Given their insidious and deadly nature, poisons are illegal in most societies but are a favorite tool among assassins, drow, and other evil creatures. Poisons come in the following four types: - **Contact** - Can be smeared on an object and remains potent until it is touched or washed off. A creature that touches contact poison with exposed skin suffers its effects. - **Ingested** - A creature must swallow an entire dose of ingested poison to suffer its effects. You might decide that a partial dose has a reduced effect, such as allowing advantage on the saving throw or dealing only half damage on a failed save. The dose can be delivered in food or a liquid. - **Inhaled** - Powders or gases that take effect when inhaled. Blowing the powder or releasing the gas subjects creatures in a 5-foot cube to its effect. The resulting cloud dissipates immediately afterward. Holding one's breath is ineffective against inhaled poisons, as they affect nasal membranes, tear ducts, and other parts of the body. - **Injury** - Can be applied to weapons, ammunition, trap components, and other objects that deal piercing or slashing damage and remains potent until delivered through a wound or washed off. A creature that takes piercing or slashing damage from an object coated with the poison is exposed to its effects. ###### Purchasing Poison In some settings, strict laws prohibit the possession and use of poison, but a black-market dealer or unscrupulous apothecary might keep a hidden stash. Characters with criminal contacts might be able to acquire poison relatively easily. Other characters might have to make extensive inquiries and pay bribes before they track down the poison they seek. ###### Crafting and Harvesting Poison During downtime between adventures, a character can use the crafting rules in the Player's Handbook to create basic poison if the character has proficiency with a poisoner's kit. At your discretion, the character can craft other kinds of poison. Not all poison ingredients are available for purchase, and tracking down certain ingredients might form the basis of an entire adventure. A character can instead attempt to harvest poison from a poisonous creature, such as a snake, wyvern, or carrion crawler. The creature must be incapacitated or dead, and the harvesting requires 1d6 minutes followed by a DC 20 Intelligence (Nature) check. (Proficiency with the poisoner's kit applies to this check if the character doesn't have proficiency in Nature.) On a successful check, the character harvests enough poison for a single dose. On a failed check, the character is unable to extract any poison. If the character fails the check by 5 or more, the character is subjected to the creature's poison. # List <br> #### Assassin's Blood A creature subjected to this poison must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 6 (1d12) poison damage and is poisoned for 24 hours. On a successful save, the creature takes half damage and isn’t poisoned. - [type:: Ingested] [price:: 150gp] #### Burnt Othur Fumes A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) poison damage, and must repeat the saving throw at the start of each of its turns. On each successive failed save, the character takes 3 (1d6) poison damage. After three successful saves, the poison ends. - [type:: Inhaled] [price:: 500gp] #### Crawler Mucus This poison must be harvested from a dead or incapacitated crawler. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. The poisoned creature is paralyzed. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. - [type:: Contact] [price:: 200gp] #### Drow Poison This poison is typically made only by the drow, and only in a place far removed from sunlight. A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 hour. If the saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is also unconscious while poisoned in this way. The creature wakes up if it takes damage or if another creature takes an action to shake it awake. - [type:: Injury] [price:: 200gp] #### Essence of Ether A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 8 hours. The poisoned creature is unconscious. The creature wakes up if it takes damage or if another creature takes an action to shake it awake. - [type:: Inhaled] [price:: 300gp] #### Malice A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 hour. The poisoned creature is blinded. - [type:: Inhaled] [price:: 250gp] #### Midnight Tears A creature that ingests this poison suffers no effect until the stroke of midnight. If the poison has not been neutralized before then, the creature must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 31 (9d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. - [type:: Ingested] [price:: 1500gp] #### Pale Tincture A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 3 (1d6) poison damage and become poisoned. The poisoned creature must repeat the saving throw every 24 hours, taking 3 (1d6) poison damage on a failed save. Until this poison ends, the damage the poison deals can’t be healed by any means. After seven successful saving throws, the effect ends and the creature can heal normally. - [type:: Ingested] [price:: 250gp] #### Purple Worm Poison This poison must be harvested from a dead or incapacitated purple worm. A creature subjected to this poison must make a DC 19 Constitution saving throw, taking 42 (12d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. - [type:: Injury] [price:: 2000gp] #### Torpor **Ingested** - 600gp A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 4d6 hours. The poisoned creature is incapacitated. - [type:: Ingested] [price:: 600gp] #### Truth Serum A creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw or become poisoned for 1 hour. The poisoned creature can’t knowingly speak a lie, as if under the effect of a zone of truth spell. - [type:: Ingested] [price:: 150gp] #### Wyvern Poison This poison must be harvested from a dead or incapacitated wyvern. A creature subjected to this poison must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. - [type:: Injury] [price:: 1200gp] #### Black Vein Poison Extracted from the seeds of a dark colored flower that grows from rotting organic matter, the poison has a highly noticeable visual effect upon the victim. The veins closest to the surface of the skin become visibly black, giving the toxin it’s disturbing name, as the poison begins working it’s way through a victim’s bloodstream, turning the blood and the vessels into a rotten black ichor. - [type:: Ingested/Injury] [price:: 500gp] [dc: 12 CON] - [primary:: 2 (1d3) Constitution damage] [secondary:: 6 (2d4) necrotic damage] #### Death Flower Oil Death flower oil is a complex distillation of black lotus and deadly nightshade berries that has been boiled down into a syrupy oil. So deadly is it that handling it can cause instant death to the user. The oil kills on contact or by ingestion and forces a DC 18 Constitution save. Those who fail are instantly brought to 0 hit points. Those who succeed still suffer 28 (8d6) poison damage and find their Strength drained by 1d4 points until a long rest is completed. - [type:: Contact/Ingested] [price:: 1800gp] #### Distillate of Nightmare Distillate of nightmare is a powerful poison made from the distilled remains of slowly murdered fungus folk. The powdered remains are highly toxic to the central nervous system. Intelligent creatures exposed to the venom must make a DC 18 Constitution saving throw. Those who fail their saving throw are dead within 90 seconds as their mind is filled with an amalgam of their worst nightmares. Those who succeed in making their save suffer 14 (4d6) psychic damage to their central nervous systems and are left comatose for 2d6 hours. They awaken suffering long-term paranoia that lasts 1d10 x 10 hours. - [type:: Injury] [price:: 1000gp] #### Ghost Blossom Extract Created from the juice of a pale white flower that only blossoms at night, the poison elicits violent muscle contractions, often causing broken bones and shattered teeth. - [type:: Ingested/Injury] [price:: 200gp] [dc: 12 CON] - [primary:: 6 (2d4) poison damage] [secondary:: 6 (2d4) bludgeoning damage] #### Jellyfish Toxin This toxic venom has been reduced to a powdered form. The venom is a complete paralytic that leaves its victim in excruciating pain for 2d6 + 2 hours on a failed DC 15 Constitution saving throw. Those who make their save are weakened, suffering 1d6 points of temporary Strength damage for 2d6 + 2 hours. The victim is awake and aware the entire time, although seems to all others to be dead. The victim appears to have no pulse, and their body temperature starts to drop. A lesser restoration spell or similar ability removes its effects. The venom is most effective when ingested, as it reacts strongly with liquids such as saliva, though it can soak through a victim’s skin via sweat glands if needed. - [type:: Injury] [price:: 100gp] #### Witchbane A creation that seems to have been specially devised just to hamper arcane spellcasters, this poison is often reviled and feared by the magically enlightened. The blue jelly is often smeared upon blades wielded by assassins seeking to end the life of a wizard or sorcerer, and is quite easily identified by those familiar with the effects. Once injured by a weapon slathered in the poison, the toxin goes to work by first destroying the knowledge of the highest level spell slots remaining in the caster’s repertoire. After stripping away the most potent spells from their mind, the poison then begins to inflict damage upon the victim’s psyche. - [type:: Injury] [price:: 750gp] [dc: 15 WIS] - [primary:: Lose highest 1d4 Spell Slots] [secondary:: 4 (1d6) psychic damage]