D&D 5E (2014) DMG Preview: POISONS!

[Minigiant]

I was hoping for rules for venom milking pets.

I hope bear taming and mount rearing makes it in.

Rangers gotta make dat gold, son.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Very disappointed. Not a single real world poison to gauge them against. Also, where's the uber common stuff that everyone can get their hands on, like rat poison? And adding my grouse to the no specifics for duration on blades/in the air, as well.

 

[Joe Liker]

I love that the diseases target certain creature types. It means there's no need to note in the stat block of every single construct, fiend, and undead that the creature is immune to disease.

(And it opens the door for diseases that specifically target constructs, fiends, etc.!)

 

[Dausuul]

I imagine that it will be very similar if not the same as the Basic Poison in the PHB.

Basic poison retains potency for 1 minute after being applied, so we're looking at a duration of one combat.

Looking at the price tags... hmm. I certainly wouldn't pay 1,200 gp for a single shot of 12-24 damage, when the target might make its save. But to add 12-24 to every attack for the duration of a combat seems awfully good, especially at high levels with multiple attacks per round.

 

[RotGrub]

oh well no save or die poisons. Based on some of the monsters, I had my fingers crossed that we would see at least a save twice or die poison.

 

[bganon]

oh well no save or die poisons. Based on some of the monsters, I had my fingers crossed that we would see at least a save twice or die poison.

Well, no save twice or die, exactly, but Pale Tincture is an almost guaranteed slow lingering death for anything low CR/level. Unhealable hp loss and you need seven DC 16 saves to end it? Nasty. Even with a +3 to your save this is quite likely to deal 30 damage to you before it's done. This is an awesome "plot" poison.

Purple worm poison, meanwhile, deals half damage even on a successful save so it pretty much autokills anything with less than 20 hp and can one-shot creatures with 60 hp or more if you're a bit lucky. Carrion crawler mucus is a save or suck contact poison, and if you can get something to eat Torpor it's pretty much a save or lose.

 

[guachi]

i don't really like the GP-based crafting system. all it does is make the players count downtime days.

Yeah, it seems to turn the game into so much button pushing. Easy to run, kinda boring.

 

[doctorhook]

And it opens the door for diseases that specifically target constructs...!

Like a computer virus: a wifi-worm infecting all the warforged in Sharn! Every time they try to take an action, there's a chance that their turn gets replaced by a five minute prerecorded sales pitch for a get-rich-quick scheme involving supposed loopholes in Brelish tax law.

 

[Scorpio616]

The only thing that i don't like is how against these lethal poisons you get a saving throw every 6 seconds to make it all better. I know it's for balance reasons, but still. It irks me.

"Lethal" to whom? Normal folks don't have heroic HP. Normal folk (commoners) have 4 HP and tough normals like guard and bandits have around 11.

 

[pedro2112]

In reading the two disease entries that are included in this preview, perhaps our judgement on the spell Contagion is too harsh. The complaints about that spell is whether one of the diseases one can use would easily bypass a Legendary Creature's auto-save feature. The argument assumes that as soon as the victim is targeted by the spell, they immediately suffer its effects. However, in the disease examples in the preview, the symptoms don't typically manifest for quite some time. If that is the case for slimy doom, then maybe it isn't a very good combat spell after all.