“Self-realization.  I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, ‘… I drank what?’” ~ Chris Knight (Real Genius, 1985)

There are some awesome things that have been said about poisons, and I was really torn over my coice of “quotable quotes” to start this review.  My other choice from a favorite pop-culture reference regarding poison was:

“’In Africa, the saying goes ‘in the bush, an elephant can kill you, a leopard can kill you, and a black mamba can kill you. But only with the black mamba–and this has been true in africa since the dawn of time–is death sure.’ Hence its handle–’death incarnate.’ Pretty cool, huh”?
~ Elle Driver (Kill Bill: Vol II, 2004)

But sadly that was a bit too wordy for a tagline quote, despite it being one of the most deliciously vengeful things that you could say to someone who had just had their face gnawed on by a black mamba!

Poison based attacks in D&D 4e are some of the nastier ongoing effects that Characters typically have to face.  Capable of chewing through hit points at a fantastic rate, a poison attack is something that must be taken very seriously in the midst of an all-out combat.  I’ve seen Heroes nearly come to blows the first time an Amulet of Health (PHB) is found in a treasure trove.

But if you thought that poisonous stings and bites from monsters were a real pain, now there is even a greater reason to fear poison.  Tangent Games has released a new supplement called Deadly Toxins: Poisons, with all manner of new venomous ways to exterminate pesky Heroes.

Deadly Toxins: Poisons

• Designer:  Geoff Habiger
• Editing: Coy Kissee
• Publisher: Tangent Games
• Year: 2010
• Media: PDF (36 pages)
• Price: $5.00

Deadly Toxins: Poisons is a D&D 4e supplement containing 32 new poisons and poisonous gases, based upon “real world” sources.  These poisons are compatible with nearly any D&D 4e campaign, and range in potency from the Heroic through the Epic Tiers.  In addition the poisonous agents detailed in Deadly Toxins: Poisons, there are new “mundane” items used by poisoners to assist them in their work, as well as six new magic items and six antidote compounds that can be used to cure certain specific poisons.  An additional new Warlord Utility power has been created to allow this Leader Class to deal with toxins, and two new Rituals are offered to detect and purify poison in food and drink. Finally, there are two Skill Challenges designed to allow Characters to successfully carry out a poisoning.

The production quality of Deadly Toxins: Poisons is fair to good, with a straight-forward “no frills” presentation, and the statistics of various poisons and magic items in layouts readily familiar to D&D 4e Gamers.  There is also some nice use of public domain images from various classical and romantic era paintings, such as the cover piece, The Death of Socrates by Jacques Louis David (1787), and an internal illustration, Jason Poisoning the Dragon by Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), which enhance the overall appearance of the supplement.

From the supplement’s Introduction, it is obvious that the Author did considerable research into the history of poisons, both modern and ancient:

Introduction

Poisons, and their use, have been around sense the dawn of mankind. From suicide and execution to assassination, poison is often times the weapon of choice. Socrates was given poison hemlock after being sentenced to death, while during the Renaissance and Enlightenment, a favored delivery method for poison was a chocolate drink. Even in modern times poisons are still used; the Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov was killed by ricin poisoning in 1978 after being injected from a dart hidden in an umbrella. Poisons have also been a favorite method of murder in novels and movies from Agatha Christie to Arthur Conan Doyle, Frank Capra (Arsenic and Old Lace) to Alfred Hitchcock (Notorious).

The supplement, Deadly Toxins: Poisons, is divided into two parts, with the first section of the book covering the nature of poisons, such as the various origins of toxins (from animal, fungal, mineral, etc.) and how poisons are delivered (by ingestion, inhalation, contact, etc.) to the victim.  This section also discusses the poisoners equipment, the Rituals, and the new magic items, as well as the two Skill Challenges for poisoning victims.

The second part of the supplement deals entirely with the detailed descriptions and statistics of the 32 new poisons, which are derived from our own “real world”.  As the Author states, the “rules for use during a game are designed to closely match the symptoms of the real poison, whenever possible.”

Now, I must point out that the theoretical “fluff” information in the first section, about mundane equipment and how poisons are made is actually fairly fascinating, and make for a good read.  Player-Characters wanting to become poison-wielding assassins and rogues would do well to give this section a good read.

The first section also has some decent “crunch” in it, from magic items, such as the alchemical Antidote, which is a powder used to heal poisons, to the Rituals, Detect Poison and Purify.  These are nicely written and would be a welcome addition to any 4e campaign.  And the new Skill Challenges, The Dinner Party and Slipping the Mickey, are solidly designed non-combat encounters, and perfectly suited to allow Characters to poison a specific dinner guest, or to drug someone so that they can be kidnapped:

The Dinner Party

The invitation arrived as expected. Your employer delivered on that promise. The rest would be up to you. The poison was already prepared and your outfit was perfect. Now could you really fool all those blue-bloods long enough to get close to your target?

Slipping a Mickey

You spot the man across the room, careful to stay out of sight. He’s already told you he will not answer your questions for any amount of money. But, since he’s the only one with the information you need, he’s really left you no choice.

However, unlike the first section, there are some real problems with second part of the supplement, which contains the 32 poisons, which are meant to be the focus of this ebook.  While the Author of Deadly Toxins: Poisons did an outstanding job of researching poisons, describing their appearance, and their physiological effects on people, the translation of these “real world” poisons to D&D 4e statistics simply did not work.

While nearly all of these poisons start as ongoing damage after the initial attack, more than two-thirds of these toxins result in immediate death after the first or second failed saving throw.  In one example, Belladonna, described as a Level 20 Poison, results in immediate death upon initial attack 50% of the time (make save or die).  And several of these poisons have negative penalties to the saving throws, making the chance of survival less than 50-50 for even Epic Tier Characters.

The Author also has rules for overdosing poisonous attacks, either by doubling the dose (and presumably the cost of a poison), or by alchemical accident, which apparently happens with 10% of all purchased poisons.  In the case of an overdose, more than half of these had negative penalties to the saving throw, some as high as -7 to the roll!

The removal of Save or Die effects is one of the major changes at the core of 4th ed D&D.  To blithely reintroduce these effects throughout the majority of the content presented is a fairly serious deviation from the 4e canon.

Moreover, only a few of the 32 poisons detailed in Deadly Toxins: Poisons are delivered by injection, meaning by a slashing or stabbing attack.  Nearly all of these toxins are delivered through ingestion, or in some cases, both ingestion and inhalation.  While sneaking around and poisoning an NPC’s food might be alright to do once in a while, it’s not really in the spirit of the combat system of D&D 4e.  Sadly, by the Author’s own admission, this is a concept which he does not clearly grasp:

Many people have wild visions of a wicked blade, its edge gleaming with traces of poison on it.  Weapons are often times coated with toxic material in order to make a simple weapon much more deadly; however, most of these toxins are animal-based venoms and not true poisons. A few poisons do lend themselves to being applied to a weapon, but the vast majority of poisons are most effective when they are eaten or drunk by the intended victim.

I think that a majority of D&D Players, regardless of which edition they are playing, expect to use their poison in exactly the way that the Author seems to demean as unrealistic.  A villain slashing you with an envenomed weapon is exciting, and overcoming its effects is an act of heroism.  Having a Character suddenly grab its throat, turn black in the face, and keel over dead off its barstool while spilling poisoned beer all over the taproom floor, is not what I would call a “climactic moment” in Heroic Fantasy Role-Playing.

Even the prices of these poisons needs some serious addressing, as many deadly, yet common-place, plants and fungi have been elevated to the Epic Tier poisons, resulting in some outlandish pricing.  Some of these poisons are readily available to anyone in the “real world” that is willing to go to a state park and forage for them, such as Death Cap and Hemlock.  Logically, one would imagine that these “Epic” tier poisons could be foraged by Player-Characters living in a “fantasy world” too, and would not have to pay the hundreds of thousands of gold pieces as the supplement suggests for a price per dose.

Assigning these poisons to the Epic Tier may have been done as an homage to the “real world” abilities of these toxins to kill just about anything, but it should take something a little more rare and special than a mere mushroom to make an Epic Tier Hero drop dead in his tracks.

Overall, I have to give the Author of Deadly Toxins: Poisons tremendous credit for doing substantial research into the history, usage, appearance, and physiological effects of “real world” poisons.  But sadly, the translation of these poisons into D&D 4e terms and effects simply was not handled well, and in some cases, even went counter to games concepts.  There is such a thing as putting too much reality into a fantasy game, and I think that with Deadly Toxins: Poisons, this may be the case here.  In concentrating on accurately bringing the “real world” effects of these poisons into a fantasy world, the Author lost sight of the fact that using save or die, ingestion-only poisons is neither particularly heroic nor fun, and they have almost no place in the game design of Dungeons & Dragons 4e.

That’s not to say that there aren’t some 4e Dungeon Masters and Players out there that pine for the good old days of previous edition save or die effects, and would be interested in Deadly Toxins: Poisons.  But for the rest of us who play D&D 4e, Deadly Toxins: Poisons has little to offer for the price.

So until next blog… I wish you Happy Gaming!

Editor’s Note: This Blog’s Author received a complimentary copy of the product in PDF format from which the review was written.

Tags: D&D 4e, poison, review, tangent games

This entry was posted by Editor-in-Chief on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 7:24 am and is filed under RPG News & Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.