I'd like to know how the following feat is received. What is good about it - and how could it be abused? Thanks!
Toxic Skin
When poisoned, your whole body is infused.
Prerequisites: Brew Potion, Improved Unarmed Strike, Craft (Alchemy) 2 ranks
Benefit: While poisoned, your successful unarmed strikes inflict the poison on the recipient of your attack provided the type of poison is contact or injury. The DC of the poison is reduced by 2 and the duration is halved.
I'd like to know how the following feat is received. What is good about it - and how could it be abused? Thanks!
Toxic Skin
When poisoned, your whole body is infused.
Prerequisites: Brew Potion, Improved Unarmed Strike, Craft (Alchemy) 2 ranks
Benefit: While poisoned, your successful unarmed strikes inflict the poison on the recipient of your attack provided the type of poison is contact or injury. The DC of the poison is reduced by 2 and the duration is halved.
don't know about abuse but as written you'd need to roll a save against every sucessful hit which is just a bunch more dice rolling every round especially on a monk which is where I'm assuming your going to use it.
and if you do use it on a monk then the feat is made useless at 11th level when you become immune to poison.
I'd like to know how the following feat is received. What is good about it - and how could it be abused? Thanks!
Toxic Skin
When poisoned, your whole body is infused.
Prerequisites: Brew Potion, Improved Unarmed Strike, Craft (Alchemy) 2 ranks
Benefit: While poisoned, your successful unarmed strikes inflict the poison on the recipient of your attack provided the type of poison is contact or injury. The DC of the poison is reduced by 2 and the duration is halved.
It's a very interesting concept. It sounds difficult to employ. Poisons are often very expensive, or at least the ones that seem like they are worth using. If you are poisoned by a creature, then attack that creature, it's probably immune to its own poison.
I guess I have a few questions. If the character is immune to poison (like a druid), is he no longer able to use the feat? If the character ends the Poisoned effect by completing the requirement to remove the poison (such as poisons that stop once the victim succeeds on a Fort save), is the character no longer able to use the feat with that poison?
I guess my initial impression is that it's a really cool idea, but difficult to use, with a fairly unlikely set of requirements that make taking it prohibitive to most players. I think it's pretty rare that a character has both Brew Potion and Improved Unarmed Strike.
What about a feat that lets a Druid use a Wild Shape daily usage to become poisonous for a limited time. Either poisonous to creatures that attack the druid, or the druid is maybe able to add poison to an otherwise non-poisonous form, as the Poison spell.
Agreed, it is an unusual feat to have. Typically (as a GM) I'd want an NPC to have it - or maybe reward it as a bonus story-based feat to a player's character. But as a player it is an intriguing feat - albeit with a whole range of problems (as are rightfully pointed out). But on the other hand it gives a value proposition to unarmed melee characters that are not monks/druids (at least at higher levels, where the immunities kick in).
I guess I have a few questions. If the character is immune to poison (like a druid), is he no longer able to use the feat? If the character ends the Poisoned effect by completing the requirement to remove the poison (such as poisons that stop once the victim succeeds on a Fort save), is the character no longer able to use the feat with that poison?
That is correct - if you're not poisoned, then the feat doesn't do anything.
don't know about abuse but as written you'd need to roll a save against every sucessful hit which is just a bunch more dice rolling every round especially on a monk which is where I'm assuming your going to use it.
Generally the GM would have to do additional rolls, and I'm fine with that.
and if you do use it on a monk then the feat is made useless at 11th level when you become immune to poison.
...
If the character is immune to poison (like a druid), is he no longer able to use the feat?
This is correct.
- I'm not suggesting the feat is perfect as a generic feat in core rules; it is rather specialized. But if somebody wants it - I feel the cost-benefit proposition is intriguing.
...though I agree that I should probably waive the Bribe Potion bit; its just a bit too much.
The save reduction by 2 is eliminated once you get a second strike in, but it's not really too bad. I think poisons in D&D are stupidly expensive anyway, especially considering how ineffective it is. Provided you keep failing your save (Voluntarily even) you can keep trying to poison til it runs out. I think the benefits and risks balance one another out nicely.
Here's a rough draft I would do it:
Toxic Fist
Your fists are embued with poison.
Prerequisites: You must survive X doses of poison as part of a ritual (See below).
Benefit: A number of times per day equal to your Constitution modifier, you can employ a contact poison to any target you just hit with an unarmed strike. The contact poison is of the same type of poison you survived during your ritual.
Special: You must survive a special ritual which imbies your body with the poison. You must willingly fail X amount of saves against a contact poison of your choice, and you must survive.
Or you could make it an Alchemical item
Toxic Fist: You may inject yourself with this item as a standard action. Your body becomes infused with a type of contact poison (added to the cost of the Toxic Fist). The special alchemincal mix makes you immune to the poison from the toxic fist (but if you are subjected to the same type of poison from another source, you are not immune unless you have some other ability which grants immunity). The poison remains in your system for 10 rounds. During that time, you may attempt to apply the contact poison to any target you touch or struck with an unarmed strike. Your body contains three doses of the contact poison. If you take more than one dose of Toxic Fist in a 24 hour period you become nauseated.
Or, here's a cool cestus:
Toxic Fist Cestus
The toxic fist cestus is a special cestus that has several small glass vials located near the knuckles. Whenever you make a successful unarmed strike using the cestus, you can break one of the glass vials and inflict the poison on the target you just hit. Each Toxic Fist Cestus has three glass vials. It costs 1gp to replace glass vial, plus the cost of the poison.
Just a few thoughts.
but i can really see the whole ritual thing as part of a cabal of monks who worship a snake god (like SET?)