|
I am currently running a campaign with a player which is playing a Rogue/Assassin who uses Drow Poison. Due to the cheap nature of this poison he has good size stock of the poison. After some thinking and forum searching I have found the following rules concerning Drow Poison.
1) Drow poison is nonmagical sleep.
2) A creature who is asleep takes a -10 to perception checks.
3) The perception check to notice the sound of combat is DC -10.
So, for a creature who is put to sleep during combat the DC to notice combat and wake up is 0. This means that for any reasonable situation the check is an auto success. There are additional modifiers which could make the DC difficult enough that the creature might fail (for example an archer which is 50 feet away from the main combat would have DC 5...).
I am planning on ruling that the sleeping creature gets a perception check on its turn each round vs DC 0 (other modifiers may apply) to wake up and act normally during combat. In addition, the sleeping creature will wake up immediately if it takes any damage and the DC to perceive combat will get easier if they are physically moved or affected by spells and such. Now, it is worth noting that when the creature falls asleep they drop prone, are considered helpless, and drop any held items. Also, if used out of combat the creature can be incapacitated for an extended period.
Are there any other rules which I should apply to this situation. I am still a bit worried about the rogue knocking people out and the fighter following the rogue around with has dwarven waraxe using coup de grace to one round kill most anything. I may just rule that they drop prone, but immediately get a perception to wake up and are not helpless if they make the check.
Thanks in advance for the help!
Pathfinder SRD says drow poison causes unconsciousness, witch is very hard to get rid of. Basically I would say that one would have to use Neutralize Poison spell.
I don't think 75Gp/shot is particularly cheap. It also needs to hit & failed (easy) save. Compared to witches slumber hex (or many, many spells), I think you are on the easy street. I would let the Assasin have his moments against enemies that are affected by poison (many are not).
1) Drow poison is nonmagical sleep.
No. Drow poison is unconsciousness. Nothing that doesn't specifically cure poison or unconsciousness will cause the creature to "wake up" once affected.
It's essentially a save-or-die effect.
1) Drow poison is nonmagical sleep.No. Drow poison is unconsciousness. Nothing that doesn't specifically cure poison or unconsciousness will cause the creature to "wake up" once affected.
It's essentially a save-or-die effect.
With a DC 11 save. Which means even if someone somehow has it at level 1, there's only a 50% chance of it working. At higher levels? It's just wasted gold.
Let 'em have their fun. Soon enough they won't be able to.
1) Drow poison is nonmagical sleep.No. Drow poison is unconsciousness. Nothing that doesn't specifically cure poison or unconsciousness will cause the creature to "wake up" once affected.
It's essentially a save-or-die effect.
With a DC 11 save. Which means even if someone somehow has it at level 1, there's only a 50% chance of it working. At higher levels? It's just wasted gold.
Let 'em have their fun. Soon enough they won't be able to.
The DC 11 save is the problem on the poison. This is, however, easily fixed with an Alchemist that has Concentrate Poison and/or Sticky Poison, which I generally consider to be better than an Assassin for this sort of thing, anyway. Spend a little extra and take a few minutes to turn that poison into something monstrous before you attack. :-)
|
|
Thanks for pointing out the save or die aspect. The rule was misread by my player and I didn't follow up. It is actually not as bad as I thought. The actual rule is a DC 13 Fort Save, frequency 1/minute for 2 minutes, initial effect is unconscious for 1 minute and secondary effect is unconscious for 2d4 hours. This is much more reasonable. Thanks for pointing that out.