Poison (substance)

Poisons are substances that cause death, injury or harm to organs when a creature absorbs a sufficient quantity. Poisons derive from substances that are made and in the venom of numerous animals and monsters. It's presence in D&D is a potential game breaking concern; too much poison in the hands of players or NPCs can drastically alter the structure of a campaign, which is one reason why rules for accessibility have been overlooked by game designers. Additionally, there are thousands of poison forms, so that any definitive work on the subject would be immense and unworkable as a design. Therefore, specific poisons in these rules should be seen general types, the sources of which are variable — but as a vast number of things can be distilled into a poison, the actual source for any poison can be disregarded for game purposes. If needed, however, examine this list of plants, this list of fungi and this list of animals.

Effects of Poison

These rules do not make use of the traditional saving throw against death for poisons. Specific poisons do cause effects such as sleep, coma, paralysis, nausea and death — but this is done through manipulation of the character's ability stats and hit points, not through a blanket succeed/fail roll. Poison effects are felt over time, with even the deadliest poisons requiring several rounds to kill unless the victim is exceptionally unfit or below zero in hit points.

Commonly, an animal venom has the potential to cause 2-8 h.p. of poison damage per hit die of the creature, depending upon the specific venom's toxicity. A giant centipede's venom is weak; a black mamba's venom is very strong. Again, depending on the venom, the speed with which this damage occurs differs. The giant centipede causes 1 damage every 1-4 rounds, whereas the black mamba will cause 2-8 damage every round.

[these characteristics need to be defined and collected on a single table, which hasn't been done yet].