Poisoned!

INTRODUCTION

It’s clear as day that Gary Gygax did not like poison in D&D. He went out of his way to say so and set down various conditions on their use that makes them very impractical unless the user is determined to press ahead.

However, a study of the use of poisons in history, particularly in the Renaissance shows that at certain times and in certain places, the use of poison was part of the political process. Think of the Borgias for example. In fact, in Venice there was a "Council of Ten" who met regularly to arrange poisonings for the State and their written records are preserved. Victims were named, prices agreed and contracts with poisoners recorded. When the deed was done, a note was made in the margin that read "Factum" and payments were made, sometimes in the form of a regular pension. The "Council of Ten" had a number of poisons in their repertoire. Three of them are preserved as the "secreta secretissima" in archives dating from 1540-1544. So rampant was poisoning during this time that expert poisoners ran schools for would-be-poisoners.

This article is not going to address the exact nature of poisons, how they work or why. I don’t pretend that the effects of poisons detailed below are in any way toxicologically accurate. What I want to talk about is ways of making them more interesting, developing their effects and features and a way to develop the Save Vs Poison ability to make it perhaps a little bit more realistic.

TOXIFACTORS

I’m using a new term in this article – Toxifactor, a manufacturer of poisons. The definition differentiates the maker of the poison from the one who actually administers it (the poisoner)

The art of the Toxifactor is a skilled one; many serve long apprenticeships and often have to run the risk of being killed by the very substances that they make.

It should also be noted that governments and the military would certainly employ toxifactor as a valued resource. The toxifactor would ensure that they have insurance policies in place in case they outlive their usefulness and end up on the death list themselves. An interesting moral dilemma might await a lawful good government who are desperate for every advantage against unscrupulous and deadly evil foes. Do they use poison? The superpowers of today’s world have arsenals of chemical and biological weaponry stockpiled and they would consider themselves both civilised and good. A hunt for weapons of mass destruction would be a good plot for a gang of adventurers sent in to enemy territory to hunt down and destroy stockpiles of poison.

A Toxifactor will be of a specific skill level, and this skill level will determine what poisons they can make. If a Toxifactor tries to make a poison beyond their skill range, they will reduce its potency by one for every level it is out of their range, and there is a chance that it will have an unexpected or unforeseen effect.

There may be guilds of Toxifactors in certain cities (see above), or – depending on the campaign setting – they may be solitary but brilliant craftsmen who are sought after but sell their services dear.

Assassins who choose to make a study of poisons, much as in the DMG, can attain toxifactor skill as they progress, at the discretion of the DM.

WHAT’S YOUR POISON?

The following poisons are not all lethal; some of them have effects that go far beyond mere death and cause the victim no end of discomfort. Some do not even kill the victim; they don’t need to. Some are killing poisons - there are no special effects, just death.

I have categorised the poisons under the following headings:

 Toxicity – this is a figure from 0 to 4 which is the bonus added to the die roll that the character makes when trying to save vs. poison.
 Format - a poison comes in one of four formats, liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste. If it is in powder format, it will dissolve in water, wine and other liquids but the clearer the liquid, the more likely it is that the substance will be noticed. Liquid format poisons are, with one or two exceptions, clear. Gas format poisons come in sealed containers which can be broken to release the gas (checks need to be made to see if the containers are broken accidentally). Pastes come in jars but these need to be kept sealed if they are not to dry out and lose their potency.
 Speed of action – instantaneous, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months
 Areas of effect – which part of the body is affected
 Antidote – if an antidote can be administered in time, another save roll must be made and this time the antidote’s modifier is applied against the toxicity level. If the save is made, the poison’s effects are nullified. If the save is failed by the specified amount, the effects are limited. If the effects were previously limited by a failed save and the antidote save is failed within the required margin, the poison is nullified.
 Cost to buy – from a toxifactor. I start out with a base 750gp cost per dose and onto that is added 250gp for every level of toxicity over 1 and 250gp for every level of toxifactor skill over 1 required to make it.
 Complexity – the level of skill that a toxifactor needs to concoct it.


A BIT OF FLAVOUR

It must be galling for toxifactors to work for days, if not weeks on a new concoction, probably to order, only for it to be described as “a poison”. I’m a big fan of real ales, which are produced by small and dedicated breweries. The analogy works well for me, and I can’t see why poisons produced by craftsmen would not have far more evocative names. These are but a few – I’m sure that you can come up with many more.

FORTY-FIVE WAYS TO DIE

Powderbones – the victim’s bones crumble to dust inside the body
Toxicity 0
Format liquid, powder (solid)
Speed of action minutes
Areas of effect - bones
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 750gp
Complexity 1

Crimson Sludge – the victim’s blood turns to a sticky morass, the consistency of molten plastic. Death will follow swiftly.
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect blood
Antidote – yes, +2
Cost to buy base 750gp
Complexity 1

Lead’s Dominion – the victim suffers tremendous weakening of all muscles, leaving them with a STR of 2.
Toxicity 0
Format liquid.
Speed of action - hours
Areas of effect muscles
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1000gp
Complexity 2

Flame’s Chisel – the joints lock and fuse together, causing the victim to be unable to move
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - hours
Areas of effect joints
Antidote – yes, +2
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 2

Sunlit Drowning – the victim’s lungs are filled with water – no matter how much is expelled, more keeps coming until they die.
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect lungs
Antidote – yes, 0
Cost to buy base 750gp
Complexity 1

The Terminus Bell – a killing poison
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote - none
Cost to buy base 1000gp
Complexity 2


Florian’s Gift – the victim is plunged into a state of euphoria, and will not believe that there is anything wrong; meanwhile the poison eats away at their internal organs.
Toxicity 3
Format liquid
Speed of action - hours
Areas of effect brain and internal organs
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1500gp
Complexity 2

Hell’s Welcome – the victim catches fire and burns to death where he stands
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action minutes
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote - none
Cost to buy base 1500gp
Complexity 3

Plucker’s Bit – the eyes become so painful that insanity is likely unless they are torn out
Toxicity 3
Format – liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect eyes
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1500gp
Complexity 2

Green Silk – the victim’s skin takes on the texture of leaf tissue, a deep green and very poisonous to anyone who touches it.
Toxicity 4
Format liquid
Speed of action - hours
Areas of effect skin
Antidote – yes, +2
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 3

Future’s End – a killing poison
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote - none
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 2

A Dream of Glass – the victim becomes completely translucent
Toxicity 1
Format liquid
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – whole body
Antidote – yes, 0
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 3

Serpentine Secret – a killing poison, very hard to detect
Toxicity 3
Format liquid
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 4

The Scythe of Time – this one may well cause a very rapid ageing of the victim. Depending on their age, this may be fatal or not. A young woman who seeks to put her love rival out of the picture may deliver this in order to turn her into a wizened crone without actually killing her and thereby risking a charge of murder.
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action – anything up to two hours for humans
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 4

The Dark Lady’s Caress – a killing poison. This poison causes no pain at all.
Toxicity 4
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 3

Basilisk Beauty – similar in effect to a potion of petrification but more easily able to be administered unnoticed.
Toxicity 3
Format powder
Speed of action – instantaneous (seconds)
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote - none
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 3

The Glory of Pain – causes exceptionally agonising torment for the victim, with the option of prolonging the agony, ending it with death or ending it after a specified duration
Toxicity 4
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action as required, onset within minutes
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote – yes, +2
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 3

Coral Kiss – killing poison; the vial of this poison is a deep pink in colour.
Toxicity 1
Format liquid
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 750gp
Complexity 1

Ocean’s Revenge – this poison has the same effect as aboleth slime.
Toxicity 3
Format liquid
Speed of action hours
Areas of effect skin
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 3

Black Sunset – killing poison
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 1000gp
Complexity 2

Butterfly’s Fang – causes the victim’s skin to become blistered and swollen. It will then harden and darken like a chrysalis, inside which the victim will transform into some vile and horrific creature.
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, powder (solid)
Speed of action hours
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 4

Warrior’s Fist – the victim’s skin and flesh begin to split open and bleed, the wounds similar to those inflicted by a sword. The victim will lose 1-6 hp per round. The wounds will not respond to Cure Lights or others such spells unless a Cure Poison spell is cast first.
Toxicity 3
Format liquid, paste
Speed of action minutes
Areas of effect skin and flesh
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 3

Red Ruin – causes the victim to dissolve into a sticky red sludge
Toxicity 4
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – whole body
Antidote – yes, +2
Cost to buy base 2250gp
Complexity 4

Flaymaster’s Best – the victim’s skin sloughs off like a snake and leaves them alive but skinless.
Toxicity 3
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect - skin
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 4

Brown Fire – the victim begins to blister and bubble like burnt milk as their body fat combusts.
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – skin and body fat
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 3

Silver Torment – the victim’s blood turns into a living metal which then infects the rest of the body, bursting out through the skin and pooling on the floor as it turns the whole victim into a bubbling lake of living metal.
Toxicity 4
Format liquid
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – blood and then whole body
Antidote – yes, +2
Cost to buy base 2250gp
Complexity 4

Wolf’s Claw – causes the victim to undergo a lycanthropic transformation but with no chance of recovery. The transformed victim will attack the nearest person, then the next nearest until they are killed.
Toxicity 3
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 3

Cut and Run – the blood cells of the victim become razor-edged and slice through the walls of the veins and arteries, exsanguniating the victim from within
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, powder or paste
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – circulatory system
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 4

Unadulterated Nightfall – killing poison
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 2

Shade’s Tears – a killing poison
Toxicity 3
Format liquid
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 1500gp
Complexity 2

Shadow’s Reach – causes the victim to become dark and non-corporeal, a shadow in shape and form (but not the undead version)
Toxicity 1
Format liquid
Speed of action - hours
Areas of effect – whole body
Antidote – yes, 0
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 3

The Yellow Dagger – a killing poison
Toxicity 4
Format paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote none
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 3

Skin Shedder – the victim’s skin peels off layer by layer; after each layer, the victim becomes more and more primitive
Toxicity 0
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – skin and then whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 3

Sweet Maid of Hell – a killing poison
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote - none
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 2

Gateway of Winter - a poison that causes its victims to freeze solid in minutes.
Toxicity 4
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote – yes, +2
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 3

Baker’s Dozen - a poison that causes the victim to become living clay that then needs to be kept moist or it will bake and they will become a terracotta figure.
Toxicity 3
Format powder
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 3

The Unwelcome Visitor – a killing poison
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 1000gp
Complexity 2

The Iron Crown – the victim begins to turn into metal, a process taking 1-5 minutes. A random check should be made to see which metal it is unless the poisoner has specified otherwise.
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action minutes
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 1750gp
Complexity 4

Naked Bones – the victim’s flesh dissolves to leave them a living skeleton.
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, powder (solid) or paste
Speed of action minutes
Areas of effect - whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 750gp
Complexity 1

Plague of Shadows – the victim suffers hallucinations that to them are completely real and threatening so that they take irrational steps to protect themselves.
Toxicity 1
Format liquid, gas
Speed of action - minutes
Areas of effect – brain and eyes
Antidote – yes, 0
Cost to buy base 1000gp
Complexity 2

Kiss of Night – the victim is plunged into a coma that may very well be mistaken for death
Toxicity 2
Format liquid, gas or paste
Speed of action minutes
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote – yes +1
Cost to buy base 1250gp
Complexity 2

The Gates of Dawn – the victim undergoes a reversal of the ageing process, getting younger at the rate of a year a minute.
Toxicity 0
Format liquid
Speed of action anything up to two hours for humans
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote – yes, +1
Cost to buy base 750gp
Complexity 1

The Crown of Diamonds - killing poison
Toxicity 3
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 1500gp
Complexity 2

Vengeance of Dragons - killing poison
Toxicity 4
Format liquid, powder (solid), gas or paste
Speed of action instantaneous
Areas of effect whole body
Antidote- none
Cost to buy base 2000gp
Complexity 3

MORPHIC ELIXIRS
Similar in format to the Polyjuice potions from Potter, these are prepared from various body parts of creatures, a sort of compulsory Polymorph which, when consumed, causes the victim to turn into the creature from whom the elixir was derived. The favourite types are those creatures who are relatively harmless unless disturbed. Imagine what would happen if the Chief Justice’s wife drank an elixir derived from an ochre jelly or green slime?

I would imagine that the form into which the victim changes will be of more or less the same size or volume. It would not be possible for someone to be changed from human into a dragon for example, unless the resultant dragon was about six feet long.

Provided that the ingredients are available, morphic elixirs will take about a fortnight to prepare, cost 750gp per dose to buy. They will need to be pre-ordered if a specific transformation is intended but there are probably pre-made varieties for sale. A toxifactor of skill level 2 or higher is needed to make these.

HARMLESS BUT ANNOYING

Glo-fish are tiny creatures who live in dungeon bodies of water. They are totally harmless but a chemical in their bodies causes them to glow different colours depending on their mood. They could make great pets for the children of the urban rich.

Angry - Red
Happy - Fuchsia
Sad – Pale Blue
Frightened - Yellow
Amorous – Deep purple

What if they had a bite that injected the victim with a substance that caused them to glow in the same colours for the same moods?


BIO-WEAPONS
Whilst we are on the subject of poisons, it doesn’t have to stop with sinister potions. Has anyone ever managed to extract a Worm of Kyuss and use it as a bio-weapon? Yes, simply place in a sealed casket and send it to an unsuspecting member of the family you want to wipe out. The victim will open the casket and in no time at all will be a rotting, worm-ridden monster, stalking the house and converting those therein.


SAVE VS POISON

Save vs. poison rolls are an interesting development. They seem to imply, in fact they downright state that the higher the level the lower the chance of a poison, whatever it is, and however deadly it is, having any effect, or any detrimental effect. If you say that making the save halves the effect, that might be a bit better but why should a 15th level fighter treading on a stonefish fare any better than a 1st level fighter? There is an argument that higher levels should benefit saves because they represent the cumulative benefits of experience and ‘toughening up’ but should this really apply to poisons, many of which the character is unlikely to have encountered? The only way in which this could be justified is if the character is himself a poisoner or assassin and has built up an immunity to certain poisons by constant exposure.

I propose a combination of STR and CON – these can either be averaged out and the poison modifier applied. Rolling below this will not indicate harmlessness but a gradation of saves will apply. The toxicity modifier is added to the die roll rather than the number that the saver needs to make.


Roll below Con + STR/3 on a d30




There will be gradations of severity from totally unaffected, through mild to severe. Even severe will only be probably 75% of the effect of the poison itself.

A 30 will always be a fail and a 1 will always be a save.

I think that monster HD as a guide to saving throws should be retained. Monster HD are a better guide to their toughness and resilience than character levels.

The Spell Neutralise Poison may have to be modified so that it has differing effects against different poisons, or adds a modifier to saving throws.

JUST FOR HUMANS?
Species specific - it may be possible to concoct poisons that only affect particular species. The converse is that no poison is guaranteed to affect all species. In AD&D, Gygax cites the example of a party using poison weapons against a dragon and garnering a large amount of loot for little effort. This assumes that a dragon poison can be obtained – such substances might well be very difficult to obtain or manufacture, and be kept for use by the military.

The use of species specific poisons is a subject that the DM can rule on as he wishes. Their use is dependent on the situation. For example, a poisoner may wish to strand a party in the wilderness and use a poison that only affects horses. Or he may wish to introduce a poison deadly only to humans into an animal that he knows is going to be cooked and eaten. He may actually concoct it so that its potency increases when it is heated. Unless otherwise stated, the poisons listed here affect humans only.


The DM will need to draw up a list of ingredients to make the poison if the characters are doing so. If they have gone to a toxifactor, they may be asked to obtain one or more of the ingredients, especially if a morphic elixir (q.v.) is being requested

CAVEAT

The above can, and probably will be altered by individual DMs for their campaigns. The poison listings will hopefully spur others on to be equally inventive.

It should be borne in mind however that the introduction of complex poison rules into a game can radically transform it and DMs (and players) may not welcome the developments that these suggestions may bring.