Poison and Sedatives

The DMG provides detailed rules on poison types and effects. The following rules add several types of non-lethal poisons, introduce poison gases, and describe some poison antidotes.

Sedatives are ingested poisons that disable, rather than injure, a character. A sedative can be administered in food or drink, with different rates and effects:

Method	Onset	Weakness	Duration
Eaten	4-40	1-6	2-12
	min.	min.	hours
Drunk	2-12	1-6	1-4
	min.	min.	hours

Sedatives are treated as regular poisons, except that their first effect is a period of weakness when all ability scores and the character's movement rate are reduced to half. This lasts 1d6 rounds, after which the character saves vs. poison. Failure renders him unconscious. Success means that the weakness lasts for another hour. The character then saves each hour, with the weakness remaining until a successful save is made.

Poison Gases are rare, expensive, and highly dangerous. A typical dose is a clay or glass jar weighing 5 pounds. If the jar is shattered or opened, gas fills a 10' x 10' x 10' cube. It disperses after one round unless contained on all sides. The gas lasts for 2d6 turns in an enclosed room; 2d6 rounds in a room with at least one open door, window, arrow slit, etc.

It might be possible for creative players to create larger doses of poison gas, but such lethal devices are left to the DM's discretion.

Poison gases generally have the effects of poison type D, taking effect after one or two minutes, inflicting 30 points of damage (2d6 with a successful save). The damage is inflicted each turn the character breathes the gas.

An extremely lethal poison gas is reputed to exist, similar to poison type J (onset in 1d4 minutes, causes death or 20 points of damage with save).

Unlike injected or ingested poisons, however, poison gas does not remain in a character's system after death. Thus, attempts to raise characters who have perished this way do not have to contend with the venom in the character's system.

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