It's nothing of the kind. A signpost warns you before you fall victim to the hazard. This is the hazard itself, and it gives no warning. By the time you discover what the centipede's poison can do, a PC is already dead.
D&D 5E Poisons in Next
It's nothing of the kind. A signpost warns you before you fall victim to the hazard. This is the hazard itself, and it gives no warning. By the time you discover what the centipede's poison can do, a PC is already dead.
Echohawk
Shirokinukatsukami fan
That just makes it a lesson for the adventuring group, rather than the particular PC who died the first time that group encountered centipedes. I strongly suspect that the expected longevity of characters was much lower in the early days of D&D than it is today. Save or die effects were probably more acceptable back in the day
Uller
Adventurer
"Sometimes your purpose in life is to be a warning to others." - Despair.com (paraphrased)
This is why I suggest a table with a variety of poisons and effects. I like the disease track method. Sometimes poison should be a big deal and driving the story (like a curse or a disease) and requires the party to alter course to deal with the aflicted. Sometimes, it should just be dealt with via the expenditure of some resources (a spell, a potion, some money, time...)
howandwhy99
Adventurer
There are 2 saves. Fail the first and you begin dying of poison for 1 round. If you aren't adventuring solo, then your friends might see how you've fallen to the ground after a tiny bite from this icky, but measly looking vermin. The bite is swelling because you're human or demi-human and centipede poison is being fought by your body. This means they have time to do something to save you, which includes actions (I won't reveal here) besides magic spells or potions. Fail the 2nd save too and your PC does die. You also get a +4 to your roll on both these saves. And if you have henchmen with you and they go down, since they typically have worse saves, you might suss out poison bites from them too. Not to mention the clue of poison being used by an insect like snakes and arachnids just as they commonly do in our world. As well as rumors about how these kinds of creatures are poisonous and can kill you.
D&D is a game of trial and error with a whole lot of risk taking. Some effects can end the game for your character however temporarily in a game where the dead can be raised for a cost. Paying attention to your environment is key.
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If you're fighting giant centipedes, you ain't raising the dead, nor are you going to be able to afford to pay someone else to do it. And the assertion that "D&D is a game of trial and error with a whole lot of risk taking" describes a very specific playstyle, which is far from universal. Most groups I've played with have preferred a fairly low body count, so players have more of a chance to develop their characters and become invested in the plot.
I'm not sure where you're getting these stats. Or is this something of your own devising? I don't have a 1E Monster Manual handy, but I had a look in the OSRIC ruleset (which, as I understand it, replicates the mechanics of 1E faithfully) and there's no mention of a second save. It bites you, you fail the save, you drop dead. Later editions made the poison paralytic instead of lethal.
I might add that no real-world animal has poison that can kill you inside of a minute. Even cyanide doesn't work that fast. And I can't imagine what "other actions" you're supposed to take, in 1 round, to save the victim.
Personally I'd like something simple that is sorta realistic:
Poison: make a Constitution save every round. Each round you fail take 2x the damage you took on the first round. When you make 2 successful saves, you have overcome the poison and are no longer poisoned.
That would be a keyword tacked onto something like this:
Dire Bee Poison: The target takes 1d4 poison damage and is poisoned.
Its simple, deadly (after a few rounds, which is less than 60 seconds), and should scare the crap out of even the highest level highest hit point character in the game. After 4 rounds the above poison would be dealing 8d4 damage. After 6 rounds it deals 32d4.
Poison: make a Constitution save every round. Each round you fail take 2x the damage you took on the first round. When you make 2 successful saves, you have overcome the poison and are no longer poisoned.
That would be a keyword tacked onto something like this:
Dire Bee Poison: The target takes 1d4 poison damage and is poisoned.
Its simple, deadly (after a few rounds, which is less than 60 seconds), and should scare the crap out of even the highest level highest hit point character in the game. After 4 rounds the above poison would be dealing 8d4 damage. After 6 rounds it deals 32d4.
yeah, looking into it natural animal poisons take around 2-3 minutes at the fastest for neurotoxins which paralyze so the victim suffocates to death.
So some kind of save on initially being affected, and a negative side effect, then a save every minute after that might be a good way to do it.
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