Original table: https://www.reddit.com/r/BehindTheTables/comments/637bvs/the_great_big_random_d100_list_of_poisons_dd5e/
I went through this big 72-page d100 list of poisons and kept the ones that caught my attention. Then I proceeded to rename them to taste, remove and add various ingredients and effects, mix-and-match some of them together, and include a few new entries of my own. The whole thing has been compressed into a single-page d60 table and all the mechanical tidbits have been removed to make it system-agnostic.
It's available here in PDF form, or below if you're lazy.
For ease of use, I've sorted all the results into 10 extremely vague and arbitrary categories (so one can roll 1d10+1d6, rather than an imaginary d60). Feel free to suggest any changes there.
d | Name | Ingredients/Appearance | Effects |
---|---|---|---|
1. Alchemical poisons | |||
1 | Clockmaker's end | Greasy black oil from the depths of the earth, distilled. | Takes a few weeks to kick in, then wreaks havoc on the body. Starts with shaky fingers, ends with death. |
2 | Curse-of-iron | Quicksilver, lignite, pyrite. | Makes the target magnetic, exerting a slight but dangerous pull on blades and metal arrow-tips, for a day. |
3 | Deathwish | Onyx, slime ooze, dragonfire, and a big piece of your own skin. | Alchemical suicide poison. Dissolves body from the inside, then makes it explode violently. Shatters the soul. |
4 | Dragonspit | Draconic maw-gland, compressed inside a vial. | Explodes into invisible gas with a foul odor. Reduces target to a crawling walk. Causes crippling internal burns. |
5 | Mindfire | Bone powder, burning ice, ammonia, dove feathers. | Grants temporary vitality, then causes equal or greater pain and bleeding, and may madden the mind. |
6 | Thief's bane | Basilisk saliva and glue. | Poison made to coat a couple dozen pieces of furniture. Numbs the arm when touched. |
2. Anaesthetic poisons | |||
1 | Coffin-bait | Red syrupy potion created by a dungeon-sized mimic as a lure. | Victim goes comatose, appears clearly dead for a few days. May heal one's wounds instead. |
2 | Dream-of-thirst | Tentacle Thornbush spores. Rot from dehydrated corpses fertilizing it. | Traps one in a dream-hallucination for a minute if not reapplied. Flickers of lucidity - one can act, but not move. |
3 | Madness eater | Slimy lichen boiled into a purple mist. | Calms the mind, then causes a feeling of ravenous hunger for a few hours. |
4 | Propaganda dust | Avocado tree bark powder, alcohol, a very clever rat's brain. Burn it. | Lowers intelligence for a few weeks. Add spices and flower to mask the scent. |
5 | Toadtongue juice | Helltoad skin-slime and spike-frog mud. Boil until glassy and viscous. | Target becomes lethargic, slow to act, and suffers mild hallucinations for a day. |
6 | Tortoise-tail | A blue fern. Gains its property if masticated by a Spiked Behemoth. | Slow-acting anaesthetic. Without countermeasures, target will fall in a coma-like sleep within an hour. |
3. Arcane poisons | |||
1 | Arcane guillotine | Flower that blooms once a year, picked that day. Add honey. | If ingested, victim turns into dullahan at midnight. Cured by a sticky cliffside tree's sap. |
2 | Cerberus draught | Blood of a demon, a madman and a holy man. | Reverses victim's personality traits and beliefs, though rarely one's moral compass. |
3 | Cockatrice's hiss | Knock-off Medusa's kiss, made with cockatrice liver. | Petrifies a single body part for an hour. Cured with tears or acid. |
4 | Cryptsap | Bogwater, zombie pus, ghoul blood. Boil in long-dead troll's skull. | Turns target undead for a day and a night. |
5 | Medusa's kiss | Medusa tears. | Slowly petrifies the victim. Stopped by another's tears of despair, or acid. |
6 | Wispcurse | A clay pot containing liquefied wisps. Hair-raising static charge. | Target courses with luminous lightning, suffering constant electric shocks and ghastly visions. |
4. Body-altering poisons | |||
1 | Bogbile | Infernal bogwater and white tarragon distilled into a gel. | Victim grows a dozen inch-wide itching pustules, which explode painfully when the victim's flesh is struck. |
2 | Bugbear oil | Goblin and dire beast's limbs left to age in a charred oaken barrel. | Victim quickly grows thick, flammable body hair or fur. |
3 | Buzzkill | Royal jelly and venom from the somewhat exotic southern red bee. | Turns a hand painfully puffy and swollen, unable to hold anything. |
4 | Hag-wart | Witch's sweat, deviltongue mushroom. | Covers the face in a dozen luminescent warts, unless washed off early. Victim must fight urge to pop them. |
5 | Icebrine | Distilled permafrost, often made into deadly rhum. | Increase sensitivity to cold and freezes target from the inside. Cured by diet of firecorns. |
6 | Veinbreaker | Red glass, an opaque gemstone, dissolved in lye water. | A dozen blood needles protrude from skin, breaking painfully with physical activity. Can be removed with care. |
5. Inconvenient poisons | |||
1 | Goblin pollen | Chili tree leaves, peppers, goblin saliva. | Horrible allergy-like symptoms. Sneezing and watery eyes for a few hours. |
2 | Legion's lament | Powdered black pearl, drake spleen, boot that's seen 20 years of war. | Diluted to turn a whole group lethargic, irritable, and thrice as hungry and thirsty, lowering morale and speed. |
3 | Ogre-foot | Fungus growing on an ogre's back. Mash to paste, apply to target. | Harmless fungi colonizes target, who now carries a horrid smell. Takes a few days to thoroughly scrape it off. |
4 | Orator morator | Idiot's spit, turtle egg, live swamp slug. Mix an hour in pure silence. | Mouth goes tingly and numb. Ten minutes to an hour. Speech awkward and difficult, magic words included. |
5 | Ormina's blessing | Dripping fang given to lepers by a talking statue, for a service. | For a week, target can barely speak and frequently coughs up large clouds of dark grey smoke instead. |
6 | Skin slime | Peaceful, fugitive ochre ooze. Grows on cave mycelium. Apply to skin. | Urge to drop everything to scratch the itch. Increasingly hard to ignore. Indulging gives a moment's peace. |
6. Madness-inducing poisons | |||
1 | Brimstone juice | Dried, crushed puku-puku, a pink and bitter fruit. | Victim hallucinates fiery demons, followed by a hangover. |
2 | Diplomat's draught | Honey mead from a dryad's tree's beehive. Drop of troll blood. | Target considers all arguments to be in good faith for an hour. |
3 | Dreamsong | Soak a harpy feather in a mad artist's tears. Then stab with the tip. | Target travels a random direction for a day following an imaginary melody, unable to speak or hear others. |
4 | Goblin snot | Goblin bile, rotten fruit, cursed water. | Causes berserk rage and nausea for a few minutes. |
5 | Hauntsmirch | Creature's blood used as a source, then bathed in a hag's guts. | All creatures appears as visions of the source creature. Can be unsettling to terrifying, depending on source. |
6 | Viper-whisper | Pollen released by viper weed, a red tube-plant, upon contact. | Induces hysteria and sensory deprivation for an hour. |
7. Mind-affecting poisons | |||
1 | Ghostpain | Ectoplasm, mimic glue, perfectly ordinary water. | Nocebo poison. Only hurts if the victim is convinced it's real. Can nearly kill. |
2 | Jolt-and-bolt | The yolk of an electric lizard's egg. | Horrible tingling sensation, though not painful. Target can't do much but move, and feels the urge to run. |
3 | Rainbow raindrop | Potent distilled spirits and a mushroom of every color. | Causes either pleasant euphoria and slow-down, or paranoia, hallucinations and confusion. |
4 | Saint-scruple | Beladonna oil, silver dust, powdered pearl. Heat over a brazier, bless. | Induces crushing guilt and insomnia for a day and a night. |
5 | Scent of humors | Unfunny jester's crushed skull, set aflame with swamp gas, bottled. | Gaseous poison which sends victims keeling over in screaming laughter for a minute. |
6 | Wightmaker powder | Lapis lazuli, ground into powder, mixed with zombie dust and blood. | Target wanders aimlessly like an euphoric shambling corpse for a day and a night. |
8. Nature-based poisons | |||
1 | Coldsweat extract | Made from three plants found behind the iciest waterfalls. | Target sweats bullets, eliminating all toxins, but feverishly drifts in and out of consciousness for a day. |
2 | Parasite mite | Eggs from stagnant waters of the deepest jungle ravines. Ingested. | Target coughs up a live mite each day, then vomits out a swarm of mites after a week. Can be lethal. |
3 | Stinger song | Wasp pheromones, powdered ginger, infatuated lover's blood. | Draws curious wasps to target for a day. Victim should avoid sudden movements. Can be washed with soap. |
4 | Stirge nectar | Rotting quince fruit and stagnant swampwater. | Ingested. Causes nausea for a day. Vomit attracts flocks of stirges. |
5 | Sunbite | Sand viper's venom fermented in oil. | Causes dehydratation. |
6 | Troglodyte-throat | Troglodyte glands, fermented. Apply to skin. | Target gains a toxic breath for a day. They are not immune to it. Likely to poison anyone they talk to. |
9. Sensory-affecting poisons | |||
1 | Druid's glare | Boiled cave mushrooms, an oily black liquid. | Target can see in the dark as the world brightens for a dozen minutes. Then all goes blinding-white for an hour. |
2 | Eyesmoke | Ogre's eye, kept in an opaque bottle in a cave's depths for a week. | Thin smoke spreads inside target's eyes for a few days. Bright light appears dim, dim light appears dark. |
3 | Morlock dust | Glowing mushroom spores, naturally contracted in some caves. | Makes target sensitive to light, as if they'd lived their whole life in the depths, for a day. |
4 | Screaming spit | Mandrake root, mandrake leaf, just grind the whole mandrake, really. | Easily diluted. Deafens for a day. |
5 | Wanderlost | A stout clover-like plant. Easy to take a wrong turn looking for it. | Destroys victim's sense of direction, doubling their chance to get lost. |
6 | Witchpyre sap | Milk-like substance exuded by a False Willow when touched. | Makes skin burning hot. Clothing and armor become unbearable. Must re-hydrate with a gallon of water. |
10. Voodoo poisons | |||
1 | Devil's dew | Dew from hell-roses, collected in a dark metal vial blessed by Chaos. | Body is shaky and thoughts muddled for a week. Inflicting or receiving violence clears symtoms for a minute. |
2 | Killseed | A seed, given sentience by a shaman. | Ingested seed begins to grow and tear the target apart from inside. High alcohol doses can destroy it. |
3 | Lover's balm | Gremlinroot, hornet wax, drop of devout priest's blood. | Apply to your lips and kiss your target. Neither of you can lie for an hour. A seer may gift it, if you have a lover. |
4 | Mindfold | Beholder vitreous humour. | Stops the victim's ability to cast spells while their eyes are open. |
5 | Voodoo gash | Large tuft of target's hair, tainted mud. Apply to skin. | Small arm sprouts from one's wound, claws at the host. Can be restrained. If ripped off, wound healing slows. |
6 | Weirdwater | Blue water, found in deep cave pools surrounded by glowing fungi. | Causes one's arm to try and strangle them for a minute. |