Drinking Sovereign Glue


Rules Questions


I'm asking this on behalf of my DM; one of my fellow players in my current campaign wants to carry out a political assassination by giving an antagonist character a glass of sovereign glue and using prestidigitation to cover up the smell and taste.

Now, the DM has ruled that the glue wouldn't set in her throat because it requires a full round to set and it takes only about a second for liquid to travel to the stomach, but he's unsure about whether or not it would set in the stomach.

Anyway, we were curious as to whether or not anyone else had come across this scenario before and what their rulings on it were.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Designer

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Normally I suggest that rules questions for the RPG be moved out of the card game rules forum, but in this case I actually want to know the answer.


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FormerFiend wrote:

I'm asking this on behalf of my DM; one of my fellow players in my current campaign wants to carry out a political assassination by giving an antagonist character a glass of sovereign glue and using prestidigitation to cover up the smell and taste.

Now, the DM has ruled that the glue wouldn't set in her throat because it requires a full round to set and it takes only about a second for liquid to travel to the stomach, but he's unsure about whether or not it would set in the stomach.

Anyway, we were curious as to whether or not anyone else had come across this scenario before and what their rulings on it were.

I'm pretty sure there is no rules precedent here, so let's take a run at it.


  • I reckon sovereign glue works better than pretty much any glue I've encountered in real life;
  • you can stick your fingers together almost immediately with super glue;
  • you really have no way to pry things apart in your mouth and throat (never mind that pound for pound the tongue is one of the strongest muscles in the human body);

On the face of it, the plan is at least vaguely plausible. I wouldn't rule it out immediately.

Let's see mechanically.


  • sovereign glue is 2,400 gp per dose.
  • "burnt uthar fumes" is 2,100 gp per dose.
  • "hemlock" is 2,500 gp per dose.

Both poisoned mentioned are pretty vicious.

I'd be willing to treat this as an ingested poison that can cause suffocation. Conveniently both named poisons have a save DC of 18 and six units of effect (rounds for burnt uthar fumes, minutes for hemlock).

How about:

Sovereign Glue: Ingested poison, Fort save DC 18, frequency 1/round indefinitely, cure two saves.

Two saves means you've cleared your pipes well enough, but if not you're suffocating unless and until you can (or until you die). This is a bit harsher than normal, so let's add a Reflex save (for free) at the start to spit it out before real complications.


I don't see this as a poison. I see this as a way for the body to be unable to utilize food and drink further. The target's organs would cannibalize themselves if not nourished. And there would be no way for the target to know - for certain - what had happened. No detect poison will work ... only detect magic and identify.


Sovereign glue is not specified to be immune to acid, and as it would take a full round to set, sets only inside the stomach, where it would be dissolved.

Scarab Sages

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Ipslore the Red wrote:
Sovereign glue is not specified to be immune to acid, and as it would take a full round to set, sets only inside the stomach, where it would be dissolved.

It is specified that the only way to dissolve the bond is through universal solvent so I think that trumps it not specifying it being immune to acid.

Drinking Sovereign Glue should be a death sentence.

I think the main issue arises from allowing prestidigitation to disguise the smell, taste, flavour and viscosity of Sovereign Glue which I feel is outside the bounds of the cantrip.


The worst part is, if they cast revive on the body the victim will just die again, unless they make a new body.


Broadhand wrote:
I don't see this as a poison. I see this as a way for the body to be unable to utilize food and drink further. The target's organs would cannibalize themselves if not nourished. And there would be no way for the target to know - for certain - what had happened. No detect poison will work ... only detect magic and identify.

I read your post expecting to post the opposite, but I surprised myself after some research and I agree. Regular glue has ubiquitous toxicity labels minus nontoxic Elmers. However, that's usually fumes. Swallowing glue does cause intense nausea and pain, in addition to the aforementioned blockages.

I would rule a Heal check to identify the ailment though, because it's not as if an intestinal or stomach blockage is unheard of. I agree that they would not have a visible cue identifying it as sovereign glue short of an autopsy or standard divination.


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minoritarian wrote:
Ipslore the Red wrote:
Sovereign glue is not specified to be immune to acid, and as it would take a full round to set, sets only inside the stomach, where it would be dissolved.

It is specified that the only way to dissolve the bond is through universal solvent so I think that trumps it not specifying it being immune to acid.

Drinking Sovereign Glue should be a death sentence.

I think the main issue arises from allowing prestidigitation to disguise the smell, taste, flavour and viscosity of Sovereign Glue which I feel is outside the bounds of the cantrip.

Don't be silly. You're supposed to use common sense when adjudicating the rules, and your "interpretation" would lead to it not being destroyed if you chucked it into the sun. The glue is by no means invulnerable.


Well, this prompted a google search.

Doesn't look like many people have experience swallowing super glue!

From a game perspective, I have always felt the cantrip "prestidigitation" was the ultimate fluff cantrip.

Want to walk into a tavern and have your ale swirl up to your lips from the cup like it was going through a crazy straw? Prestidigitation is your spell.

However, I have always felt the extensive wording of the spell could be summarized to mean "You can do cute, crazy, interesting and useful things with this spell, but it is strictly RP and flavor only. No game benefit can really be used with this spell."

So I don't agree with Prestidigitation being able to disguise the glue as something edible. I can't think of a spell off the top of my head, but I'd let the player get some alchemical item or magic scroll that could give them the effect they wanted.

The next issue is a glass of sovereign glue would be difficult to get a person to drink. The NPC would need to drink the glass of glue within six seconds, because once the glue is exposed to air, it begins setting. In according to the description, it is so sticky that if you do not nearly immediately pour salve of slipperiness into the bottle after pouring some glue, then the glue sets on the side of the bottle!

So, if the player does get the NPC to drink within 6 seconds, it could work, but it would be set within 6 seconds of air exposure, not just after it has been drunk.

Actually, this seems like the perfect use of the Suggestion spell. "Hey, take a drink of this fine amber whisky flask I have."

As for the solution of what would happen once the glue has actually been drunk,

I really like that solution kjdavies presented. It's DC is on par with other instant death poisons, and if you wanted to add a digestive secondary component in the longer term, that may not be a bad idea.


Actually, if you lined the glass with wax, sovereign glue would not stick to it. That's why chemistry sets used to have wax-lined tubes and such -- acids don't burn wax, and adhesives don't stick to it.


Believe it or not, there are no rules for drinking sovereign glue, so whatever happens, I can't think of any subject more deserving to be on the advice forums than this.


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There are no rules for this. It is more of an "advice" question. The NPC should get a sense motive check to detect deception however. Glue however has a certain consistency to it, so even if it smelled and looked like ___, it should feel different. so they are unlikely to drink the entire bottle. However even drinking some of it should cause a problem. What that problem is, I don't know.


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You pour sovereign glue into a tankard/other drink vessel - 6 seconds later the vessel is full of hardened glue. It's far too volatile to last long enough for someone to ingest it. Even if you line the vessel with salve of slipperiness the top is exposed and immediately sets.

Regarding an earlier post about cost effectiveness: Sovereign glue vials contain 1 to 7 ounces; assuming max that's still 3-5 vials to fill a wineglass/beermug so the actual cost per assassination would be in the 6-10 thousand gold range minimum with sovereign glue.

There's also the magical nature of the glue to consider The glue takes 1 round to set. If the objects are pulled apart (a move action) before that time has elapsed, that application of the glue loses its stickiness and is worthless. Since your stomach (the place it sets) is large enough that a mouthful or two of glue (at a time) will not fill it completely there are no two opposing materials for the glue to bind to so the magics involved dissipate and you're left with the base (non sticky) components used to make it.


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"Here, duchess, a toast to... uh, can you drink this, like, really quickly? Please?"

Silver Crusade Contributor

A reminder to the would-be assassins about beguiling gift and mislabeled flasks. Silent Spell and Still Spell and/or a ring of spell storing (or a cracked purple ioun stone, depending on availability) may be required, depending on how public the event will be.

"Here, milady... a fortifying libation."


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Your stomach could be full of other substances like beer or chicken. Not to mention stomach acid. There is plenty materials to dilute the glue and or for the glue to stick to. Mucus effectively protecting the lineing of your stomach and pretty much your entire digestive tract.

So I would rule no death from adhesion. It might be hard to pass the solidifed chunk of glue though. ;)


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I'd support the "it solidifies in the stomach" approach. Equating stomach acid to the sun is a bit silly—if I can't dissolve sovereign glue with the normal acid I buy at the alchemist's shop, I'm pretty sure the ol' aminosCRITICALSCIENCEFAILURE stomach acids ain't gonna do the trick.


Ooh, I did find something really key, though. By accident.

Salve of Slipperiness wrote:
Salve of slipperiness is needed to coat the inside of a container meant to hold sovereign glue.
Sovereign Glue wrote:
Because of its particular powers, it can be contained only in a flask whose inside has been coated with 1 ounce of salve of slipperiness, and each time any of the bonding agent is poured from the flask, a new application of the salve of slipperiness must be put in the flask within 1 round to prevent the remaining glue from adhering to the side of the container

So unless you're serving exactly one ounce, and the target drinks exactly that, it's gonna be found out pretty quickly.

Personally, I would let prestidigitation disguise a single quality—taste, texture, appearance. It's not supposed to be a totally RP spell, after all—there's a reason it allows a save. If I were to try this, I'd say it's honey (colors are similar), disguise the taste, and then wait for the king to get a sore throat.

Also, for reference:

Sovereign Glue wrote:
The glue takes 1 round to set. If the objects are pulled apart (a move action) before that time has elapsed, that application of the glue loses its stickiness and is worthless. If the glue is allowed to set, then attempting to separate the two bonded objects has no effect, except when universal solvent is applied to the bond. Sovereign glue is dissolved by universal solvent.

Acid, fire, and any sort of attack that isn't physically separating them is not referenced. I would conclude that sovereign glue simply is not vulnerable to anything except the solvent. Or a dispel magic.


Now... Done as a torture or threat in an interrogation...


Well, I suppose that, with prestigitation to hide the taste and the smell, and assuming other measures will be taken to make it looks like any other drink in every way, I think it wouldn't kill her if she drank the whole glass, it would just glue he mouth and the insides of her stomach, she would feel very unconfortable, trying to throw up but unable, but that would not kill her since she's not bleeding, it's not stoping her blood from circulating and she can steel breath through her nose. They would probably just take her to her room where the royal wizard would try to dispell it, place her under an antimagic shell, or find out what it was and give her a solvent.

Also, she could even just take a small sip first to taste the drink and that could be enough to just glue her mouth, AND she could even have a food taster to check if it's not poisoned, since they live in a world full of invisible magic evil beings.

Just thinking this may not be the best assassination method. Stake through the heart does the job.

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