CombatWombat51
First Post
Hey, here's something wacky I worked up. I never liked the way poisons worked with the whole INSTANT effect, you feel fine for a minute and BAM you're in pain. I always thought it'd make more sense for it to work in a more gradual way. So here's what I did one bored day. Questions, comments, snide remarks?
Before I explain myself in English, here’s the crunchy bits:
*If more than one type of damage is dealt, add +1 for each type beyond the first
**Each round the victim takes damage, he must make a Fort save (DC 10 + Dex damage taken) or be reduced to half speed for double the duration of the poison.
***Each round the victim takes damage, he must make a Fort save (DC 10 + Int damage taken) or fall unconscious for double the duration of the poison.
Now for English: Delivery is the method of delivery, obviously.
Onset and Onset Variable are combined to see how long before the poison begins to harm the victim. A turn is 10 minutes, but I still use the term.
The Interval how often the poison deals damage once it’s in the victim’s system. So a poison with an interval of 1 round deals damage every other round. An interval of 2 rounds means that the poison only deals damage every 3rd round, and an interval of 0 rounds means that the poison deals damage every round. I hope that made sense…
The duration is the amount of time that the poison stays active (damaging) in the victim’s body.
Damage is the type of damage that the poison deals. Ability damage is temporary, and recovers at the normal rate.
Damage Variable is the amount of damage that it deals.
There’s a complete example below.
My little system works similar to the one used in the DMG for constructing traps (although I reinvented the wheel without realizing it until it was too late). To calculate the Craft DC for any particular poison, you just add up all the modifiers, add 20, and viola.
The save DC of the poison itself is the total of the modifiers plus 10. All very easy.
You can voluntarily raise the Craft DC. In addition to raising the market price (covered in a second), it raises the Poison DC on a 1-for-1 basis.
A successful saving throw, which is made upon the exposure to the poison, doubles the onset time and adds 1 to the interval.
If the total modifiers are under 6 (including voluntarily raising the DC), multiply the total by 5 gp
If the total modifiers are between 6 and 10, multiply the total by 10 gp
If the total modifiers are over 10, multiply the total by 20 gp.
Example: Lets make some middle of the road plain ol’ poison.
Injection +0
Onset 2d4 Rounds +2
Interval of 1 round +0
Duration 2d4 rounds +0
Damage 2d4 hit points +1
And we’ll add some to the DC to make it more deadly +2
That’s a total of +5. So the Craft DC is 25, the poison’s DC is 15, and the market price is 25 gp for a dose.
Now, Johnny Assassin tests it out and stabs Granny Smith. Granny rolls her Fortitude save (DC 15) and fails. The DM rolls for the onset time (2d4 rounds) and privately notes it (5 rounds, in this case). The DM also rolls for the duration (also 2d4 rounds in this case) and privately notes it (4 rounds). After 5 full rounds go by, Granny smith starts to feel some pain. She takes 2d4 points of damage. Next round, she doesn’t take any damage because of the 1 round interval. Round 3, she takes another 2d4 damage. Nothing on round 4. It’s been 4 rounds, which was the duration of this particular dose, and the poison wears off. Granny doesn’t take any more poison damage, and proceeds to beat up Johnny with her purse.
If it would have had an interval of 2 rounds, she would have only suffered damage on the first and fourth rounds. If it wound have had a 0 round interval, she would have suffered damage every round. On a poison with a longer duration, a small interval can mean much more damage, hence the expense.
If everything about the poison was the same, but Granny made her save, then she wouldn't have suffered damage until 10 full rounds had passed (double the duration), and the interval would have been bumped up to 2 rounds, meaning damage on the 1st and 4th round in this case.
I hope all of that was clear.
Oh, and one more example poison since I'm dieing to do it.
Turkey
Ingestion -1
Onset 1d4 Turns +0
Interval 2 rounds -2
Duration 2d8 rounds +1
Damage 1d4 Int +2
And 1d4 Dex +1 (remembering to add an additional +1 for multiple damage types)
Total +2
Craft DC 22
Poison DC 12
Market Price 10 gp
Gotta love that sleepyness turkey gives!
Before I explain myself in English, here’s the crunchy bits:
Code:
Delivery Onset Onset Variable Interval
Ingestion -1 Hours -2 2d8 -1 2 rounds -2
Injection -- Turns -1 2d4 -- 1 round --
Inhaled +1 Minutes -- 1d4 +1 0 rounds +2
Contact +2 Rounds +2
Duration Damage* Damage Variable
1d4 rounds -1 Hit Points -- 1d4 points --
2d4 rounds -- Dexterity** +1 2d4 points +1
2d8 rounds +1 Intelligence*** +2 2d8 points +3
Strength +3
Constitution +4*If more than one type of damage is dealt, add +1 for each type beyond the first
**Each round the victim takes damage, he must make a Fort save (DC 10 + Dex damage taken) or be reduced to half speed for double the duration of the poison.
***Each round the victim takes damage, he must make a Fort save (DC 10 + Int damage taken) or fall unconscious for double the duration of the poison.
Now for English: Delivery is the method of delivery, obviously.
Onset and Onset Variable are combined to see how long before the poison begins to harm the victim. A turn is 10 minutes, but I still use the term.
The Interval how often the poison deals damage once it’s in the victim’s system. So a poison with an interval of 1 round deals damage every other round. An interval of 2 rounds means that the poison only deals damage every 3rd round, and an interval of 0 rounds means that the poison deals damage every round. I hope that made sense…
The duration is the amount of time that the poison stays active (damaging) in the victim’s body.
Damage is the type of damage that the poison deals. Ability damage is temporary, and recovers at the normal rate.
Damage Variable is the amount of damage that it deals.
There’s a complete example below.
My little system works similar to the one used in the DMG for constructing traps (although I reinvented the wheel without realizing it until it was too late). To calculate the Craft DC for any particular poison, you just add up all the modifiers, add 20, and viola.
The save DC of the poison itself is the total of the modifiers plus 10. All very easy.
You can voluntarily raise the Craft DC. In addition to raising the market price (covered in a second), it raises the Poison DC on a 1-for-1 basis.
A successful saving throw, which is made upon the exposure to the poison, doubles the onset time and adds 1 to the interval.
If the total modifiers are under 6 (including voluntarily raising the DC), multiply the total by 5 gp
If the total modifiers are between 6 and 10, multiply the total by 10 gp
If the total modifiers are over 10, multiply the total by 20 gp.
Example: Lets make some middle of the road plain ol’ poison.
Injection +0
Onset 2d4 Rounds +2
Interval of 1 round +0
Duration 2d4 rounds +0
Damage 2d4 hit points +1
And we’ll add some to the DC to make it more deadly +2
That’s a total of +5. So the Craft DC is 25, the poison’s DC is 15, and the market price is 25 gp for a dose.
Now, Johnny Assassin tests it out and stabs Granny Smith. Granny rolls her Fortitude save (DC 15) and fails. The DM rolls for the onset time (2d4 rounds) and privately notes it (5 rounds, in this case). The DM also rolls for the duration (also 2d4 rounds in this case) and privately notes it (4 rounds). After 5 full rounds go by, Granny smith starts to feel some pain. She takes 2d4 points of damage. Next round, she doesn’t take any damage because of the 1 round interval. Round 3, she takes another 2d4 damage. Nothing on round 4. It’s been 4 rounds, which was the duration of this particular dose, and the poison wears off. Granny doesn’t take any more poison damage, and proceeds to beat up Johnny with her purse.
If it would have had an interval of 2 rounds, she would have only suffered damage on the first and fourth rounds. If it wound have had a 0 round interval, she would have suffered damage every round. On a poison with a longer duration, a small interval can mean much more damage, hence the expense.
If everything about the poison was the same, but Granny made her save, then she wouldn't have suffered damage until 10 full rounds had passed (double the duration), and the interval would have been bumped up to 2 rounds, meaning damage on the 1st and 4th round in this case.
I hope all of that was clear.
Oh, and one more example poison since I'm dieing to do it.
Turkey
Ingestion -1
Onset 1d4 Turns +0
Interval 2 rounds -2
Duration 2d8 rounds +1
Damage 1d4 Int +2
And 1d4 Dex +1 (remembering to add an additional +1 for multiple damage types)
Total +2
Craft DC 22
Poison DC 12
Market Price 10 gp
Gotta love that sleepyness turkey gives!
I have almost precisely NO idea about real world poisons, and I didn't wanna ask the forum, since it might be seen as a little... too close to home, or dangerous, or something like that. Meh.
