SUMMARY
The Assassin's Guide to Poisons, by Philip Reed, is a 9-page PDF (6 1/2 pages of material) available for free at RPGNow. It is a compedium of 30 magical or fantasic poisons, plus a detailed Craft Poison skill and several poison-related feats. Each Poison is given all the statistical details found in the list of poisons on page 80 of the DMG (saving throw DC, initial and secondary damage, cost), plus a craft DC for each poison, as well as a one-two paragraph descripion.
GOOD POINTS
The list of poisons was interesting enough, with names like 'Minotaur Blood', 'Orc Breath', or 'Plague of the Ancients'. The list forms a nice supplement to those in the DMG. The descriptions were quite good and generally told where the poison comes from and any special details of its effects. Nearly all of the poisons are of a purely fantasy origin, and many are magical as well. The Craft Poison skill was very detailed. There are several DC adjustments given depending on what type of poison is being created. The seven poison related feats, while less interesting, provide numerous ways for a poison specialist to hone their skills. For example, there is a Poison Focus feat and and Poison Use feat, which allows the poisoner to use poisons with no risk to themselves.
Despite being a short, free product from a very small publisher, the Assassin's Guide is very professional looking. There are no illustrations, but the pages are very attractive, with nice borders and varied text fonts and sizes. The charts have colored rows. And the text is well edited.
WEAK POINTS
I was hoping to find examples of real historical poisons, such as hemlock, wolfsbane, or belladonna. It's a minor point; many other d20 products have such examples.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I thought this product does exactly what a free, short pdf product should do--it fills a very small niche quite nicely. If you want some additonal poisons in your game, and you don't want to buy one of the assassin splatbooks, then this will be a very useful download. If you have such a sourcebook, then you probably won't need The Assassin's Guide, though you may still find it useful if you want to add a few more poisons.
Bottom line--it's free.
