Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Can a bludgeon weapon administer poison?
Or do I need something like a pierce or slash weapon?
The description of "poison, basic" says that it requires the coated weapon to do piercing or slashing damage to take effect.
Other poisons will presumably list their requirements.
If in doubt, ask your DM.
In addition to what jl8e said, most Poison of Injury type in the Dungeon Master Guide also mention creature that takes Piercing or Slashing damage from an object coated with the poison is exposed to its effects.
off hand the only one i can think of is cunning strike poison on a rogues sneak attack and the sling, if there is a finesse bludgeoning weapon other than that it would work as well. I wish sneak attack wasn't so restricted not getting a blunt melee for like a sap like sneak attack is kind of sad.
There are Contact poisons in the DMG that could be applied to bludgeoning weapons.
When we refer to poison administered by weapon damage, i take that it doesn't involve other contact or poison effect that doesn't require it specifically.
A creature doesn't need to takes damage from an object coated with Contact poison to be exposed to its effects, it only need to be touched or washed off.
The Poison effect of Cunning Strike doesn't need to be administered to a weapon beforehand, you add toxin to your strike when dealing Sneak Attack, and the effect occurs immediately after the attack's damage.
The problem with contact poisons is it needs to touch exposed skin, which sure if you are fighting loincloth barbarian guy can probably be assumed on a hit, but most people are fully clothed so a bludgeoning hit would just be smearing it on their armor/clothing. i do not think it is intended to be used with weapons at all because of that and D&D is not really a hit location game. its on door knobs or other places they expect non gloved people to touch.
imo, only injury poisons are meant to be put on weapons, and those require slashing/piercing.
The Poisoner feat also has no requirements on the Damage Type. As such, it works on any weapon. A club, an Artificier's Dreadnaught Armor Force Demolisher, or even a Trebuchet.
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Charisma Saving Throw: DC 18, Failure: 20d6 Psychic Damage, Success: Half damage
Nice catch! :)
Does it still need to use a weapon?
Hello! Call me Tana
My pronouns are She/Her
I have Autism. And, you would probably call me Trans Femme, Pansexual pancake, and Ace
I will always support you. To the best of my ability. Because that is my way of showing how much I care
Current Dice Code: [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] = [roll][roll:-6]+[roll:-5]+[roll:-4]+[roll:-3]+[roll:-2]+[roll:-1][/roll]
Current List of Children: Golden, Salem, Wes, Aspen, Link, and Foalin.
It needs to be a weapon or a piece of ammunition.
pronouns: he/she/they
Then you wouldn't be able to unarmed strike with poison, still
Hello! Call me Tana
My pronouns are She/Her
I have Autism. And, you would probably call me Trans Femme, Pansexual pancake, and Ace
I will always support you. To the best of my ability. Because that is my way of showing how much I care
Current Dice Code: [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] = [roll][roll:-6]+[roll:-5]+[roll:-4]+[roll:-3]+[roll:-2]+[roll:-1][/roll]
Current List of Children: Golden, Salem, Wes, Aspen, Link, and Foalin.
I like the idea of some poor grunt taking the full impact from a large boulder being hurled at 50 m/s by a trebuchet, somehow shaking it off, only to be like "Oh, no! I'm poisoned!"
Lol
Hello! Call me Tana
My pronouns are She/Her
I have Autism. And, you would probably call me Trans Femme, Pansexual pancake, and Ace
I will always support you. To the best of my ability. Because that is my way of showing how much I care
Current Dice Code: [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] + [roll]1d4[/roll] = [roll][roll:-6]+[roll:-5]+[roll:-4]+[roll:-3]+[roll:-2]+[roll:-1][/roll]
Current List of Children: Golden, Salem, Wes, Aspen, Link, and Foalin.
Stands to reason injury poison only affects creatures with whose bloodstream it comes into contact, therefore, if a creature is hit with a poisoned anything somewhere where there is an open wound or they are otherwise susceptible to the poison, it would deal damage, however, since unless a creature is literally covered in open wounds, which is unlikely, it would be as easy to hit a wound as the whole creature, it would be a good idea to give the creature a metaphorical +2 "wound AC" which means that the creature is only affected by the poison if the attack hits within that AC with a hit to the normal AC but not the wound AC hitting normally instead, and since the wounds are harder to get to in the beginning of a fight, you could make the bonus ac higher or just +30 for creatures that did not take any slashing damage that was left unhealed, because their skin is unbroken and does not provide hold for the poison. One exception: hits that break bones and crits should carry the poison, because they cause the flesh to tear and come into contact with the bloodstream in their own way. Essentially: yes, it would make sense to make it possible to poison people with blunt weapons, but it would become irrationally complicated.
As far as unarmed strikes are concerned, it would work pretty much the same, but I suggest using a glove, as a cut or wound to a hand slathered in injury poison would cause the person who applied it to themselves to suffer its effects.
For contact poisons, I don't see why a poison applied to an immobile surface would work any better or worse than poison that is applied to a mobile surface and swung at your face, for circumstantial purposes, injury works when in contact with a creature's cardiovascular system, an inhaled one with its respiratory system, an ingested one with its digestive system and a contact poison being absorbed into all tissue and therefore being interchangeable with the other non-airborne ones.
These, of course are flavor rules, and are homebrew as far as I know.
I would advise against delivering poisons, particularly contact poisons, with unarmed strikes...
I am sure there is fun to be had with Improvised Weapons though, particularly with Tavern Brawler.
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My houserulings.
Random thought. Not something I'd allow in my games, but Injury says:
RAW, could you apply, for example, the Serpent Venom poison multiple times to the same weapon? Or is there any rule I'm missing?