D&D 5E Applying Poison?

[FuelDrop]

Yes, using poison is inherently evil (if poison is Evil, as with traditional D&D worlds). Anything other than a straight-up, stand-there-and-swing-at-each-other fight is dishonorable, and putting something on your blade that isn't just your own fighting ability is the height of dishonor. The world of D&D is not a subtle or nuanced one. There are omnipotent beings that watch your every movement and hold judgment over you. If poison is Evil, then no technicality will allow you to bypass Cosmic Law.

If you wanted to incapacitate a guard, you could do that by simply striking to KO rather than kill.

Well then I'll just have to quietly and nonlethally incapacitate guards nonlethally in an evil way then.

I love that killing people is not inherently evil, but being pragmatic is.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Unlimited doses is just weird, so a thousand cuts will dead 1000d4 damage on failed saves, but pouring the whole vial at once into a wound just does 1d4? That makes no sense.

The rules of the game only approximate the physics of the world by taking into account certain assumptions. Saying that the poison works on every attack made with that weapon over the course of a minute is contingent upon the inherent assumption of how that weapon will be used, and for practical purposes, it's highly unlikely that a poisoned weapon will hit more than five times over the course of a minute - attacks miss, combat ends, and so on.

Applying that rule to a thousand attacks would make it seem silly, because making a thousand attacks over the course of a minute is a ridiculous circumstance. The rules of the game were never intended to model that behavior.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I love that killing people is not inherently evil, but being pragmatic is.

The gods are fickle and reactionary. Poison is Evil because the first DM was tired of watching his players poison their way out of every situation, so he wrote it into the book.

 

[Aenorgreen]

It does last the full minute, it is just good for 1 dose, not unlimited.

I don't think your beast is going to appreciate you abusing it like that every night.

If you think poison is too weak, the solution is to up the damage, the save DC, or have it apply the poisoned condition or similar.

Unlimited doses is just weird, so a thousand cuts will dead 1000d4 damage on failed saves, but pouring the whole vial at once into a wound just does 1d4? That makes no sense.

Why would you assume milking your snake (after talking to it and explaining what you want) is some form of abuse? It is the exact same thing they do every time they attack a creature, just in a bottle. Is it abuse to have them attack a guard? Are they abusing themselves to bite a rat? I guess babies are horrible abusers of their mothers by taking milk from their breasts.

 

[Yardiff]

Make a DC 11 con save to not take the 1d4 (you fail the save is when you take the d4 otherwise you take no damage) is pretty easy to make for most martial types, so letting the poison be effective for 10 rounds isnt OP. Even the serpent poison is only DC 13 or take half. Poison damage only does hp damage and can be healed with any cure spells or HD.


My roommate told me a joke the day:
The doctor has diagnosed you with 'I'm a pussy-itis' and has prescribed a healthy dose of 'man the up!', so 'man the up!!

 

[FuelDrop]

The protection from poison spell gives advantage on poison saves and resistance to poison. it's a 2nd level divine spell, so clerics, druids, paladins and rangers can all have it. It's not concentration either. Any big bad worth his salt will have access to this spell, and will likely have it up around meal times to prevent someone killing them with poisoned food.

A flask of antitoxin is 50 gp, half the price of the cheapest poison. If you're important enough to be at risk of assassination you can probably afford that in case someone tries to kill you with poison.

Add to that the resistance of Dwarves and some halflings, and making poison ineffective is one of the easiest things to do in the player's handbook. Undead, plants, Demons, Devils... all flat immune to poison. It's one of the most common resistances out there. So just having poison does not trivialize an encounter.

 

[Minigiant]

It does last the full minute, it is just good for 1 dose, not unlimited.

I don't think your beast is going to appreciate you abusing it like that every night.

If you think poison is too weak, the solution is to up the damage, the save DC, or have it apply the poisoned condition or similar.

Unlimited doses is just weird, so a thousand cuts will dead 1000d4 damage on failed saves, but pouring the whole vial at once into a wound just does 1d4? That makes no sense.

1 dose is for what you can apply the poison to. 1 dose coats 1 weapon or 3 pieces of ammo. It's not unlimited a dose lasts only 1 minute or 10 combat rounds. The most that can be is 44 attacks with a lvl 20 fighter and both Action Surges. I don't know many situations where you'd both make 44 attacks straight in 1 fight without dying. I guess if you bought purple wurm poison (12d6/DC19) for 2k gp then you probably need that poison.

A friendly pet shouldn't object much about you milking it to help it kill your enemies.

Poison aren't weak. They are weak for the cost. Harvested or treasure poison is awesome. Purchased or crafted poison is a waste of money.

And that's the thing with poison. The good poison is expensive so you have to really really need it to the point of almost TPK. The cheap poison is cheap but does almost nothing for the gp cost.

If poison only damages on the first hit, it's useless for PCs and only good for NPCs killing NPCs (which doesn't need mechanics).

 

[abirdcall]

Why would you assume milking your snake (after talking to it and explaining what you want) is some form of abuse? It is the exact same thing they do every time they attack a creature, just in a bottle. Is it abuse to have them attack a guard? Are they abusing themselves to bite a rat? I guess babies are horrible abusers of their mothers by taking milk from their breasts.

In case you were actually looking for an answer here is how Mike Mearls would rule (this is not a matter of RAW):

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2015/08/17/5029/

 

[Aenorgreen]

Mearls never says why, so he didn't really answer my question. I did not say that they must be milked, I asked why one would say it was abusing/upsetting the snake to do so. A fair DM could simply say that they think it would unbalance the game to allow that amount of free poison. It is disingenuous to try some sort of reason such as the snake would rebel.

 

[Dausuul]

Yes, using poison is inherently evil (if poison is Evil, as with traditional D&D worlds).

I don't see anything in 5E that says using poison is inherently Evil. The DMG says it's illegal in most civilized societies, and often used by evil creatures, but that doesn't make it Evil.

The whole "poison is Evil" thing is a bit of silliness from 1E. There's no reason for it to apply any longer, especially where nonlethal poisons (also known as "drugs") are concerned. You could make a case for poison being inherently Chaotic, since it's far from honorable, but having it be inherently Evil makes no sense.