Posioner's Kit
I
can make poison. I can smear it on my blades, slip it
into someone’s food, or get someone to inhale it. I can
do this because I have a poisoner’s kit, and my DM is
nice enough to let me make more than the Basic
Poison. —Ara, Elvish Assassin and Player Character
Homebrewing Poisons
There isn't too much said about the use of a poisoner's kit in
the Player's Handbook. It states that the kit contains the
ingredients needed to make Basic Poison. It doesn't say how
much poison can be made with the kit, or what the DC is to
make Basic Poison.
The DM's Guide does state that it is up the DM's discretion
to allow characters to make other poisons with the poisoner's
kit, but still contains no additional information on how to
create them, other than rules on extracting venom to use as
poisons.
The following guide to the poisoner's kit should help DM
and player alike in the use of the kit.
The Kit
The kit itself, newly purchased for 50 GP, contains enough
supplies to make 4 doses of basic poison. Once you’ve made
4 doses, you need to resupply your kit. Each dose requires 10
gp in materials. The most your kit can hold is enough for 10
doses. If you need more material, you’ll have to put it
elsewhere. Not in the kit.
While the kit can be as basic as a small wooden box with
spaces for vials and tools, it can also be elaborate and artisan.
Many posioners may want to disguise their kit as something
else, such as a jewelry or trinket box with hidden
compartments and tools.
Being discovered with a poisoner's kit will likely be
frowned upon by most of society. At best, a character found
with such a kit will be treated with extreme suspicion, and
any unexplained deaths in the area may be blamed on the
character. At worst, there may be local laws that require the
immediate arrest of someone with such a kit at their disposal.
The Poisoner
Creating a poison requires that the character has a poisoner's
kit and the necessary igredients to create the desired poison.
The DC for creating a particular poison is listed in the table
below. A rogue who has choosen the assassin archetype is the
only character in the Player's Handbook with proficiency in
the poisoner's kit, and adds their proficiency bonus to their
roll. This proficiency implies that the character has
knowledge of the various ingerdients and how to prepare and
mix them, and has spent some time studying poisons.
If a character who is not proficient with the kit wishes to
craft a poison, they have disadvantage on the a straight d20
difficulty check. A detailed recipe for the poison can remove
the disadvantage.
Alan Kirby (order #15164272)
Due to the nature of some classes, it may be easier for
some characters to create a poison without being proficient
with the kit. At the DM's discretion, the following classes do
not have disadvantage when using a poisoner's kit without
proficiency, though they will still require a recipe to follow
when crafting their poison.
Bards of the College of Lore
Clerics of the Death Domain
Druids
Rangers
Rogues
Wizards
The Poisons
Poison comes in many types and varieties. Listed here are
the poisons included in the Dungeon Master's Guide. More
types of poison can be created with the DM's guidance and
discretion.
Types of poison
There are four different types of posion (taken from the
SRD):
Contact: Contact poison can be smeared on an object and
remains potent until it is touched or washed off. A creature
that touches contact poison with exposed skin suffers its
effects.
Ingested: A creature must swallow an entire dose of
ingested poison to suffer its effects. The dose can be
delivered in food or a liquid. The DM may decide that a partial
dose has a reduced effect, such as allowing advantage on the
saving throw or dealing only half damage on a failed save.
Inhaled: These poisons are powders or gases that take
effect when inhaled. Blowing the powder or releasing the gas
subjects creatures in a 5-foot cube to its effect. The resulting
cloud dissipates immediately afterward. Holding one’s breath
is ineffective against inhaled poisons, as they affect nasal
membranes, tear ducts, and other parts of the body.
Injury: Injury poison can be applied to weapons,
ammunition, trap components, and other objects that deal
piercing or slashing damage and remains potent for one
minute, or until delivered through a wound or washed off. A
creature that takes piercing or slashing damage from an
object coated with the poison is exposed to its effects.
Using Poison
Applying or preparing a poison for use takes one action. One
dose of injury poison is enough to coat one slashing or
piercing weapon, or three pieces of piercing ammunition. At
the DM's discretion, contact, ingested and injury poisons may
be detected using a Perception check, with a DC determined
by the DM. Contact and ingested poisons may also require a
Sleight of Hand, Deception or Performance check to apply to
items or food when others are present.
Poisoner's Kit
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 Sample Poisons
(Taken from the SRD)
Assassin’s Blood (Ingested): A creature subjected to this
poison must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. On a
failed save, it takes 6 (1d12) poison damage and is poisoned
for 24 hours. On a successful save, the creature takes half
damage and isn’t poisoned.
Basic Poison (Injury): A creature hit by a weapon or
ammunition coated with this poison must make a DC
Constitution saving throw or take 1d4 poison damage.
Burnt Othur Fumes (Inhaled): A creature subjected to
this poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving
throw or take 10 (3d6) poison damage, and must repeat the
saving throw at the start of each of its turns. On each
successive failed save, the character takes 3 (1d6) poison
damage. After three successful saves, the poison ends.
Carrion Crawler Mucus (Contact): This poison must be
harvested from a dead or incapacitated carrion crawler. A
creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13
Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 minute. The
poisoned creature is paralyzed. The creature can repeat the
saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect
on itself on a success.
Drow Poison (Injury): This poison is typically made only
by the drow, and only in a place far removed from sunlight. A
creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 13
Constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1 hour. If the
saving throw fails by 5 or more, the creature is also
unconscious while poisoned in this way. The creature wakes
up if it takes damage or if another creature takes an action to
shake it awake.
Essence of Ether (Inhaled): A creature subjected to this
poison must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw
or become poisoned for 8 hours. The poisoned creature is
unconscious. The creature wakes up if it takes damage or if
another creature takes an action to shake it awake.
Malice (Inhaled): A creature subjected to this poison must
succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or become
poisoned for 1 hour. The poisoned creature is blinded.
Midnight Tears (Ingested): A creature that ingests this
poison suffers no effect until the stroke of midnight. If the
poison has not been neutralized before then, the creature
must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking
31 (9d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much
damage on a successful one.
Oil of Taggit (Contact): A creature subjected to this
poison must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw
or become poisoned for 24 hours. The poisoned creature is
unconscious. The creature wakes up if it takes damage.
Pale Tincture (Ingested): A creature subjected to this
poison must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw
or take 3 (1d6) poison damage and become poisoned. The
poisoned creature must repeat the saving throw every 24
hours, taking 3 (1d6) poison damage on a failed save. Until
this poison ends, the damage the poison deals can’t be healed
by any means. After seven successful saving throws, the effect
ends and the creature can heal normally.
Purple Worm Poison (Injury): This poison must be
harvested from a dead or incapacitated purple worm. A
creature subjected to this poison must make a DC 19
Constitution saving throw, taking 42 (12d6) poison damage
on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
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Serpent Venom (Injury): This poison must be harvested
from a dead or incapacitated giant poisonous snake. A
creature subjected to this poison must succeed on a DC 11
Constitution saving throw, taking 10 (3d6) poison damage on
a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Torpor (Ingested): A creature subjected to this poison
must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or
become poisoned for 4d6 hours. The poisoned creature is
incapacitated.
Truth Serum (Ingested): A creature subjected to this
poison must succeed on a DC 11 Constitution saving throw
or become poisoned for 1 hour. The poisoned creature can’t
knowingly speak a lie, as if under the effect of a zone of truth
spell.
Wyvern Poison (Injury): This poison must be harvested
from a dead or incapacitated wyvern. A creature subjected to
this poison must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw,
taking 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as
much damage on a successful one.
The Crafting
If the character has the ingredients to craft a poison,
determine the DC, time required, and maximum possible
doses by using the poison crafting table. If the proficiency
check is successful, the character has created the desired
poison.
If the proficiency check fails, the character must then make
a Widsom saving throw against the same DC as the poison
crafting. If the saving throw fails, the character must then
make a saving throw against the poison itself, or suffer the
effects. In either case, the attempt fails and the posion is
ruined or wasted.
Getting Ingredients
Shopping for the required ingredients for a poison depends
on a number of things. The community in which the
character is in could be generally lawless, in which case all of
the ingredients may be easy to purchase in the open, while in
a strict, law abiding society, it may require numerous bribes,
contacts and black market shopping to get what is required.
The DM's Guide has rules for harvesting poisons from
creatures, stating that:
"the creature must be incapacitated or dead, and the
harvesting requires 1d6 minutes followed by a DC 20
Intelligence (Nature) check.(Proficiency with the
poisoner's kit applies to this check if the character
doesn't have proficiency in Nature.) On a successful
check, the character harvests enough poison for a single
dose. On a failed check, the character is unable to extract
any poison. If the character fails the check by 5 or more,
the character is subjected to the creature's poison."
 Poison Crafting Table
Poison Crafting Table
Poison Ingredient Availability Ingredient Cost/Dose Maximum Doses Crafting Time Crafting DC
Assassin's Blood Common 50 gp 3 2 hours 10
Basic Poison Common 10 gp 4 1 hour 10
Burnt Othur Fumes Rare 250 gp 1 1 hour 13
Carrion Crawler Mucas Uncommon 75 gp 4 8 hours 13
Drow Poison Uncommon 75 gp 6 4 hours 13
Essence of Ether Uncommon 150 gp 2 8 hours 15
Malice Uncommon 100 gp 4 1 hour 15
Midnight Tears Legendary 1,000 gp 1 1 hour 17
Oil of Taggit Rare 200 gp 3 16 hours 13
Pale Tincture Uncommon 100 gp 6 24 hours 16
Purple Worm Poison Legendary 1,500 1 8 hours 19
Serpent Venom Common 75 gp 6 1 hour 11
Torpr Rare 250 gp 4 4 hours 15
Truth Serum Uncommon 100 gp 1 8 hrs 11
Wyvern Poision Very Rare 600 gp 3 2 hours 15

Using the Posion Table

The Poison Table shows you the following information
necessary for poison crafting:
Poison: The type of poison being crafted.
Ingredient Availability: Not all poisons require exotic
ingredients. Some may be readily available, and only
dangerous when mixed in the proper amounts. Common
ingredients may consist of simple plants and items readily
available at the market. Rare and very rare ingredients may
be dangerous plants and chemicals only available at certain
black market locations or through wizards or alchemists.
Legendary ingedients are those that come from rare or
dangerous creatures such as the purple worm.
Ingredient Cost: The cost of the ingredients needed to
create poisons. This includes the cost of wyvern, serpent or
purple worm venom. If the character has obtained the main
ingedient through their own means, the remaining ingredient
cost will be 10% of the total.
Maximum Doses: The maximum number of doses that
can be crafted at one time.
Crafting Time: The amount of time needed to craft the
poison. Some poisons must be tended to during this whole
time, while others can be quickly mixed and then left to brew
or steep until the required time has passed. Leaving some
poisons in this stage beyond the time required may result in a
bad batch at the DM's discretion.
Crafting DC: The Difficulty Check of crafting each poison.
As a rule of thumb, the crafting DC is equal to the saving
throw DC of the poison.
Optional Feat
Poisoner
Prerequisite: Intelligence and Wisdom of 12 or higher.
You have studied the various plants, venoms, chemicals,
and formulae that allow you to understand the crafting of
various poisons and antitoxins.
You can readily identify poisons, their ingredients and
effects by making a Nature, Survival or Poisoner's Kit check.
In case of a failure when crafting a poison, you have
advantage on the saving throw required to avoid the effects of
the poison.
If you do not already have it, you gain proficiency with the
Posioner's Kit.
Credits
The rules for harvesting poison, the poison types and sample
poisons came from the Dungeon Master's Guide and the
SRD. This document was made using the Homebrewery at
NaturalCrit.com
Except where noted, The Poisoner's Kit supplement is
Copyright 2016 by Armand Charpentier of Geek Trash and
Geek Fight Club. You can talk to the writer @dharmabob on
twitter, or over at GeekTrash.com
Support our Patreon at http://patreon.com/GeekTrash!

Poisoner's Kit
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Alan Kirby (order #15164272)