Appendix P: Poisons

The greatest peril in fantasy literature is poison: the spider’s bite, adder’s prick, or scorpion’s sting, often rendered more fearful by demonic influence or alchemical extraction. Dangerous poisons should be a realistically fatal danger in your game—a brush with poison should frequently result in permanent debilitation or death.

Here are some poisons that can be introduced into your game by wizards, priests, cultists, and assassins. A single dose of the most mundane poison costs a minimum of 100 gold pieces; the more exotic varieties may fetch 1,000 gp or more per use.

In prior editions of the game, poisons have had various effects: generally damage, sleep, paralysis, death, or ability score loss. The poisons below follow this general model. However, we encourage the judge to expand the notion of “exotic monstrous poison damage” beyond tradition. Leave the players guessing—and afraid! Consider creating your own poisons that reduce Luck, spell checks, armor class, saving throws, languages known, and other aspects of character creation. Poisons of supernatural origin could rightfully have that ability. Imagine a poison from the plane of air that turned a character permanently incorporeal or one from the pits of hell that made a character especially vulnerable to weapons of steel…

Poison	Delivery	Fort Save	Damage on Successful Save	Damage on Failed Save	Recovery
Adder	Wound	DC 22	1d3 Stamina (temporary)	2d4 Stamina (permanent)	Normal healing on successful save
Asp	Wound	DC 20	1d3 Agility (temporary)	1d6 Agility (temporary)	Normal healing
Black lotus	Touch	DC 24	1d3 Intelligence (temporary until healed)	1d6 Intelligence (permanent)	Cannot be healed via normal means; only healed via magic.
Black widow	Wound	DC 14	1 Strength (temporary)	1d4 Strength (permanent)	Normal healing on successful save
Centipede, giant	Wound	DC 13	-	Memory loss (complete amnesia; permanent)	Does not heal
Cobra	Wound	DC 18	-	Blindness (permanent if blinded, second save or automatic death	Can be healed only via magic
Jellyfish	Touch	DC 16	1d4 hp	1d4 Agility (temporary)	Normal healing
Manticore sting	Wound	DC 16	1 Stamina (temporary)	1d6 Stamina (permanent)	Normal healing on successful save
Medusa venom	Touch	DC 16	1d4 hp	Paralysis (permanent)	Does not heal naturally
Mummy rot	Touch	DC 12	-	1 Stamina per day ongoing (permanent)	Does not heal naturally; can only be healed via magic
Ooze, toxic	Touch	DC 10	Paralysis (1d4 days)	Paralysis (permanent)	Does not heal
Scorpion	Wound	DC 16	-	1d4 Stamina (temporary)	Normal healing
Tarantula	Wound	DC 12	1d4 hp	3d4 hp + 1 Strength	Normal healing
Viper	Wound	DC 16	1d3 Stamina	Death	Normal healing
Wasp, giant	Wound	DC 15	1d6 hp	3d6 hp	Normal healing
(Giant)*		+2	-	+1	-
(Demonic)**		+4	-	+2	Can be healed only via magical means

* A giant serpent, spider, or scorpion should have this modifier applied for every 2x multiplier of size. For example, a scorpion that is 4x normal size would have this modifier applied twice; if 8x normal size, this modifier would be applied three times.

** An infernal version of a creature should have this modifier due to its supernatural origin.