By Chris Acuff

It feels weird to put it in this language, but poison has one of the most fascinating legacies. It’s insidious. At times in history it’s called the woman’s weapon or the weapon of eunuchs. There are whole eras of history shrouded in secrecy and what-ifs because of assassinations by poison. It is more than just a means to an end, even though it is the same intentionality as a blade. Poison has baggage, a mystique. It invokes the fear of the unknown, conspiracy and secrets. 

All that sounds rad as hell. Let’s leverage some of those ideas. 

What are the current effects of poison in DnD? There may be others in other RPGs but since DnD is the most popular one and what I also run the most. DnD has two options, either it applies the poison condition, which effectively means disadvantage on everything, or it does extra damage of a specific damage type, one that is not super difficult to get resistance to. I like both. But, I actually like the “give disadvantage on everything” one. 

STATISTICALLY, advantage or disadvantage is worth around +4/-4, and includes the added probability of a nat 20 or 1. 

OOOoooh, you mean there is a way to limit or weaken our players with a short term, relatively easy to apply effect? We can make it even more intense by adding damage to the poison as well. Now not only are the characters, on average, swinging with a -4 roll, but they also are not going into combat in tip top shape. There are a few interesting uses for this mechanic. 

1. Mirroring that part in a superhero movie where the hero loses their power and has to find a different way to solve problems. 
2. Run a short “dungeon” without having to spend a long time running fights that might have little story impact and are only there to mechanically to eat player resources before the final combat
3. My personal favorite- bring players down a notch, make otherwise unthreatening enemies suddenly dangerous. 

We are going to zoom in on option 3 because I think it is the most interesting, thematic, and has good opportunities for story. 

The players arrive at a castle. Together they are far more powerful than the lord of the land’s knights and any retainers of magical talent. Should the players want, they could depose the lord, seizing the land and rule for themselves through right of conquest.  Maybe that is exactly what the players are there to do, under orders from some other faction, and a spy that they didn’t catch already tipped the lord off. 

The lord cannot refuse them entry, they are mighty warriors of great renown of course, but the lord fears their intentions. The lord has already plotted it out in their mind’s eye. The party would take the lord’s hospitality, share their table, and then in the middle of the night, the party will gather its strength and raid the keep from the inside. No, that will not do. 

Instead, the lord will have to resort to other means. These adventurers must be brought low so that the household knights can face them on more even terms. It is a risk, but a risk that must be taken- roll the dice. 

During the welcome feast, poison is slipped into the party’s food. Maybe some of them are able to catch it, maybe they don’t, but once the effect clearly takes hold, combat begins. All of a sudden an enemy type that hasn’t been seen as a threat by the party becomes dangerous again, and while they may have better tools up their sleeves, the chance of those tools being useful is lessened. (Except for area of effect spells I guess. No real way to stop those, but casting fireball in an enclosed dinner hall may be hazardous for the rest of your party.) 

What we have done here is both 2 and 3 of my poison uses, and we have introduced a huge element of intrigue and paranoia into the story. You can bet that for the rest of the campaign, the party will think about what they eat and drink, checking for poison or useing the purify food and drink spell. And, if that fits the theme of the campaign, that is a good thing. Now the party has to figure out how the lord was told of their intentions, in what way is this spy network operating? Who can they trust? 

Or, the other way- say a weak party has to take down really powerful opposition, just how do they get their enemy to take that poison so they can fight them on a more even battlefield? Now they are the ones conducting the intrigue, everyone leaning in over the table as the rogue rolls their stealth check to skulk about the castle grounds, or as the bard tries to persuade the chef to try out this new special seasoning. 

Hopefully these examples show that poison doesn’t have to just be a battlefield mechanic, or a way for traps to deal damage. Like I talked about in my posts about using intelligent creatures, most of the dynamic of a fight is created before the first blade is drawn, and poison is a really thematic way to go about it. Try it out sometime, and let us know what you think.