Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 n0nym Aug 26, 2015 4:55:56	Hi everybody,   I'm currently running a 5th edition Dark Sun game and we're having a blast, but as my players just reached level 6 and one of them is a rogue, a problem has arisen : he wants to coat his weapons with poison.   I went through a lot of threads on the topic and it seems that things are not really clear.   Some people claim that poison in 5th edition functions this way : you buy a dose, you coat your weapon and it applies an on-hit effect for 1 minute. Considering the cost of poison, they think it's fair. My problem with this interpretation lies in the fact that a warrior coating his longsword with Purple Worm Poison could reasonnably kill *anything* in the game that isn't immune to poison in a single round, which is crazy.   Traditionnally in D&D, poison has always been a one-hit thing and the Dagger of Venom, a magic item, seems to confirm this since it only applies to the first hit done with the weapon.   How I see it, the "one minute" thing only means that the poison evaporates after one minute, not that it applies to all hits during a whole minute.   The question is : how is poison supposed to really work ? Is there a RAW / Errata or just a RAI based on the perception that poison is so expensive that it must apply to all attacks for 1 minute ?
#2 WorBlade Aug 26, 2015 12:53:39	The poison info I can find in the DMg is on page 257-258. The entry for Inury type says only that a slashing or piercing weapon must be used and a target taking injury is subject to the poison effect. Nothing about a one minute duration. The other three poison types seem to be one dose, one effect. If you want to keep poison in line in your campaign no reason why not to assume the same for injury types - only works on one hit. If the players complain, point out that it works both ways. enemies using poison against them don't get multiple hits with the same poison either.
#3 daspian Aug 26, 2015 15:24:04	not only is their information about more advanced forms of poison in the DMG as Warblade said, but if you read the "Basic Poison" in the PHb it says that this poison retains potency for 1 minute on the blade before drying, i use this as a reference for all my poisons saying that all poisons that you coat on a weapon last for 1 minute (although maybe other poisons such as those that require ingestion or inhalation last for much much longer)   as for your other question ... should you only let them get 1-hit use, or as many hits as they want during that 1 minute poisoning? well i'd say Warblade is right, it's not that bad if you only wnat it to be used for 1-hit... but it's also not insanely game-breaking for the other way either, as assassins; while incredibly great w/o the need of poison, are greatly enhanced with poison at later levels and need it to get an edge over other classes, so through this method you could implement a way to "boost" any players playing an assassin or rogue type character who relies on poison (even rangers who coat their arrows).   but then again it can be used against them too, maybe throw assassins at them who use poisons and apply that same rule to the monsters and show how dangerous it can be when they are on the other end! it all depends on how you use poisons in your campaign.
#4 n0nym Aug 26, 2015 15:46:57	I understood the "poison retains potency for 1 minute before drying" as "if you don't use within 1 minute, it dries out", or as the Dagger of Venom formulates it "the poison remains for 1 minute or until an attack [...] hits a creature".   Anyway, thanks for your answers. After thinking about it a bit more, I realised 5th edition poison rules were not made for my game. I'll have to borrow rules from another system or tweak them a lot.