Poisonous Swordsman (5e Class)

Poisonous Swordsman

A elf wielding a rapier awaits, patiently, the next move of the knight. Clad in heavy armor, the knight swings his greatsword at the scrawny warrior in front of him, who steps back and quickly perform a lunging strike. The sword finds a gap in the armor, just enough for a glancing blow. The knight laughs, dismissive at that small scratch. Then, his faces changes, as his skin becomes pallid and his veins sickly green, due to the poison quickly spreading through his body.

Poisonous swordsman are fencing masters and assassin, who master the art of fighting using poisons.

Venomous Schools

The art of combat used by poisonous swordsman developed their martial techniques through the observation and study of poisonous creatures. The first school to be created was the Viper School, developed by martial artists and assassins who extracted the poison of snakes to complete their missions. At first, snakes were a mere resource for them, but eventually, they started to copying the sinuous movement and sudden lunges, translating them into a method of fighting.

Other styles were created when the first order of viper swordsmen abandon their school to follow their own paths, usually seeking to further their understanding over the poisonous swordsman method of fighting, adapting it to the environment they found themselves in. In the deserts, the Scorpion School was founded; the toad style was created in a huge tropical jungle; and the dragon vast and ancient forests.

Despite their differences, they usually share the role of assassins and mercenaries, swiftly taking out their targets with powerful poisons.

Creating a Poisonous Swordsman

By Fred Arsenault

When creating your Poisonous Swordsman, the most important question is in what school have you been trained and why? Are you an orphan, raised in the school as an assassin? Have you joined to learn the secrets of poison crafting? Did you learned your techniques from a single mentor instead of a school, or from scrolls and tomes with the techniques?

Quick Build

First, choose Dexterity as your highest score (or Strength, if you choose the Scorpion school), followed by Intelligence and Constitution. Second, choose the Criminal background. Finally, chose the scale mail, two handaxes, dungeoneer's pack, , poisoner's kit, a shortsword, a dagger, a blowgun and 20 blowgun darts.

Class Features

As a Poisonous Swordsman you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d8 per Poisonous Swordsman level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + Constitution modifier per Poisonous Swordsman level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor, medium armor
Weapons: Simple weapons, shortsword, scimitar, blowgun
Tools: Poisoner's kit
Saving Throws: Constitution, Intelligence
Skills: Choose three from Acrobatics, Athletics, Investigation, Insight, Medicine, Nature, Perception, Sleight of Hand and Stealth

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) leather armor and a shortbow with 20 arrows or (b) scale mail
• (a) a martial weapon or (b) two simple weapons
• (a) dungeoneer's pack or (b) explorer's pack
• poisoner's kit, a shortsword, a dagger, a blowgun and 20 blowgun darts
• If you are using starting wealth, you have 4d4 x 10 gp in funds.

Table: The Poisonous Swordsman

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Features	Poison Damage
1st	+2	Detect Poison, Poisoner, School	1d6
2nd	+2	Uncanny Metabolism, Toxins	1d6
3rd	+2	School Feature	1d6
4th	+2	Ability Score Improvement	1d6
5th	+3	Extra Attack	2d6
6th	+3	School Feature, Gangrenous Venom	2d6
7th	+3	Poisonmancer	2d6
8th	+3	Ability Score Improvement	2d6
9th	+4	Deep Injections	2d6
10th	+4	School Feature	2d6
11th	+4	Toxic Strikes	3d6
12th	+4	Ability Score Improvement	3d6
13th	+5	Deadly Mixture	3d6
14th	+5	School Feature	3d6
15th	+5	Uncanny Dodge	3d6
16th	+5	Ability Score Improvement	3d6
17th	+6	Lasting Venom	4d6
18th	+6	Unearthly Poison	4d6
19th	+6	Ability Score Improvement	4d6
20th	+6	Lethal Poison	4d6

Detect Poison

Starting at 1st level, your contact with poisons give you the ability to use your senses to detect the presence of such substances without relying on sight. You can use an Action to detect the presence and location of poisons and poisonous creatures within 30 feet of you. This effect lasts for 1 minute.

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier, and regain your uses after finishing a long rest.

Poisoner

Starting at 1st level, you learn how to craft and coat your weapons in poison. If you have your poisoner kit on you, you can craft a number of poisons equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1) whenever you finish a short or long rest.

These poisons affect a target through wounds. You can coat a weapon or piece of ammunition that causes slashing or piercing damage using a bonus action.

When a creature is damaged by one of your concoctions, it takes 1d6 poison damage and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier), or for the next minute is poisoned.

The target can make another Constitution saving throw in each of its turns to end that effect. Whenever the target fails the saving throw, it takes the poison damage again.

Your poisons lose potency after 1 hour, or 10 minutes after being used to coat a weapon.

School

At 1st level, you must choose a school of swordsmanship, that will define your style of combat. You can choose between the styles described at the end of this class description. Your choice give you features at 1st level, and again at 3rd, 6th, 10th and 14th levels.

Uncanny Metabolism

At 2nd level, you gain resistance to poison damage and advantage on saving throws against poisons, diseases and the poisoned condition.

In addition, if you are poisoned, you can spend 1 hit die and roll it using an Action. You regain hit points as if you had completed a short rest and end the condition on you.

Toxins

Starting at 2nd level, whenever you craft a poison, you can impose additional conditions. You learn two of the following recipes below. You learn more recipes at 5th, 9th, 13th and 17th levels.

Whenever you craft a poison, you must choose which of the toxin will you apply to it. If a toxin have a level prerequisite, that means a level in the Poisonous Swordsman class.

Antitoxins

Starting at 3rd level, you can spend one use of your Poisoner feature to craft an Antitoxin. A creature can consume an Antitoxin as a bonus action, regaining hit points equal to your poison damage dice, and ending the poisoned condition on it.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Gangrenous Venom

At 6th level, your poison damage ignores resistances to poison damage. In addition, whenever you concoct a poison, you can choose to craft one that deals necrotic damage, rather than poison.

Poisonmancer

At 7th level, you can extract the poison of any creature dead within 1 minute that inflicts poison. To do so, you must have your Poisoner's kit in hand and an empty vial, and succeed on a poisoner's kit check against that poison save DC. The extracted poison lasts for 8 hours before losing its properties.

You use this poison in the same way you would use one created through the poisoner feature, but it only has the normal effects of that poison (and poison damage, if that creature dealt poison damage when delivering the poison). It also uses the normal creature's save DC, instead of yours.

In addition, whenever you create a poison of any kind or an antitoxin, you spend only half the gold and time, and you can use your Poisoner save DC, instead of the normal save DC for the poison created.

Deep Injections

At 9th level, when you score a critical hit with a weapon coated in poison, the poison damage taken by the target when failing a saving throw is doubled.

Toxic Strikes

At 11th level, when you coat a weapon in poison, some residual effects of the poison last on your blade even after delivering the poisonous strike. For 10 minutes, your attacks with that weapon cause additional 1d6 poison damage.

In addition, on a critical hit, the target suffer the effects of failing the saving throw against the poison coating the weapon until the end of your next turn.

Deadly Mixture

At 13th level, you can mix two of your toxines into a single poison. The creature that fails a saving throw against it suffer the effects of both toxins at once.

Once you create a deadly mixture, you can't do it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Uncanny Dodge

Starting at 15th level, when you take damage from an attack, you can reduce the damage to half using a reaction.

Lasting Venom

When you reach the 17th level, poisons created by you only lose their effectiveness while not used after 8 hours, or after 1 hour after coating a weapon.

Unearthly Poison

When you reach the 18th level, you learn how to create powerful poisons that can affect creatures that would normally be unaffected by it. Any poison created by you ignores immunity to poison damage.

Lethal Poison

When you reach the 20th level, the death is the certain fate of those affected by your poison. Whenever the target fails a saving throw against your poison, it suffers one level of exhaustion.

Schools

Dragon

Members of the Dragon school are a blend of swordmasters and alchemists, that studied the poisonous gas of green dragons, and learned how to replicate its effects. They use poisons that, when mixed with their own saliva, creature a powerful poisonous gas that can mimic the effects of a poisonous breath, and in combat they use daggers and unarmed strikes, replicating the fangs, claws and tails of dragons.

Dragon Adept

At 1st level, you know how to speak, read and write in draconic, and you gain advantage on Intelligence checks to recall information about dragons.

Draconic Fury

Starting at 1st, you gain the ability to fight like a furious dragon. You learn three of the following techniques below:

Tail Sweep. When not wearing heavy armor, you can make an unarmed strike using your leg. On a hit, you cause 1d6 bludgeoning damage, and can attempt to shove your target using a bonus action.

Dragon Claws. You can cause slashing damage with daggers. In addition, once per turn, when you hit a creature with a dagger, you can make a second attack with a dagger as a bonus action.

Ripping Fang. When you hit the same target with two daggers, you can tear its flesh, as the maw of a dragon. You can cause additional 1d4 damage using your reaction. This damage becomes 1d6 at 5th level, 1d8 at 11th level and 1d10 at 17th level.

Green Dragon's Breath

Starting at 3rd level, you learn how to create a concoction that, when mixed with your saliva, produces a poisonous gas that can be propelled forward with your breath. Using a bonus action, you can drink one of your poison vials. When you do so, it works as an Antitoxin to you.

Until the end of your turn, you can forgo one of your Attacks to force all creatures in a 15-foot cone to make a saving throw against your poison save DC, or take damage equal twice your Poison Damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.

In addition, the targets who fail the save suffer the effects of the toxins present on that poison until the end of your next turn.

Dragon's Flight

At 6th level, you can make a powerful aerial attack against your opponents. When you take the Dash action, you can fly up to half your movement speed, as long as you end your turn on the ground (falling otherwise). When you do so, if you fly at least 10 feet, you can use your Tail Sweep as a bonus action.

Intimidating

At 10th level you learn how to use fear to defeat your enemies, as a dragon would. You can forgo one attack to make a Charisma (Intimidation) check contested by the target's Wisdom (Insight). On a success, the target is frightened of you until the end of your next turn. On a success, the target is immune to this effect for the next hour.

Poisoner's Breath

At 14th level, whenever you use your Breath Weapon while wielding one or more weapons that cause piercing or slashing damage, you can place them in front of the breath. Doing so coat the weapons in poison, as if you had use your bonus action to do so, and doesn't spend additional uses of your poison.

Scorpion

Adepts of the scorpion school are usually more brutish and strong than other poisonous swordsman, and rely more on overpowering their enemies. The scorpion style mimics the homonymous animals by emphasizing the use of grapples, to restrain their targets before delivering a powerful "sting" attack. They often prefer short blades, such as daggers and shortswords, in conjunction with their powerful grappling hands.

Scorpion Adept

At 1st level, your hands are powerful as scorpion claws. You gain advantage on Strength (Athletics) checks made to grab on to surfaces and objects, and to grapple a creature.

In addition, when you grapple a creature, you can attack her with a light melee weapon using a bonus action.

Exoskeleton

Starting at 1st level, your skin is hardened through a gruesome training, allowing you to endure punishment, instead of dodging it. You add your Constitution modifier, rather than Dexterity, to your AC when wearing light or medium armor.

Scorpion Stinger

Starting at 3rd level, you mimic the scorpion hunting method of immobilizing its victims to inject it with poison. If you have a creature grappled by you, you gain Advantage on attack rolls using light melee weapons against it.

Wall Crawl

When you reach the 6th level, you gain a climb speed equal to your movement speed.

Crushing Pincers

At 10th level, your hold onto creatures grows stronger. You can grapple Huge or Gargantuan creatures, and creatures larger than you no longer have advantage on their grapple checks against you.

Huge creatures grappled in this manner don't have their movement speed halved, but whenever they move, you move alongside them.

Reflexive Sting

At 14th level, you can sting your victims with great speed. Whenever you grapple a creature, you can make an opportunity attack against it using a light melee weapon as a reaction.

Toad

Followers of the toad style adopt a risky tradition of poison use, that involves coating their armors and skin with venomous substances, inspired by toads encountered on tropical jungles. Some masters of this school even develop a natural way of producing toxins using their bodies. In fighting, they use of powerful leaps to reach their opponents, and tend to use whips to bring enemies closer, in the same way a toad tongue would.

Toad Adept

At 1st level, you have advantage on Wisdom (Survival) and (Perception) and on Dexterity (Stealth) checks you make on a swamp.

In addition, you have advantage on all Strength (Athletics) checks you make to jump.

Toad's Tongue

Starting at 1st level, you can use whips to bring your opponents towards you. You gain proficiency with the whip.

When you hit a creature with a whip, you can cause that creature to be moved up to 10 feet in your direction.

Poisonous Hide

At 3rd level, you have the venomous hide of a toad. You can coat your armor in poison, instead of your weapon. When you do so, whenever a creature causes damage to you with a natural weapon, touch, or unarmed strike, that creature must make the saving throw against your poison.

You also force the creature to make a save against your poison when you grapple it or uses your Toad's Tongue feature against it.

When you gain the Toxic Strikes feature, you cause that toxic strikes effects on the same aforementioned situations.

Swamp Dweller

At 6th level, you have been trained to walk and swim on swamps. You gain a swimming speed equal to your movement speed, and you can hold your breath twice the normal time while underwater.

In addition, your jump height and distance are doubled. In addition, you can use your Dexterity, rather than Strength, to calculate jump height.

Yielding Poison

At 10th level, while you have an armor coated in poison, you can quickly coat your weapons in that same poison, without using an Action. Doing so gives your weapon additional damage equal to your Poison Dice on a hit, and affect a creature hit by the weapon with the toxin effect (not requiring a save) until the end of your next turn.

After coating a weapon on that poison for a number of times equal to your Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1), the poison on the armor wear of. For each time you coat a weapon in that manner, the total duration of the poison on the armor is reduced in 2 minutes.

Venomous Touch

At 14th level, whenever your armor is coated in poison, you can use your bonus action in each turn to touch a creature within 5 feet, causing half your Poison Damage dice in damage. Doing so doesn't require an attack.

Viper

Members of the viper school emphasize the cunning and fast strikes of a snake, using of sudden and unexpected movements to inject their targets with poison. In combat, they favor a steady stance, from where they can launch strikes at a blinding speed, usually favoring the rapier as they weapon of choice.

Viper Adept

Starting when you choose this school at 1st level, you gain proficiency with the rapier and with the Animal Handling skill.

In addition, you have advantage on all Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks you make towards snakes.

Snake's Lunge

At 1st level, you can lunge towards an enemy, striking like a snake. If a creature moves within 10 feet of you, you can lunge towards it and make an opportunity attack.

In addition, you can use your bonus action to lunge towards an enemy. Doing so gives reach to your next attack with a melee weapon.

Sudden Strike

At 3rd level, once per turn when you use your Snake's Lunge against a creature within 10 feet, you make the Attack with Advantage.

Slither

At 6th level, your sinuous movement ignore nonmagical difficult terrain, and you can move through the space occupied by hostile creatures.

In addition, you can Disengage using a bonus action.

Heightened Senses

At 10th level, you acquire the heightened senses of a snake. You gain tremorsense up to a range of 30 feet as long as you are touching the ground.

Deadly Strike

At 14th level, once per turn when you use your Sudden Strike and hit a creature with the attack made at advantage, you cause additional damage, from the weapon's type, equal to your Poison Damage dice.

Toxins

Dazing Toxin

While your target is poisoned, it can't take reactions.

Fevery Toxin

While your target is poisoned, it takes 1d6 fire damage at the end of each turn.

Hypodermic Toxin

prerequisite: 5th level

While your target is poisoned, it takes 1d4 cold damage at the end of each turn, and has its movement speed reduced by 10 feet.

Stunning Toxin

prerequisite: 5th level

While your target is poisoned, it is also stunned.

Weakening Toxin

prerequisite: 5th level

While your target is poisoned, it is also weakened.

Silencing Toxin

prerequisite: 5th level

While the target is poisoned, it is also deaf and unable to speak.

Blinding Toxin

prerequisite: 9th level

While your target is poisoned, it is also blinded.

Paralyzing Toxin

prerequisite: 9th level

While your target is poisoned, it is also paralyzed.

Neurotoxin

prerequisite: 9th level

The poison causes psychic damage, instead of poison. In addition, the target have Disadvantage on Intelligence checks and saves while is poisoned.

Multiclassing

Prerequisites. To qualify for multiclassing into the Poisonous Swordsman class, you must meet these prerequisites: Dexterity 13, Intelligence 13.

Proficiencies. When you multiclass into the Poisonous Swordsman class, you gain the following proficiencies: poisoner's kit, simple weapons, light armor, medium armor, one skill.

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