Can you exctract poison from a purple worm?

calighis

First Post
Cause our party recently slew one. I see no reason why someone would not be able to make a poison craft check to extract a dose.
 

log in or register to remove this ad

From a dead purple worm? I'm not so sure it's that easy. I don't think a simple poison craft check is sufficient, as that skill really doesn't give you ranks in the anatomies of all creatures out there with poison abilities, especially those that are not animals or vermin. Just consider how snake venom is obtained.

It's just one of those areas that isn't well-defined and would be too much of a pita to figure out the rules. I would simply tell the PC's that I'm more interested in designing adventures and stuff than in designing balanced houserules for veterinarians. ;)
 

I see no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to try. Crafting poison seems to take more skill than simply applying it to a blade. Also, the skill of poison crafting should include starting from "raw materials".

If poison crafters can't start with poison glands to make poison, I'd imagine that craft(blacksmithing) requires you to start with iron/steel/mithril/adamantine ingots to craft a suit of armor.

The magical crafting specifics for magic items and potions are deliberately vague on what materials are needed but the idea seems to be that the crafter knows what to get and what to do with it.
 

s-dub said:
If poison crafters can't start with poison glands to make poison, I'd imagine that craft(blacksmithing) requires you to start with iron/steel/mithril/adamantine ingots to craft a suit of armor.

I'm pretty sure it does require the correct base material - profession (miner) is a separate skill, after all.

In this case it's the safe and proper extraction of the poison glands that is going to be tricky. I would liken this to the mining step of metalworking.
 

moritheil said:
In this case it's the safe and proper extraction of the poison glands that is going to be tricky. I would liken this to the mining step of metalworking.

I'd make that a Survival check, with a DC appropriate to the CR of the critter that the poison comes from...

Later
silver
 


Michael Silverbane said:
I'd make that a Survival check, with a DC appropriate to the CR of the critter that the poison comes from...

Later
silver


I always have my players use Heal checks for things like, skinning a displacer beast, taking the horns off a minotaur, and if it ever came up, something like what the OP asked about.
 

Complete Adventurer pg 97 has two different costs of raw materials listed.

1/6 (instead of 1/3 the normal craft) if the poison is readily available and 3/4 if it is not.

I would use these to reflect "access".

Craft (poisonmaking) is about making a usuabel poison not simply about applying it to somthing. That is to say there is more involved then merely "milking" the venom.

I would lean towards a survival check to get useable material from a dead creature. I would likewise use survival as the skill needed to remove meat and prepare it so that it can be eaten.
 

After reading Heal and Survival completely, it doesn't read like either will do what the OP is after.

I'd push toward Profession. This is not the territory for lay people, skilled professionals only need apply.

Prof: Toxicologist
 

s-dub said:
I see no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to try. Crafting poison seems to take more skill than simply applying it to a blade. Also, the skill of poison crafting should include starting from "raw materials".

If poison crafters can't start with poison glands to make poison, I'd imagine that craft(blacksmithing) requires you to start with iron/steel/mithril/adamantine ingots to craft a suit of armor.

The magical crafting specifics for magic items and potions are deliberately vague on what materials are needed but the idea seems to be that the crafter knows what to get and what to do with it.

This was sort of my thinking but the fact remains that just because you know how to handle and refine poison doesn't mean you know how to mine it. I would have to go with Knowledge arcane for extracting poison from magical beasts with a real high DC, knowledge nature for animal, vermin, etc... but a proffession check with a much lower DC for any character willing to put ranks in toxicologist and a synergy bonus in both cases with craft poison.
 

Remove ads

Top