False tooth item?


Rules Questions


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

A friend of mine asked me if there are rules anywhere for a "false tooth," which could contain a single dose of a poison/potion or something like that.

I checked several books and can't find one, but I wanted to ask if maybe someone else has seen such an item somewhere.


poisoner Alchemist with points in Craft: Dentistry

EDIT: or maybe that's a profession? Craft: enamel?


It would have to be a big tooth to hold an ounce of liquid for a potion. Maybe an ogre's tusk?

No, I don't know of any rule for that.

You could make one, but it wouldn't make much sense unless it was a magic item (it magically holds an ounce even though it's as small as a tooth). If you make it just a mundane fake tooth, you might then need a special alchemy process (maybe DC = 15+CL of the potion) that takes a 1 oz. potion and boils it down to just a few grams to hold in your hollow tooth.


I don't know of anything specific, but calling it a masterwork tool that gives +2 to sleight of hand to hide a single dose of poison would work out pretty well.


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Profession: Suk Doctor
Alchemist archetype: Dr. Yueh
Must say "Remember the TOOOTH....THE TOOOTH"


DM_Blake is correct that a potion wouldn't really work in a false tooth, but poison is, as far as I am aware, just an unspecified 'dose' and most poisons would probably be far less than an ounce for a dose.


Poison (in our real world) is usually a very small dose, sometimes measured in just grains or milliliters. So void space of a hollow tooth I would think works just fine for amount.

I would think that Craft (ceramics) would work just fine, real problem is you likely have to yank the bugger out and then apply the dose unless you have a bite attack and a way to trigger the release that way, seems to me poison use is a must. (you have deadly poison in your mouth!)

Getting punched hard in the face could release the poison at exactly the wrong time. (at least I would rule this as GM, just makes sense to me)


makes sense to me


GM_Beernorg wrote:
Getting punched hard in the face could release the poison at exactly the wrong time. (at least I would rule this as GM, just makes sense to me)

It makes some sense, but the rules often don't and usually this level of detail is glossed over.

I would definitely have getting the poison out of the tooth be subject to the standard 5% chance of poisoning yourself, and probably also have that check have to be make when putting the tooth in too.

I would assume you would actually have a missing tooth for this to work. I would just include the cost of extracting a tooth and putting in the false one, with a removable cap as part of the masterwork cost.

Availability and legality would be similar to that of a common poison.

Something that gave, or used, a bit attack to deliver poison would be considerably different than something designed to smuggle a poison in somewhere, but it doesn't seem to me to be what the OP wanted. A 'crushable' tooth designed for a suicide poison could work with the same mechanics though.


GM_Beernorg wrote:
Getting punched hard in the face could release the poison at exactly the wrong time. (at least I would rule this as GM, just makes sense to me)

Call that the fluff (flavor text) for your chance of accidentally poisoning yourself. If you have a class ability that says you never do, then you've learned how to prevent a face-punch from breaking your toxic tooth.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Thanks to everyone for kicking around ideas. Since there doesn't seem to be any Pathfinder rules for this, I'll go back and check some 3.5 resources.

The tooth is out there!


Alzrius wrote:

Thanks to everyone for kicking around ideas. Since there doesn't seem to be any Pathfinder rules for this, I'll go back and check some 3.5 resources.

The tooth is out there!

Check the 3.5 book, Complete Adventurer.


Complete Adventurer has alchemical capsules that can be disguised as teeth. Cost is 300g plus contents.

Alchemical Tooth:
Those relying on secrecy in the use of their alchemical capsules turn instead to the alchemical tooth. As its name suggests, this specially concealed item has been made to look like a tooth. The tooth functions in all respects like a capsule retainer (see above).
In addition, it is very hard to find without a thorough search (Search DC 30). The false tooth is most often used as a concealed version of a capsule retainer, but a few extremely dedicated spies and other agents carry a tooth filled with poison as insurance against being captured alive. An alchemical tooth can hold one dose of any contact poison or ingested poison, but such poison can only affect the wearer of the tooth—there’s no way to make the tooth an effective delivery mechanism when combined with a bite attack.


Would a false tooth be a masterwork item for sleight of hand?

Sleight of hand is the skill for hiding small objects on your person, when you think about it. So it would apply to this situation.

With that thought process in mind, it becomes fairly simple to make the item just by using the general masterwork tool entry found in core and ultimate equipment. Perhaps have the tooth as part of a kit along with false pockets and the like.

And it fits with the use of that entry- it is an item useful for only certain aspects of the skill (hiding objects on your body). So just let it give a simple +2.

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