Poison Generation.This weapon creates a mild poison that can be applied to ammunition fired. A creature hit with ammunition applied with this poison must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On failure, they take 2d6 poison damage and are poisoned. On success, they take half that damage and are not poisoned. The poison applied to ammunition lasts for 1 hour, after which it is harmless. The poison is automatically applied to the ammunition fired unless the creature attuned to this weapon spends 1 hour with a Poisoner's Kit to stop the generation.
Potent Poison. Poisons applied to ammunition fired from this bow cause the target to make the saving throw against the poison at disadvantage. In addition, it doubles the poison damage. A critical hit does not increase the amount of dice rolled for poison damage when using this weapon.
And my Arcane shot "Grasping Arrow" does poison damage. Text below:
"Grasping Arrow When this arrow strikes its target, conjuration magic creates grasping, poisonous brambles, which wrap around the target. If the arrow hits a creature, the target takes an extra 2d6 poison damage,"
So, the questions are: 1) Can 2 different poisons stack, and make something really really poisonous? 2) IS the Arcane shot considered a poison, even though the class fluff text would lead you to believe otherwise and 3) If poisons cannot stack, and the Posion amplification magic DOES interact with Grasping Arrow magic, which would take precedence? eg which poison would not take effect? Would you force your player to disable poison generation, if they wanted to use their class ability?
I would like rulings on all three questions separately, as I have a similar question about drow poison (which puts enemies to sleep) stacking and how IT would be effected by Potent poison).
Arcane shot is UA so not technically offical also in the UA it does slashing damage, not poison damage, that said it only works on arrows created specifically through "create magic arrow" that arrow ONLY lasts for that turn or it disappears. It should be noted that it's not the ARROW that is dealing damage from this, it's the "conjuration magic creating grasping, poisonous brambles."
Venomous Bow is a completely home-brewed item with no official source. However it adds the poison damage to the arrow itself.
1. I would argue that you are only allowed to have one poison active per arrow at a time so you couldn't coat an arrow in 3 different poisons and get all those effects on a hit. However in this case, the arrow is doing poison damage and then the vines created with said arrow are ALSO doing poison damage.
2. You could however argue that arcane shot is only ever supposed to be used with itself evidenced that the arrow must be used in the same turn it was created or it disappears which effectively means if it isn't shot in 6 seconds it's gone. Through normal means it would be 100% impossible to apply poison to a arcane archers "create magic arrow." You could also argue that since the arrow is made of magic itself, that you are not able to add additional effects to it.
So it would be like the arrowhead has the potent poison, hits the target, then the magic activates and the brambles come out and also poison the target because they're poison brambles. So it's like 1 hit, then 2 if it were to play out in a movie scene, but game mechanics 1 hit. Then if the thing doesn't save any of it it's double poisoned and the poison damage is doubled from the special bow, is how I read it.
basically, just because something does "poison damage" does not make it a poison. brambles are not a type of poison, even though they do poison damage.
@ Dustin You are looking at an older version of the UA, in the more recent one it's Poison damage, excerpt above, and also the arcane archer uses "mundane ammunition." If you are going to insist on answering a question different to the one I asked, at least try to have the most recent source.
The poison is automatically applied to the ammunition fired unless the creature attuned to this weapon spends 1 hour with a Poisoner's Kit to stop the generation.
2. Through normal means it would be 100% impossible to apply poison to a arcane archers "create magic arrow." You could also argue that since the arrow is made of magic itself, that you are not able to add additional effects to it.
This would be a stupid argument to make if you read the apply poison rules though.
The specific rules for poison generation say it's automatically applied to ammunition fired, which would include the magic arrow.
Potent poison applies to "Poison applied to ammunition" not ammunition that magically generates new branches.
However in general I have no issue with poisons stacking. The Basic Poison readily available costs 50g to deal 1d4 on a failed con save 10. And only lasts 1 minute. So the most possible poisons you could put on your Arrow of DOOM would be 9, and it would cost you 450 gold to shoot this arrow which will do potentially 9d4 bonus damage. (realistically even a con 10 target would save vs 1/2 of them).
While you could certainly get into arguments about eventually not being able to apply more poison to a surface, I think the in game mechanics of application and all are restrictive enough that its rarely the best choice anyways.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Potent Poison. Poisons applied to ammunition fired from this bow cause the target to make the saving throw against the poison at disadvantage. In addition, it doubles the poison damage. A critical hit does not increase the amount of dice rolled for poison damage when using this weapon.
And my Arcane shot "Grasping Arrow" does poison damage. Text below:
"Grasping Arrow When this arrow strikes its target, conjuration magic creates grasping, poisonous brambles, which wrap around the target. If the arrow hits a creature, the target takes an extra 2d6 poison damage,"
So, the questions are: 1) Can 2 different poisons stack, and make something really really poisonous? 2) IS the Arcane shot considered a poison, even though the class fluff text would lead you to believe otherwise and 3) If poisons cannot stack, and the Posion amplification magic DOES interact with Grasping Arrow magic, which would take precedence? eg which poison would not take effect? Would you force your player to disable poison generation, if they wanted to use their class ability?
I would like rulings on all three questions separately, as I have a similar question about drow poison (which puts enemies to sleep) stacking and how IT would be effected by Potent poison).
Arcane shot is UA so not technically offical also in the UA it does slashing damage, not poison damage, that said it only works on arrows created specifically through "create magic arrow" that arrow ONLY lasts for that turn or it disappears. It should be noted that it's not the ARROW that is dealing damage from this, it's the "conjuration magic creating grasping, poisonous brambles."
Venomous Bow is a completely home-brewed item with no official source. However it adds the poison damage to the arrow itself.
1. I would argue that you are only allowed to have one poison active per arrow at a time so you couldn't coat an arrow in 3 different poisons and get all those effects on a hit. However in this case, the arrow is doing poison damage and then the vines created with said arrow are ALSO doing poison damage.
2. You could however argue that arcane shot is only ever supposed to be used with itself evidenced that the arrow must be used in the same turn it was created or it disappears which effectively means if it isn't shot in 6 seconds it's gone. Through normal means it would be 100% impossible to apply poison to a arcane archers "create magic arrow." You could also argue that since the arrow is made of magic itself, that you are not able to add additional effects to it.
I would probably would go with two personally.
Grasping Arrow is not a poison.
It says it makes poisonous brambles.
So it would be like the arrowhead has the potent poison, hits the target, then the magic activates and the brambles come out and also poison the target because they're poison brambles. So it's like 1 hit, then 2 if it were to play out in a movie scene, but game mechanics 1 hit. Then if the thing doesn't save any of it it's double poisoned and the poison damage is doubled from the special bow, is how I read it.
basically, just because something does "poison damage" does not make it a poison. brambles are not a type of poison, even though they do poison damage.
@ Dustin You are looking at an older version of the UA, in the more recent one it's Poison damage, excerpt above, and also the arcane archer uses "mundane ammunition." If you are going to insist on answering a question different to the one I asked, at least try to have the most recent source.
Potent poison applies to "Poison applied to ammunition" not ammunition that magically generates new branches.
However in general I have no issue with poisons stacking. The Basic Poison readily available costs 50g to deal 1d4 on a failed con save 10. And only lasts 1 minute. So the most possible poisons you could put on your Arrow of DOOM would be 9, and it would cost you 450 gold to shoot this arrow which will do potentially 9d4 bonus damage. (realistically even a con 10 target would save vs 1/2 of them).
While you could certainly get into arguments about eventually not being able to apply more poison to a surface, I think the in game mechanics of application and all are restrictive enough that its rarely the best choice anyways.