Poison Names

[VariousRen]

For my low fantasy game, I've begun putting together a list of poisons that the players either already had knowledge of, or have encountered and identified. I have done this already for a limited number of potions and other alchemical concotions earlier, but poisons seem much more likely to have entertaining names.

Potions are rare, magical, and made by wizards with decades of training in alchemy. As such, they usually have exceptionally dry names (Extract of Chiron, doesn't exactly roll off the toung when you're screaming for a health potion), and because of the price stay out of the public eye by and large.

Poisons, on the other hand, are made by sketchy back alley chemists who are half mad from their own fumes and given all sorts of colourful names by the folk who use them. Many of the names would be only tangentially related to the effect, to avoid the attention of the police.

With that in mind, I was hoping to turn to the forums for help creating the effects (and especially the entertaining names) for a few poisons to include in game. For anyone who wants to borrow from the list of things I have already created and detailed, there are two pages up on our obsidian portal page.

Potions: https://the-fall-of-brekhan.obsidian...onics-and-oils
and Poisons: https://the-fall-of-brekhan.obsidian.../wikis/poisons

[Seneschal]

They're meant to be quirky fantasy poisons, right? In that case here's a list of Pathfinder poisons; the names seem appropriate, though the effects may be a bit too dungeon-fantasy for a low-fantasy campaign. Still, extremely rare poisons are treated almost like DF magic items in low-fantasy works like A Song of Ice and Fire, so you could freely pile on strange, mystical symptoms (disfigurement, prophetic nightmares, vulnerability to possession, madness, suicidal tendencies, etc.). Also, fantasy rarely differentiates between poisons, venoms, diseases and curses; a dart coated in a werewolf's cursed saliva could very well be "poisoned" if the intent of the poison is to ruin the victim's life (or credibility).

[Blood Legend]

I'm a big fan of low impact survivable venoms and poisons that would matter during a 15 second fight.

Blood Moss - A living ooze that seeps over corpses and multiplies. A 'cured' version can be used as a medicinal agent that clots blood. Assassins refine this moss in other ways. HT-2, Cyclic Blood Agent, 1d6 FP loss every 5 seconds for 5 cycles.

Manticore/Cockatrice/Basilisk Venom - Venom from these 'petrifying' monsters have an interesting effect that calcifies or callouses terrestrial flesh on contact. Contact agent, temporary 1d-3 DX penalty to afflicted area, plus DR (tough skin) of equal value for 1 hour per point. Not resisted with HT. A value of 0 on the penalty roll means the venom fails to work.

Demon Blood - An HT-4 blood agent that causes 1d6+3 immediate corrosive damage. The shock penalty from this wound lasts for 1d6 seconds. Victims of demon blood have described the pain as burning alive.

Scratch - HT to HT-2, Scratch is a collection of bacteria delivered through an oily substance found on griffin claws. It's more potent on fantastic creatures than mundane humans for which it causes muscular pain, joint pain and migraines, causing moderate, severe or terrible pain depending on the age of the griffin. Against humans, effects begin 3d6 seconds after contact and last for 2d6+2 days. As a poison used against fantastic creatures that the griffin is likely to encounter (especially dragons) the effect is either 1, 2 or 3d6 of immediate toxic damage based on griffin age.

GIANT WASP VENOM - HT-3, Immediately suffer the effects of Suffocation, Blindness, Cannot Speak, Ham-Fisted, a drop in appearance level and Divine Curse (God Hates You) for minutes equal to your margin of failure unless a cure is administered.

Angel Voice - HT-2, Side effect heart attack, causes deafness, and hemophilia. Survivors have reported a turbulent noise rushing past their ears, others experience a loud ring, both are overwhelmingly distracting.