Stunned condition versus Poisoned condition..

[animewatcha]

Across the books. How many monsters are immune to the stunned conditions versus how many are immune to the poisoned condition? I don't care for resistance/immune to poison damage. I'm asking about the condition itself.

[x3n0n]

Across the books. How many monsters are immune to the stunned conditions versus how many are immune to the poisoned condition? I don't care for resistance/immune to poison damage. I'm asking about the condition itself.

I'm just looking at the MM.

"Swarm of" are all immune to stunned, and only 3 others.
7 pages of D&D Beyond search results are immune to poisoned.

[sithlordnergal]

Being immune to the Poisoned condition is far, far, far more common. Undead, most Elementals, Constructs, and most planar creatures are immune to being Poisoned. There's a reason Poison is the worst condition.

[x3n0n]

Being immune to the Poisoned condition is far, far, far more common. Undead, most Elementals, Constructs, and most planar creatures are immune to being Poisoned. There's a reason Poison is the worst condition.

It's pretty good if it sticks, though. (Not as good as stunned, but as good as getting a free Blur for everyone on your team for a round.)

Not sure if this is OP's context, but this is relevant for the new Way of Mercy Monks, who impart poisoned *with no save* if they hit somebody (who is not immune) and use their Hand of Harm, starting at level 6 (once per turn).
Compare to Stunning Strike: costs the same (1 ki), doesn't deal additional damage, and requires a Con save...but if they fail the save, it imparts one of the most powerful conditions in the game, and almost nothing is immune to it.

[Scarytincan]

Ya, considering timing I'm also assuming this is regarding way of mercy. The biggest use imo is gonna be when you're pretty sure the stun won't stick and don't wanna risk the ki point, opt for guaranteed poison instead. Gives them an option against brutes that monks tend to have a harder time vs compared to ranged and caster types...

[MaxWilson]

Across the books. How many monsters are immune to the stunned conditions versus how many are immune to the poisoned condition? I don't care for resistance/immune to poison damage. I'm asking about the condition itself.

Monsters that are immune to stunned:

Astral dreadnought
Demilich
Elder tempest
Helmed horror
Juiblex
Leviathan
Molydeus
Phoenix
Revenant
Skulllord
Steel predator
Swarm of bats
Swarm of beetles
Swarm of centipedes
Swarm of cranium rats
Swarm of insects
Swarm of poisonous snakes
Swarm of quippers
Swarm of rats
Swarm of ravens
Swarm of spiders
Swarm of wasps
Tiamat
Zaratan

Monsters immune to Poisoned: too many to list, about 1/3 of the monsters in the game.


Being immune to the Poisoned condition is far, far, far more common. Undead, most Elementals, Constructs, and most planar creatures are immune to being Poisoned. There's a reason Poison is the worst condition.

Yeah, with the caveat that "worst" isn't bad. Being able to poison 2/3 of the monsters in the game is still very worthwhile, and lets you do things like poison beholders, vampires, and most dragons. Just, don't count on it working against demons and elementals and zombies too.

[Unoriginal]

and almost nothing is immune to it.

Indeed. Unless if your DM is Matt Mercer.



Skulllord


Man, I had forgotten about those guys. They're awesome.



Yeah, with the caveat that "worst" isn't bad. Being able to poison 2/3 of the monsters in the game is still very worthwhile, and lets you do things like poison beholders, vampires, and most dragons. Just, don't count on it working against demons and elementals and zombies too.

True. I just wish there was more monsters who were Resistant to poison damage rather than outright Immune to it.

[LudicSavant]

Across the books. How many monsters are immune to the stunned conditions versus how many are immune to the poisoned condition? I don't care for resistance/immune to poison damage. I'm asking about the condition itself.

Immunity to stunning is quite rare. Immunity or resistance to the Poisoned condition is pretty common.

[Chronos]

On the other hand, it's usually pretty predictable which monsters are going to be immune to the poisoned condition. And in the campaigns I've played, at least, humanoids make up a much larger proportion of the enemies than their number of pages in the Monster Manual would suggest.

[PhoenixPhyre]

On the other hand, it's usually pretty predictable which monsters are going to be immune to the poisoned condition. And in the campaigns I've played, at least, humanoids make up a much larger proportion of the enemies than their number of pages in the Monster Manual would suggest.

Yup. This is the peril of just going by raw % of total stat blocks. It lends outsized weight to things that have lots of stat blocks (cough dragons cough) but don't actually show up in significant numbers.

Are you adventuring in the Hells, undead-town, or construct-ville? Poison's a bad idea. Are you fighting mostly orcs, humans, and those evil, evil elves? Poison's fine. Campaigns will differ strongly. And there's not really a smooth progression from one type to another across the levels.

So going poison only is a bad idea. Unless you have a way to downgrade immunity to resistance and/or ignoring resistance, specialization in a single non-physical damage type often is.

Statistics by type (number in parentheses is total in MM/VGtM/MToF):
* Aberations (37): 5% immune to poisoned condition. 0% resistant/immune to poison damage. 0% immune to stun.
* Beast (100): 0% immune. 0% resistant/immune to poison damage. 0% immune to stun.
* Celestial (8): 38% immune. 38% resistant/immune to poison damage (all of those are immune, and the same 38%). 0% immune to stun.
* Construct (29): 79% immune. 83% resistant/immune to poison damage. 7% immune to stun.
* Dragon (47!): 0% immune. 9% resistant/immune to poison damage. 0% immune to stun.
* Elemental (33): 67% immune. 72.7% resistant/immune to poison damage. 12% immune to stun.
* Fey (17): 0% immune. 0% resistant/immune to poison damage. 0% immune to stun.
* Fiend (84): 92% immune (don't try to poison fiends!). 93% resistant/immune to poison damage. 1% (1 creature IIRC) immune to stun.
* Giant (27): 7% immune. 4% resistant/immune to poison damage. 0% immune to stun.
* Humanoid (154!!): 5% immune. 10% resistant/immune to poison damage. Grungs are a decent chunk of those. 0% immune to stun.
* Monstrosity (80): 15% immune. 14% resistant/immune to poison damage. 1% immune to stun.
* Ooze (8): 0%. 0% resistant/immune to poison damage. 0% immune to stun.
* Plant (19): 11% 11% resistant/immune to poison damage. 0% immune to stun.
* Undead (43): 86%. 93% resistant/immune to poison damage. 7% immune to stun.

So yeah. Undead, elementals, and fiends are bad to try to poison. Anything else isn't so bad. That's the peril of just using global averages--the variance is huge. And the stat blocks aren't equally common either. For example, dragons are only immune if green. Anything else? Fair game. And you may encounter tons of dragons that aren't green and no green ones. Or vice versa. Depending on your campaign.