Getting struck by weapons or monsters isn't the only way a character can get hurt. Indeed, the world is full of dangers for poor, hapless player characters—dangers the DM can occasionally spring on them with glee. Some of the nastier forms of damage are described below.
Falling[]
Player characters have a marvelous (and, to the DM, vastly amusing) tendency to fall off things, generally from great heights and almost always onto hard surfaces. While the falling is harmless, the abrupt stop at the end tends to cause damage.
When a character falls, he suffers 1d6 points of damage for every 10 feet fallen, to a maximum of 20d6, which for game purposes can be considered terminal velocity. This method is simple and it provides all the realism necessary in the game. It is not a scientific calculation of the rate of acceleration, exact terminal velocity, mass, impact energy, etc., of the falling body.
The fact of the matter is that physical laws can describe the exact motion of a body as it falls through space, but relatively little is known about the effects of impact. The distance fallen is not the only determining factor in how badly a person is hurt. Other factors might include elasticity of the falling body and the ground, angle of impact, shock waves through the falling body, dumb luck, and more.
People have actually fallen from great heights and survived, albeit very rarely. The current record-holder, Vesna Vulovic, survived a fall from a height of 33,330 feet in 1972, although she was severely injured. Flight-Sergeant Nicholas S. Alkemade actually fell 18,000 feet—almost 3.5 miles—without a parachute and landed uninjured!
The point of all this is roll the dice, as described above, and don't worry too much about science.
Paralysis[]
A character or creature affected by paralysis becomes immobile for the duration of the spell's effect. The victim can breathe, think, see, and hear, but he is unable to speak or move. Coherent thought needed to trigger magical items or innate powers is still possible. Paralysis affects only the general motor functions of the body and is not the ultimate destroyer of powerful creatures. It can be particularly potent on flying creatures, however.
The adventurers encounter a beholder, a fearsome creature with magical powers that emanate from its many eyes. After several rounds of combat, the party's priest casts a hold monster spell, paralyzing the creature. The paralyzed beholder still can use the spell-like powers of its eyes and move about (since it levitates at will). But, on the other hand, it is not able to move its eyestalks to aim. Since all of its eyes were most likely facing forward at the moment of paralysis, the adventurers cleverly spread out in a ring around the creature. To attack one or two of them with its powers, the beholder must turn its back on the rest.
Energy Drain[]
This is a feature of powerful undead (and other particularly nasty monsters). The energy drain is a horrible power, since it causes the loss of one or more experience levels.
When a character is hit by an energy-draining creature, he suffers normal damage from the attack. In addition, the character loses one or more levels (and thus Hit Dice and hit points).
For each level lost, roll the Hit Dice appropriate to the character's class and subtract that number of hit points from the character's total (subtract the Constitution bonus also, if applicable). If the level(s) lost was one in which the character received a set number of hit points rather than a die roll, subtract the appropriate number of hit points. The adjusted hit point total is now the character's maximum (i.e., hit points lost by energy drain are not taken as damage but are lost permanently).
The character's experience points drop to halfway between the minimum needed for his new (post-drain) level and the minimum needed for the next level above his new level.
Multi-class and dual-class characters lose their highest level first. If both levels are equal, the one requiring the greater number of experience points is lost first.
All powers and abilities gained by the player character by virtue of his former level are immediately lost, including spells. The character must instantly forget any spells that are in excess of those allowed for his new level. In addition, a wizard loses all understanding of spells in his spell books that are of higher level than he can now cast. Upon regaining his previous level, the spellcaster must make new rolls to see if he can relearn a spell, regardless of whether he knew it before.
If a character is drained to 0-level but still retains hit points (i.e., he is still alive), that character's adventuring career is over. He cannot regain levels and has lost all benefits of a character class. The adventurer has become an ordinary person. A restoration or wish spell can be used to allow the character to resume his adventuring career. If a 0-level character suffers another energy drain, he is slain instantly.
If the character is drained to less than 0 levels (thereby slain by the undead), he returns as an undead of the same type as his slayer in 2d4 days. The newly risen undead has the same character class abilities it had in normal life, but with only half the experience it had at the beginning of its encounter with the undead that slew it.
The new undead is automatically an NPC. His goals and ambitions are utterly opposed to those he held before. He possesses great hatred and contempt for his former colleagues, weaklings who failed
him in his time of need. Indeed, his main ambition could be to destroy his former companions or cause them as much grief as possible.
Further, the newly undead NPC is under the total control of the undead who slew it. If this master is slain, its undead minions of lower level or fewer Hit Dice gain one level or Hit Die for each level they drain from victims until they reach the maximum Hit Dice for their kind. Upon reaching full Hit Dice, these undead are able to acquire their own minions by slaying characters.
Appropriate actions on the part of the other player characters can prevent a drained comrade from becoming undead. The steps necessary vary with each type of undead and are explained in the monster descriptions in the Monstrous Manual.
Poison[]
This is an all-too-frequent hazard faced by player characters. Bites, stings, deadly potions, drugged wines, and bad food all await characters at the hands of malevolent wizards, evil assassins, hideous monsters, and incompetent innkeepers. Spiders, snakes, centipedes, scorpions, wyverns, and some giant frogs all have poisons deadly to characters. Wise heroes quickly learn to respect and fear such creatures.
The strength of different poisons varies wildly and is frequently overestimated. The bite of the greatly feared black widow spider kills a victim in the United States once every other year. Only about 2% of all rattlesnake bites prove fatal.
At the other extreme, there are natural poisons of intense lethality. Fortunately, such poisons tend to be exotic and rare—the golden arrow-poison frog, the western taipan snake, and the stone fish all produce highly deadly poisons.
Further, the effect of a poison depends on how it is delivered. Most frequently, it must be injected into the bloodstream by bite or sting. Other poisons are effective only if swallowed; assassins favor these for doctoring food. By far the most deadly variety, however, is contact poison, which need only touch the skin.
Table 51 rates poisons for three different factors—method, onset, and strength. Those poisons which commonly appear in the game, such as that delivered by the sting of a giant centipede, are given a specific rating for convenience. Poisons are not listed by name here, since this is neither a scientific text nor a primer on the deadly nature of many plants and animals.
Method: The method is the new way in which the poison must normally be used to have full effect. Injected and ingested have no effect on contact. Contact poisons have full effect even if swallowed or injected, since both are forms of contact. Injected or ingested poisons have half their normal effect if administered in the opposite manner, resulting in the save damage being applied if the saving throw is failed and no damage occurring if the saving throw is successful.
Onset: Most poisons require time to work their way through the system to reach the areas they affect. Onset is the time that elapses before the poison's effect is felt. The effect of immediate poisons is felt at the instant the poison is applied.
Strength: The number before the slash lists the hit points of damage suffered if the saving throw is failed. The number after the slash lists the damage taken (if any) if the saving throw is successful. Where "death" is listed, all hit points are immediately lost, killing the victim. Note that in some cases a character may roll a successful saving throw and still die from the hit point loss.
Not all poisons need cause damage. Two other common effects of poison are to paralyze or debilitate a victim.
Paralytic poisons leave the character unable to move for 2d6 hours. His body is limp, making it difficult for others to move him. The character suffers no other ill effects from the poison, but his condition can lead to quite a few problems for his companions.
Debilitating poisons weaken the character for 1d3 days. All of the character's ability scores are reduced by half during this time. All appropriate adjustments to attack rolls, damage, Armor Class, etc., from the lowered ability scores are applied during the course of the illness. In addition, the character moves at one-half his normal movement rate. Finally, the character cannot heal by normal or magical means until the poison is neutralized or the duration of the debilitation is elapsed.
Treating Poison Victims[]
Fortunately, there are many ways a character can be treated for poison. Several spells exist that either slow the onset time, enabling the character the chance to get further treatment, or negate the poison entirely.
However, cure spells (including heal) do not negate the progress of a poison, and the neutralize poison spell doesn't recover hit points already lost to the effects of poison. In addition, characters with the herbalism proficiency can take steps to reduce the danger poison presents to player characters.
Creating New Poisons[]
Using the three basic characteristics—method, onset, and strength—and bearing in mind the debilitating and paralyzing effects of some poisons, it is possible to create new varieties.
However, always introduce poisons and poisonous creatures with great care, especially when dealing with low-level characters. Unlike most other ways a character can be hurt, the life or death of a poisoned character often depends on a single die roll. It is essential that characters be treated fairly, or their players will quickly lose interest in the game.
| Class | Method | Onset | Strength |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Injected | 10–30 minutes | 15/0 |
| B | Injected | 2–12 minutes | 20/1-3 |
| C | Injected | 2–5 minutes | 25/2-8 |
| D | Injected | 1–2 minutes | 30/2-12 |
| E | Injected | Immediate | Death/20 |
| F | Injected | Immediate | Death/0 |
| G | Ingested | 2–12 hours | 20/10 |
| H | Ingested | 1–4 hours | 20/10 |
| I | Ingested | 2–12 minutes | 30/15 |
| J | Ingested | 1–4 minutes | Death/20 |
| K | Contact | 2–8 minutes | 5/0 |
| L | Contact | 2–8 minutes | 10/0 |
| M | Contact | 1–4 minutes | 20/5 |
| N | Contact | 1 minute | Death/25 |
| O | Injected | 2–24 minutes | Paralytic |
| P | Injected | 1–3 hours | Debilitative |