Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Poison!


I don't love Save or Die poison.  It's a bit to on off for me.  It's also not that realistic.  I often end up ad-libbing something less gnarly but more interesting.
How naming poison frogs helps fight their illegal tradeI saw this post from the Dungeons & Possums blog and got inspired(Thanks!) to make it a little more like my Death & Dismemberment table (also stolen from various blogs).
I use 2d6 instead of d10 gives a bit of a bell curve.  Adding a column for "Damage Type" meshes well with my ruleset and allows for some heavy duty damage that is not straight HP.  If "Hit Points" are rolled along with a condition penalty, that means it applies to all rolls. 
I also changed to static damage because I figure you are already rolling a bunch, why roll all the dice just to roll again? 
Finally, I automated it (see button below) and added that to my Uncommon Tables page.
I've added this to my Spells Etc supplement to Uncommon Dungeons and I think I'll use it.
Where to go from here?  Well I just had a thought that I could add a further column of "Presents as" for entertaining descriptions: "Foams at the mouth" etc.

Random Poison Table
2d6
First Ingredient
Second Ingredient
Form
Damage type 
(if applicable)
Effect (failed save)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Hound saliva
Neon cave moss
Ettercap blood
Nux vomica buttons
Sap from a daisy
Bone dust
Demonsthumb petals
Virgin tears
Orange zest
Thryon berries
Black Lotus
Nutmeg
Witchroot oil
Duergar gin
Abyssal slime
Graveyard soil
Riversnake venom
Royal ashes
Mandrake flesh
Henbane seeds
Milkweed stems
Toad bile
Fluid
Powder
Paste
Fluid
Powder
Paste
Fluid
Powder
Paste
Fluid
Gas
Intelligence
Wisdom
Strength
Strength
Dexterity
Constitution
Constitution
Hit Points
Hit Points
Hit Points
Charisma
Euphoria (+1d bonus: rounds)
Nausea (-1 penalty: Turns)
4  damage
6  damage
Ill (-1d penalty: Days)
10 damage
Zonked (-2d penalty: Turns)
Unconscious: Turns
15 damage
Catatonia: Days
Instant death
Here's an automated version using the Meandering Banter generator.

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