you alone reign supreme MUHAHAHAHAHA! Well.
Class Recommendations
Although hypothetically any class can use poisons, some classes do it better than others. Classes evaluated below:
Barbarian: This isn't very surprising, but Barbarians make terrible poisoners. Besides having no table manners, Barbs are not intelligent enough for the complexities of poison. Although they have the option of getting proficiency in nature, resource collection is just as good, if not better, in other classes, such as druid.
Bard: Bards. Why are they so awesome? Second only to the Druid in terms of normal awesome, Bards are an obvious choice for poisons, with high charisma, expertise, a ton of skills to chose from, and a deceptively silly demeanor, embrace the "Bards are silly" stereotype for all that it is worth. The only issue with Bards is that this class is not specifically designed with this in mind, and that the rogue is much stealthier, but besides that Bards make excellent masters of poisons.
Cleric: As a holy priest of awesome, Clerics are really good at curing poisons, though they are less good at making them. With no immediate route to getting ingredients or easy access to opportunities, (outside of a church) if you want a poison using healer, play a druid.
Druid: From JellyPooga: With easy access to the natural kingdom, able to charm the leaves off the trees and peel resources from beasts without killing them, the Druid is a perhaps unlikely candidate, but an efficient one as far as collecting resources for making poisons. On top of that, the Druid has the single best "concealed carry" of any Class in the game; Wild Shape. Carry bucket loads of poison unobtrusively into the castle, dump it in the water supply and escape without any more notice than a mouse. Monstrously efficient.
My thoughts: Druids are great a resource collection, however you might have a bit of trouble getting to situations where poison is most useful, to be more accurate, you might have trouble finding out those situations exist. Have a bard, rogue, or some other face on hand, so that they can identify opportunities for your poison.
Fighter: Fighters are really good at two things: hitting things hard and soaking up hits. Notice how neither of those things say "poison". This is not a coincidence. They make really bad poisoners because they have no reliable ways of either collecting ingredients or getting them to a situation where they would be useful.
Monk: Monks. The one class that lets you be a ninja. Surprisingly, monks actually make decent poisoners. With a high dexterity and wisdom, the monk is observant enough to locate ingredients, and not to ingest them itself. However, with relatively low charisma and few skills, if you really want a stealthy poisoner, chose a bard or rogue.
Paladin: Don't. Although it might be a better class than the Barb, depending on how it is played, using poisons is a surefire way to lose all of your Paladin powers. It really isn't worth it.
Ranger: Poison is one of the few things that Rangers can really pull off. Seriously. With a naturally high dexterity and connection with nature, Rangers make excellent poisoners, with the benefit of roleplaying a warrior weaponizing nature to harm their allies. The fact that they use weapons for injected poisons already only sweetens the deal.
Rogue: Probably the best option. With already established connections with the criminal underworld, a very easy way to get proficiency in the Poisoner's kit (take a background that grants proficiency in thieves tools), high dexterity and charisma for stealth and talking, the Rogue is built for Poison. As for archetypes, chose what is best for your campaign. They are all great, but Arcane Tricksters most likely fall behind the thief and Assassin archetypes, with thief ahead due to the ability to steal more items, and use them faster.
(from Jellypooga): The archetypal user of poisons, most will probably go straight to the Assassin as their poisoner of choice. Not So! Look instead to the humble Thief who, with Fast Hands for quick poisoning and access to UMD to utilise magical artifacts that would otherwise be unavailable to you (notably wands and staves), is by far a more efficient poisoner than the Assassin.
Sorcerer: Sorcerers are great at blasting things and talking to them, so they're pretty good at getting into social situations. But with no native proficiency in poisoner's kit, a rogue is a better pure poisoner, and if you want a poison spellcaster, play a warlock.
Warlock: From JellyPooga: The Warlock is arguably one of the most powerful characters available in an intrigue game where the time scales involved allow for all but unlimited Short Rests. For the poisoner in such a campaign, spells like serve a similar function to the Druids Wild Shape, but also in the arsenal are such gems as Disguise self (at-will) and invisibility, as well as divinations to scry out your targets and the best ways to deliver your deadly substances.
Wizard: You are a wizard. You probably have a spell for it. Besides, if you accidentally ingest your own poison, you will probably die.
When NOT to us poison
Despite how awesome poison is, it isn't always the tool for the job. Sometimes, having a character rely entirely on poison isn't the correct choice. In campaigns that are your standard dungeon crawls, sometimes you just can't get poison. You can't use poison if you can't get poison. Most poisons come from natural sources, which is great, as natural things are everywhere, except for in dungeons (most of the time). Also, undead and constructs are often immune to poison damage. Another thing to keep in mind: not everything that is immune to poison damage is immune to poison. Some poisons don't really deal poison damage, such as a poison that makes you throw up, or that chills your insides. That isn't really poison damage. However, these kinds of poisons are generally not intended for mass production. Poison is great for taking out singular, powerful monsters, but is less useful for waves and waves of mooks.
I suppose that wraps it up! If you want specific examples of poisons that I have used in the past, or have stories of your own, please comment down below! Thanks!
In my last post, I described the concept of "Soft Broken", which at its most simple, is where the players ability matters more than the characters ability. Today I want to discuss a sadly underutilized mechanic that I love: poisons. First question *what is a poison?*
For today, a poison is a non magical substance created in order to cause harm or that can cause harm if applied correctly. Poisons can be injected, ingested, and inhaled.
Starting with the most simple type, injected poisons are poisons that are applied to a weapon, or something similar, and are injected directly in the victims bloodstream. These kind of poisons are the least subtle, because people can tell if someone has just shot them with a blowgun. In my opinion, these are the kind of poisons that are the least helpful, (although they can be useful). When it comes to these types of poisons, most people think of basic poison, where you apply it and it deals 1d4 poison damage. My advice: don't limit yourself. Try many different types of poisons, whether injected, ingested or inhaled. I will list specific advice later.
Next, ingested poisons. Probably the most useful of the poisons in an intrigue campaign, as these are the kinds of poisons that you use to poison the enemy king at his fancy dinner party. Depending on what you use, these can range from the most subtle poisons to the most obvious (kidney bean poison I'm looking at you). When people think about these kinds of poisons, they generally think of dangerous plants such as nightshade, or deadly elements like arsenic.
Finally, inhaled poisons. These poisons are probably the most difficult to convince your DM to let you use. These poisons are also the most obscure, with not a lot of usage. However, this is the AOE of the poison world, and with a bit of creativity, you can go wild with it (frenzy poison would be fun). These poisons are also the best bet for non lethal poisons, as the poison will be spread out, by default, making it easier to reach more people. However, this means that this is possibly the worst kind of lethal poison, as it will be difficult to make a inhaled poison that is concentrated enough to kill a crowd of people, and even if you could, an injected or ingested poison would probably work better.
How to Build a Poison Character
A character built around poisons require one thing in order to be able to make poisons: proficiency in the poisoners kit. Thats it. Of course, there are many more things one can do in order to be better at doing the poison thing. Here are a few things that I would recommend:
1) Proficiency in Nature, (and Survival if your DM gets finicky, though this is far less important). Considering how many, if not most poisons in the DnD world, heck even in real life, are derived from organic compounds, proficiency in Nature means that you will be able to find and identify poison ingredients much more easily.
2) Have high Charisma and Constitution. Poisons shine in social campaigns, and without charisma (or dexterity, depending on the situation) you won't be able to access an opportunity to use poison at all. This also means that you should have proficiency in the relevant skills that would allow you to access said opportunities, persuasion for charisma, and stealth for dexterity. Having a high constitution score, and ideally poison resistance, though thats a bit of a reach, makes it harder to succumb to your own poisons, because frankly, that would be embarrassing.
3) DO YOUR RESEARCH. I cannot overstate how important this is. In order to make poisons that aren't specifically stated in the Dungeons Masters guide or Players Handbook, you will need to know real world poisons and their effects. This can also help in turning common objects into poison, such as getting 100% alcohol from wine, which is very deadly, and then add it back to the drunk king's booze. Nobody will suspect a thing. This goes for all poisons, so please do your research. Remember: not all poisons deal poison damage.
Importance of the Poisoner's Kit
The Poisoner's Kit is useful for more then making poisons. According to Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, proficiency in the Poisoner's Kit grants the following (to quote):
History. Your training with poisons can help you when you try to recall facts about infamous poisonings.
Investigation, Perception. Your knowledge of poisons has taught you to handle those substances carefully, giving you an edge when you inspect poisoned objects or try to extract clues from events that involve poison.
Medicine. When you treat the victim of a poison, your knowledge grants you added insight into how to provide the best care to your patient.
Nature, Survival. Working with poisons enables you to acquire lore about which plants and animals are poisonous.
Handle Poison. Your proficiency allows you to handle and apply a poison without risk of exposing yourself to its effects.
This is very useful for a variety of reasons, one of which is not falling victim to your own poisons, the main risk of poisons. It also helps you keep people alive that you want alive that were poisoned by your poisons. It also allows you to pinpoint enemy poisoners, so that you alone reign supreme MUHAHAHAHAHA! Well.
Class Recommendations
Although hypothetically any class can use poisons, some classes do it better than others. Classes evaluated below:
Barbarian: This isn't very surprising, but Barbarians make terrible poisoners. Besides having no table manners, Barbs are not intelligent enough for the complexities of poison. Although they have the option of getting proficiency in nature, resource collection is just as good, if not better, in other classes, such as druid.
Bard: Bards. Why are they so awesome? Second only to the Druid in terms of normal awesome, Bards are an obvious choice for poisons, with high charisma, expertise, a ton of skills to chose from, and a deceptively silly demeanor, embrace the "Bards are silly" stereotype for all that it is worth. The only issue with Bards is that this class is not specifically designed with this in mind, and that the rogue is much stealthier, but besides that Bards make excellent masters of poisons.
Cleric: As a holy priest of awesome, Clerics are really good at curing poisons, though they are less good at making them. With no immediate route to getting ingredients or easy access to opportunities, (outside of a church) if you want a poison using healer, play a druid.
Druid: From JellyPooga: With easy access to the natural kingdom, able to charm the leaves off the trees and peel resources from beasts without killing them, the Druid is a perhaps unlikely candidate, but an efficient one as far as collecting resources for making poisons. On top of that, the Druid has the single best "concealed carry" of any Class in the game; Wild Shape. Carry bucket loads of poison unobtrusively into the castle, dump it in the water supply and escape without any more notice than a mouse. Monstrously efficient.
My thoughts: Druids are great a resource collection, however you might have a bit of trouble getting to situations where poison is most useful, to be more accurate, you might have trouble finding out those situations exist. Have a bard, rogue, or some other face on hand, so that they can identify opportunities for your poison.
Fighter: Fighters are really good at two things: hitting things hard and soaking up hits. Notice how neither of those things say "poison". This is not a coincidence. They make really bad poisoners because they have no reliable ways of either collecting ingredients or getting them to a situation where they would be useful.
Monk: Monks. The one class that lets you be a ninja. Surprisingly, monks actually make decent poisoners. With a high dexterity and wisdom, the monk is observant enough to locate ingredients, and not to ingest them itself. However, with relatively low charisma and few skills, if you really want a stealthy poisoner, chose a bard or rogue.
Paladin: Don't. Although it might be a better class than the Barb, depending on how it is played, using poisons is a surefire way to lose all of your Paladin powers. It really isn't worth it.
Ranger: Poison is one of the few things that Rangers can really pull off. Seriously. With a naturally high dexterity and connection with nature, Rangers make excellent poisoners, with the benefit of roleplaying a warrior weaponizing nature to harm their allies. The fact that they use weapons for injected poisons already only sweetens the deal.
Rogue: Probably the best option. With already established connections with the criminal underworld, a very easy way to get proficiency in the Poisoner's kit (take a background that grants proficiency in thieves tools), high dexterity and charisma for stealth and talking, the Rogue is built for Poison. As for archetypes, chose what is best for your campaign. They are all great, but Arcane Tricksters most likely fall behind the thief and Assassin archetypes, with thief ahead due to the ability to steal more items, and use them faster.
(from Jellypooga): The archetypal user of poisons, most will probably go straight to the Assassin as their poisoner of choice. Not So! Look instead to the humble Thief who, with Fast Hands for quick poisoning and access to UMD to utilise magical artifacts that would otherwise be unavailable to you (notably wands and staves), is by far a more efficient poisoner than the Assassin.
Sorcerer: Sorcerers are great at blasting things and talking to them, so they're pretty good at getting into social situations. But with no native proficiency in poisoner's kit, a rogue is a better pure poisoner, and if you want a poison spellcaster, play a warlock.
Warlock: From JellyPooga: The Warlock is arguably one of the most powerful characters available in an intrigue game where the time scales involved allow for all but unlimited Short Rests. For the poisoner in such a campaign, spells like serve a similar function to the Druids Wild Shape, but also in the arsenal are such gems as Disguise self (at-will) and invisibility, as well as divinations to scry out your targets and the best ways to deliver your deadly substances.
Wizard: You are a wizard. You probably have a spell for it. Besides, if you accidentally ingest your own poison, you will probably die.
When NOT to us poison
Despite how awesome poison is, it isn't always the tool for the job. Sometimes, having a character rely entirely on poison isn't the correct choice. In campaigns that are your standard dungeon crawls, sometimes you just can't get poison. You can't use poison if you can't get poison. Most poisons come from natural sources, which is great, as natural things are everywhere, except for in dungeons (most of the time). Also, undead and constructs are often immune to poison damage. Another thing to keep in mind: not everything that is immune to poison damage is immune to poison. Some poisons don't really deal poison damage, such as a poison that makes you throw up, or that chills your insides. That isn't really poison damage. However, these kinds of poisons are generally not intended for mass production. Poison is great for taking out singular, powerful monsters, but is less useful for waves and waves of mooks.
I suppose that wraps it up! If you want specific examples of poisons that I have used in the past, or have stories of your own, please comment down below! Thanks!