Hey folks! I think i might need a clarification i can’t find anything about and it seems to be something that i will find in my soon to come game a lot. Goldenroot Poison.
I have done some oneshots with my druid player (as i see him as the most difficult guy to deal with in my games to see what he’s got in store for me kinda) and he likes to use that poison a lot it seems. I threw a troll at him and he tried to scratch it as a tiger, but before he turned, he dipped his hands in that thing so when he transformed he’d have that poison on his claws (i am not certain if that would be allowed, but i went with it anyway) so it took a few rounds for it to take effect, but than it was an ally of the cat.
Not gona lie, i didn’t want to allow it to happen, but he did put himself in danger to scratch it and he took damage for it. So my question is..firstly, how many uses would a vial of the poison have and secondly, but most importantly.. what kind of creatures could this poison effect? Anything that can be damaged? Cause than, even if a kraken is thrown at them or an apocalypse dragon and they manage to damage it, than they’d have one of those as an ally? It seems to me that would be too much.
Sooo i do need your wisdom to help me here. I don’t quite know what to do here!
well, let’s look at the text
Goldenroot: Dangerous, applied, 20 coins, 0 weight
The target treats the next creature they see as a trusted ally, until proved otherwise
There are a few thing you can work on:
– the dangerous tag means “If you use it without taking proper precautions expect consequences.” of course it’s vague but unless we’re talking about a trained thief, it may require a Defy Danger roll to not poison oneself.
– the applied tag is more important: “It’s only useful when carefully applied to a person or something they eat or drink.” So, yeah, you kinda bent the rules by allowing it to be used in wounds. I mean, it could probably work, but it’s not in the description, strictly speaking, is it?
– finally, the “until proven otherwise”. The poison doesn’t erase memories, and it’s not unexplicable magic: if the PCs were attacking the target (in order to wound them to apply the poison) didn’t they prove to be other than friendly already?
As I see it, it’s the kind of poison you carefully use when you’re making a plan and want to befriend someone important. But it’s not really relevant how I see it, the relevant thing is how does it work for you and your players. I’d advise talking with them about the meaning of the description, not just stripping the druid of his beloved poison… but then again, that’s your call.
oh, of course you can also concentrate on being “the next creature they see”, but I’m not sure how much fun that would be…
personally, if anybody tries to use poison and doesn’t have the move to make that poison safe for them to use, I take any roll of 6- as an opportunity for the character to have poisoned themselves.
Yeah, i think i’m going to use that they have to put it in their food or drink to poison them with the goldenroot poison, making it be a non-violent way that they apply the poison. Maybe for tiny and small creatures it would be okay to try that, but on large and huge ones you’d need to force it down their gullet somehow? Although none of them are thieves so they can’t masterfully just pinprick them and have the poison take effect.
Although i see the argument of the druid already that if he rolls a 6 and i make him dazed cause he thinks the enemy is his ally that, why didn’t i follow my rule of applying it to food or drink for it to be in ones system before it would take effect…
Yeah, no way can you scratch someone with Goldenroot and have it work. “Applied” is the key here. The “Poisoner” move on p.139 makes a careful distinction between “applied” poisons, and “touch” poisons which “can even be used on the blade of a weapon”.
I just want to put on record that, IMHO, the “The target treats the next creature they see as a trusted ally, until proved otherwise ” part is still the most important. Attacking someone won’t make them your friend, not with poison, not even with a charm magic.
But again, that’s me and anyone at the table should have their own say, if it’s considered an important matter.
Yes, i will surely apply that rule now. It did seem too hurtful for the game if all you needed to do was scratch someone, maybe even gona say that when he transforms he becomes another entity so dipping his finger into that so when he transforms won’t go over.
Told him you’d need to poison the creature, its food or drink to have it happen or generally have a non-violent way of applying the goldenroot poison.
Also the fact that they have to have the creatures best interest in mind, so if it’s one with the purpose to rule and/or to destroy, they’d need to act accordingly and destroy with the creature. It won’t change its logic and alignment cause of a poison.
Thanks guys, this is helping a lot! Maybe it’s just cause i’m new to this, but it was becoming a big headache.