I have DMed for a while. But I havn't seen any rules reguarding sleep poisons and elves. I do know eveves are resistant to sleep magic, but it doesn't say anything vs poison. Now the Drow are nortorious for poisons, would they not have made some poisons just to use against their cousins? Plus Pinies and other fey creatures use sleep poisons, because they are fey, they must work against other fey or why would they use them? Opinion please.
I think it's up the DM whether or not a poison is magical. If I were to rule by RAW, I would say non-magical poisons are capable of putting elves to sleep. That's only if I were ruling by RAW though; I personally rule that elves do not sleep, period. That introduces a fine line between "being knocked unconscious" (which can happen to elves) and "being put to sleep (which cannot), but a tabletop game is always going to come down to what a GM feels is appropriate in the moment, so it's not a big issue for me.
The rules would be up to DM. But I would rule the poisons are not magical in nature. Also, drow and sprites don't intend to use it on elves/fey. Drow will have little interaction with other elves, their poison is for other denizens of the underdark. Fey intend to put non-fey intruders to sleep, be it as a prank or for self defense.
I think poison is not magical, it is a physically made substance by an artisan. But then again I think that the rules are souly up to the DM so you can make the decision.
I think poison is not magical, it is a physically made substance by an artisan. But then again I think that the rules are souly up to the DM so you can make the decision.
Poison in general, sure, absolutely. But that doesn't preclude the existence of magical poisons.
I have DMed for a while. But I havn't seen any rules reguarding sleep poisons and elves. I do know eveves are resistant to sleep magic, but it doesn't say anything vs poison. Now the Drow are nortorious for poisons, would they not have made some poisons just to use against their cousins? Plus Pinies and other fey creatures use sleep poisons, because they are fey, they must work against other fey or why would they use them? Opinion please.
This is absolutely possible, and confirmed by Jeremy Crawford:
Edit: Maybe not sleep directly, but unconscious. Edit 2: This is an even better source, which references the above, but also clarifies that dragon's breath (for example) is not magical:
I realize I am pretty late to this convo, but the adventure, Storm King’s Thunder states (on page 169) that elves are immune to the sleep-inducing effects of Yakfolk poison, but not to the other effects that it has. It also states that due to the immunity to the sleep effects of it, they do not fall unconscious.
I realize I am pretty late to this convo, but the adventure, Storm King’s Thunder states (on page 169) that elves are immune to the sleep-inducing effects of Yakfolk poison, but not to the other effects that it has. It also states that due to the immunity to the sleep effects of it, they do not fall unconscious.
Good find. However, after re-reading the Tweet from Jeremy Crawford again, I would argue this 'Yakfolk poison' falls under the "unless its description says otherwise" portion of his response:
"Nonmagical sleep gas/poison/etc. can knock an elf unconscious, unless its description says otherwise."
The way I understand it, fey are naturally resistant to certain types of magic, which happens to include sleep magic, and as elves share ancestry with fey, they too are resistant to sleep magic. However, magical resistance doesn't alter their biology, so poisons made specifically for elves would work on them, as one would expect. You might be able to extend that to certain poisons made to affect fey and known toxins that affect all humanoids without resistance.
Nothing in the rules says that elves are naturally resistant to poison. That does not mean that they can not become resistant as certain classes give poison resistance or immunity, for example, but generally, no.
A rule I live by is, if it doesn't say it in the book, it doesn't happen, at least not officially. We can, of course, homebrew anything we want.
Generally, though, I'd say that elves can be poisoned just as easily as anyone else.
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I have DMed for a while. But I havn't seen any rules reguarding sleep poisons and elves. I do know eveves are resistant to sleep magic, but it doesn't say anything vs poison. Now the Drow are nortorious for poisons, would they not have made some poisons just to use against their cousins? Plus Pinies and other fey creatures use sleep poisons, because they are fey, they must work against other fey or why would they use them? Opinion please.
I think it's up the DM whether or not a poison is magical. If I were to rule by RAW, I would say non-magical poisons are capable of putting elves to sleep. That's only if I were ruling by RAW though; I personally rule that elves do not sleep, period. That introduces a fine line between "being knocked unconscious" (which can happen to elves) and "being put to sleep (which cannot), but a tabletop game is always going to come down to what a GM feels is appropriate in the moment, so it's not a big issue for me.
The rules would be up to DM. But I would rule the poisons are not magical in nature. Also, drow and sprites don't intend to use it on elves/fey. Drow will have little interaction with other elves, their poison is for other denizens of the underdark. Fey intend to put non-fey intruders to sleep, be it as a prank or for self defense.
I think poison is not magical, it is a physically made substance by an artisan. But then again I think that the rules are souly up to the DM so you can make the decision.
"A Jack Of All Trades is a master of none"
'That's why I hate Bards'
Poison in general, sure, absolutely. But that doesn't preclude the existence of magical poisons.
This is absolutely possible, and confirmed by Jeremy Crawford:
Can elves be put to sleep in ways such as Brass Dragon? (Tweet)
Edit: Maybe not sleep directly, but unconscious.
Edit 2: This is an even better source, which references the above, but also clarifies that dragon's breath (for example) is not magical:
Fey Ancestry says “Magic can't put you to sleep” and Brass Dragon has the ability to “exhales sleep gas”. Does the breath weapon affect elves?
I realize I am pretty late to this convo, but the adventure, Storm King’s Thunder states (on page 169) that elves are immune to the sleep-inducing effects of Yakfolk poison, but not to the other effects that it has. It also states that due to the immunity to the sleep effects of it, they do not fall unconscious.
Good find. However, after re-reading the Tweet from Jeremy Crawford again, I would argue this 'Yakfolk poison' falls under the "unless its description says otherwise" portion of his response:
"Nonmagical sleep gas/poison/etc. can knock an elf unconscious, unless its description says otherwise."
The way I understand it, fey are naturally resistant to certain types of magic, which happens to include sleep magic, and as elves share ancestry with fey, they too are resistant to sleep magic. However, magical resistance doesn't alter their biology, so poisons made specifically for elves would work on them, as one would expect. You might be able to extend that to certain poisons made to affect fey and known toxins that affect all humanoids without resistance.
Nothing in the rules says that elves are naturally resistant to poison. That does not mean that they can not become resistant as certain classes give poison resistance or immunity, for example, but generally, no.
A rule I live by is, if it doesn't say it in the book, it doesn't happen, at least not officially. We can, of course, homebrew anything we want.
Generally, though, I'd say that elves can be poisoned just as easily as anyone else.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.