D&D (2024) Is there any confusion between Poison Damage and the Poisoned Condition?

[GMMichael]

Main issue for me going in: The Poisoned mechanic feels like it should be doing damage over time, like in previous editions and in many video games. But nope. Just grants disadvantage.

Oh no. There's a Poisoned Condition, Poison Damage, and now a Poisoned Mechanic!?

That's one reason I'm working on diseases, and have considered creating new poisons also.....but I'm beginning to doubt I'll ever sell much that makes all this work worth my time, and working on PDFs kind of burns me out on DMing....

Do it for the love, not the money.

But "poisoned" as a condition actually means something different: it basically means "debilitated," and though it could be from poison, it could also be from disease or, as in this case, a necrotic effect...or something else all together.

This is where my head was going. Aren't there other conditions that already cover Poisoned ground? Can WotC leave the bloat to the third parties, please?

 

[Moonmover]

It has never caused confusion at my table, but there is something inelegant about two essentially unrelated mechanics having the same name.

 

[Morrus]

Some of it based on the removal to references to Disease from certain abilities. Diseases generally used the Poisoned condition. But somehow I feel that the condition and the damage type, might confused with each other, even though immunity to the damage type usually comes with immunity to the condition. Does anyone think that either the Poisoned condition or the Poison Damage Type be renamed though to something else?

Are you confused by poisoned damage and the poisoned condition? Your post suggests that you are not.

 

[Minigiant]

I never saw confusion but I think 5e could have used a Sickened condition.

Poisoned Condition= Felling sick and nauseated

Poisoned Damage= Energy is drained but physically fine until it kills ya

Poisoned Condition and Damage= Energy is drained and it's killing you.

 

[Clint_L]

I understand the distinction between poison damage and the poisoned condition and can work with it, but I guarantee you that it is confusing. I know I often cite how much I work with beginners at school, but that's because working with them reveals a lot about how the game is initially received, and in particular what they find confusing. Explaining the difference between poison damage and the poisoned condition is one of those things. It's not a huge problem because it's not core to most gameplay, but it is for sure a minor source of bafflement.

If you want to know about major sources of confusion: action vs. bonus action vs. reaction. Being able to cast two spells in one turn only if one is a cantrip and the other a bonus action. Temporary hit points. Death saves/taking damage while at 0 HP/instant death from excess damage. Quite frankly, a fair number of students take a long time to remember the difference between a to hit roll and a damage roll.

 

[Marandahir]

Yeah, I'm still confused by it.

I wish Poison Damage was called like Toxin Damage. It's given to venomous things just as often as poisonous things.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Not among my long term players who are familiar w 5E's design but certainly among the two new players I have (new to both D&D and new to RPG's). Both felt it odd that a spider bite deals immediate poison damage, and just once, rather than a DOT or some debilitating thing.

I've recently started started using some of PF2's conditions like Sickened, Clumsy, Enfeebled to add some depth to 5E.

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah, I'm still confused by it.

I wish Poison Damage was called like Toxin Damage. It's given to venomous things just as often as poisonous things.

While we’re at it, let’s change acid damage to corrosive damage to cover all our bases

 

[Marandahir]

While we’re at it, let’s change acid damage to corrosive damage to cover all our bases

Yup! As it is acid is being used for caustic alkalis too.

Though I’ve always thought that bases should be Poison damage in dnd because our sense of bitter flavour was developed to avoid poisons of the Basic variety.

But when it comes to the fiction of the chemical burn, yeah, D&D uses acid even for things that are explicitly not acid.

I would note that until 4e, what is now called poison damage was considered a type of acid damage, which was a catch all for all of these ideas. See Green Dragons.

 

[Gadget]

I support the idea of a more general condition (weakend?) that can be caused by many different causes with resistance to certain things blocking imposition of the condition from certain sources.