101 poisons for D&D 5

PLANT OR VEGETAL POISON?

Concocting an herbal preparation or crafting a poison are two different things.

In the first case, we seek to recover the essence of the plant as pure as possible, so that the preparation can be kept for as long as possible with the strongest possible effect.

But for poisons the difficulty is quite different. Maintaining the effect is generally not a problem, on the other hand we will endeavor to conceal its smell or its color, something which we do not worry about for herbal preparations.

In short, the works are different between a vegetal poison and an herbal preparation.

Given their insidious and deadly nature, poisons are illegal in most societies, but they are nonetheless a favorite tool for assassins, drows, and other evil creatures. Poisons are classified into different types:

• Contact. Spreads over an object and affects a creature as soon as its skin touches the poison.
• Ingested. This type of poison is placed in food or in a liquid.
• Inhaled. Powder or gas which takes effect when inhaled.
• Injury. Applied to weapons, ammunition, traps, or any other item that deals piercing or slashing damage.

Buying poison

Generally strict laws prohibit the possession and use of poison, but a black-market dealer or an unscrupulous apothecary may have secretly some on hand. Characters who have contact with criminals' networks should be able to acquire poison relatively easily. Others might have to do extensive research and pay bribes to be able to get the poison they seek. The description of each poison indicates the suggested price for a single dose.

Preparing poison

During downtime between two adventures, a character can use the following rules to attempt to create a poison himself if he has proficiency with the poisoner's kit. But not all the ingredients for a poison are always available for purchase, and the search for certain ingredients could even be the basis of a whole adventure. Poisoner's kit proficiency applies to subsequent rolls if the character does not have proficiency in Nature or Arcana skill.

Regarding their manufacture, poisons can be classified into four categories:

Vegetal. Plant-based substance. These poisons are the easiest to access. The milder ones are often used by hunters. For someone who has proficiency with the poisoner's kit, recognizing the plant is not the most complicated. The challenge is to hide its smell or color. Crafting takes 1d6 minutes and then need a DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check. If successful, the character recovers enough poison to constitute a dose. If unsuccessful, the character wastes all the raw material. If the roll fails by 5 or more, the character is also subject to the effect of the plant's poison.

Venom. Substance produced by the glands of an animal. Generally more violent than vegetal poisons, venoms are also more difficult to obtain. For crafting, a character can attempt to collect the toxin from a creature, such as a snake, wyvern, or carrion crawler. The creature must be incapacitated or dead, and the recovery takes 1d6 minutes and then need a DC 20 Intelligence (Nature) check. If successful, the character recovers enough poison to constitute a dose. If unsuccessful, the character is unable to extract the poison. If the roll fails by 5 or more, the character is also subject to the effect of the creature's poison.

Toxin. Substance that does not exist in nature in its raw state. Toxins are usually produced by alchemists. For the production, proficiency with alchemist's supplies is essential. The time required depends on the selling price (see table below) and requires a DC 20 Intelligence (Nature) check. If successful, the character generates enough poison to constitute a dose. If unsuccessful, the process fails and the raw material is lost. If the roll fails by 5 or more, the character is also subject to the effect of the poison of his experiment.

Mixture. Substance produced by magic. The mixtures require powerful spells and are made by wizards or clerics (3rd level minimum). The time required depends on the selling price (see table below) and requires a DC 20 Intelligence (Arcana) check. If successful, the experiment generates enough poison to constitute a dose. If unsuccessful, the process fails and the raw material is lost. If the roll fails by 5 or more, the character is also subject to the effect of the poison of his experiment.

Table

Below is a list of D&D 5 poisons, in alphabetical order. Note that you can also filter, sort and generate your own PDF using the POISONS app.