The Long Farewell – A Guide to Poisons in Pathfinder

"Any man who calls a poison ‘a woman's weapon,’ is a traitor to his fellow men. A dagger, arrow, axe. These are the arms of passion. But poison is cold, calculating. Poison is the thought that wakes you in the morning, and lulls you to sleep at night. You watch your victim die a thousand times before you ever offer him that fateful taste. Is a man's hate so inferior to a woman's that we are to be denied such a weapon?"

―Oberyn Martell

Introduction

Poisons are among the most maligned tools in Pathfinder, and not without reason. In my own Guide to the Unchained Rogue I strongly recommended against their use. In principle, you’d think they’d be great. You can use them to enhance your attacks, debilitate your foes, and in the case of poison that damages Con, they grow more effective the more you use them. Indeed, as a player character, poison can present a severe existential threat when used against you.

In practice, as a PC, poisons leave much to be desired. The main issues concern the following:

• Poisons are expensive.
• Poison DC does not scale well with level.
• Many enemies (undead in particular) are immune to poison.
• Many poisons are not useful in combat due to their delivery method (ie. they must be ingested) or due to prohibitively long onset times.
• Poison targets the fortitude save, which, for a disproportionate number of monsters, is their strongest save.

Making poison use an even circumstantially useful tool thus requires that we mitigate its cost, poor DC scaling, and delivery method. In this guide we will address these problems as well as we can. We will also discuss which poisons are most effective.

For your convenience, items which are PFS-Illegal have been labeled with an asterisk(*).

Color Guide

Blue = Excellent

Green = Good

Orange = OK/Circumstantial

Red = Bad

Races

*Fetchling

Funny story - I created a human vivisectionist/toxicant alchemist who died at level 5. He was reincarnated by a high level druid as a fetchling, and to my delighted surprise, fetchlings turned out to be pretty good at poisons. With a FCB that grants a +1 to the DC of your crafted poisons every 4 levels, they’re almost as good as humans/nagaji in that department. They’ve got a bunch of qualities that help with general roguishness including the +2 to dex, Shadow Blending, Darkvision, and a racial bonus to stealth. Human’s still better, but this isn’t a bad one to consider if you’re going alchemist.

*Grippli

With a +2 to Dex and Wis and a -2 to Str, the Grippli present a decent stat distribution, but the main reason you’d consider them for a poison build is their Toxic Skin alternate racial trait. It’s a poison that will scale with your level based on your Con mod that deals 1d2 dex damage 1/round for 6 rounds. There’s an alchemist discovery (Deadly Excretions) which allows you to convert this into a Con poison. It also provides additional uses of the Debilitating Venom ability with the Poison Darter Ranger, and it can enhance the Sweat Poison spell. It’s a bit niche, but worth considering.

 Half-Elf

Like Humans, half-elves enjoy a flexible ability score, so you can put it wherever you need it. Adaptability can be used to give skill focus in Craft: Alchemy, but you’re probably better off grabbing Ancestral Weapon to gain proficiency in the Sanphkang or Kasatha Spinal Sword. Indeed, I think such proficiency is the main reason you’d consider the half-elf at all. If you need to multiclass (which in PFS especially you might), Multitalented will help you gain the favored class bonus of both of your classes, though it’s worth noting that while the elf and human FCBs for rogue are great, their FCBs for the alchemist are pretty bad. I wouldn’t recommend going this route unless you’re really hurting for weapon proficiency or you have some reason I haven’t thought of.

Human

As usual, humans are one of the best choices for a poison build, and may well be the best choice. The flexible attribute bonus lets you enhance dex, con, or int, whichever you’re relying on most for your poison creation and delivery. You will be moderately feat-starved, so the extra feat is a boon, though you will probably want to use it on Racial Heritage to gain access to the Nagaji favored class bonus (+1/3 to the DCs of your crafted poisons). Skilled is fine, but you may want to consider replacing it with *Dimdweller, *Fey Thoughts, *Heart of Fields (Craft Alchemy), Heart of the Slums, Poison Minion, or Practiced Hunter.

 Nagaji

With a +2 to two stats we’re not interested in and a -2 to our most important stat as an alchemist, the Nagaji have a terrible attribute distribution. Serpent’s Sense could be helpful in milking snakes, but isn’t all that exciting. We’re primarily interested in the Nagaji for their impeccable favored class bonus as an alchemist. +1/3 to your crafted poison DCs will make you much more effective in combat. For this reason, they would be green were humans not able to access it via Racial Heritage. The Spit Venom feat is worth considering, but probably not worth the feat. *EDIT* Look into Virulent Venom, Hemorrhaging Venom, and Viscous Venom, and the Venomblade Fighter archetype.

*Vishkanya

With their bonus to dex, inherent poison use, poison resistance, bonus to stealth, familiarity with blowguns, kukris, Sanpkhang, and shuriken, and their Toxic ability that allows a Vishkanya to envenom a weapon with their own toxic saliva, the Vishkanya are an obvious choice for a poison-based build. They gain access to a variety of feats that can alter their venom, including Sleep Venom, which makes your venom render targets staggered and then unconscious, Deadly Kiss, which turns your venom into a contact poison, and Vishkanya Perfume, which turns it into an inhaled poison. The favored class bonus is nothing to write home about. Overall a fine way to gain access to a free, powerful poison with a DC that scales with level.

*Yaddithian

With a +2 to Int and Con and a -2 to wisdom you could scarcely ask for a better stat distribution. Of particular interest for our purposes is the No Breath ability, which renders them immune to effects which require breathing (such a inhaled poisons). A Yaddithian can thus walk around with a toxic censer, bringing the poison cloud to his enemies and potentially inflicting multiple doses. The darkvision is a boon for a roguish type, though the 20’ movement speed is rough. The claws and natural armor are nice too. Overall a solid, if perhaps not optimal, option.

Classes

PFS-Legal

Alchemist (Crimson Chymist) – This alchemist archetype modifies your mutagen to make you take on qualities of a praying mantis, granting access to various discoveries. The Ingest Venom discovery lets you drink poison to make your natural attacks poisonous. Overall I don’t think it’s worth it, but it’s worth mentioning.

Alchemist (Eldritch Poisoner) – This alchemist archetype replaces bombs with arcanotoxin, which she can use a number of times per day equal to her alchemist level plus her Int modifier. By default, it’s an injury poison with Fort save DC 10 + 1/2 level + Int mod (cure 1 save), 1/rd for 2 rds, 1d2 ability damage. At first level, it deals either str or dex damage. At 3rd level, and every 2 levels thereafter, you can improve the toxin in various ways – add an additional form of damage, grant an onset time of 1 round, increase the ability damage die by a step, increase the number of consecutive saves required to cure by 1, or increase the frequency by 2 rounds. You get a +2 to Craft Alchemy checks to make poisons and antitoxins and can craft in ½ the normal amount of time. You gain sneak attack at 1st level and increase it at 4th and every 4 levels thereafter. You can also forego this sneak attack damage to increase your poison DC by one for each 1d6 forgone. Lastly, you gain exclusive access to a number of poison-based alchemist discoveries. Overall it’s a fine archetype strongly worth considering both on its own and as part of a multiclass. Note that only an alchemist can gain access to Celestial Poisons and Elemental Destabilizers, discoveries that render undead, evil outsiders, and elementals vulnerable to poison, so if that’s important to you (and it probably should be), you should be strongly considering one of the alchemist archetypes. Note that these discoveries do not apply to the Eldritch Poisoner’s arcanotoxin.

Alchemist (Inspired Chemist) - You replace your mutagen with Inspiring Cognatogen which gives you access to the option to select two Investigator talents in place of a discovery that you can only use while under the effect of your cognatogen. This interests us mostly as a means of acquiring the *anathema talent(s), which allow us to craft specialized poisons that will damage foes normally immune to poison, and Lingering Venom, which will demand an additional save against our poisons. It’s less vital for an alchemist than other classes since the alchemist can gain access to Celestial Poisons, but it’s worth considering.

Alchemist (Interrogator) – The interrogator replaces bombs with injections which are essentially melee touch attacks that make the target more susceptible to your influence. Some of the discoveries made available by this archetype are solid choices for a poisoner. The touch attack debilitations are nice, but I don’t think this is ultimately the combat style that will serve us best.

Ranger (Poison Darter) – The poison darter can craft a debilitating venom a number of times per day equal to ½ ranger level + wis mod. This poison is an injury poison, Fort save DC 10+1/2 level + wis mod (cure 1 save), 1/rd for 4 rds, 1d3 dex dmg. At 5th level, the frequency increases to 6 rounds and the toxin sickens the target for 1 round every time it fails a saving throw. At 10th, the dex damage increases to 1d4 and it takes two successful saves to cure the poison. At 15th, the poison can deal str, dex, or con dmg, and at 20th level, the damage increases to 1d6. The Darter has Poison Use in place of Wild Empathy. At 2nd level, in place of his style, the ranger can take any rogue talent that modifies Sneak Attack or any alchemist discovery that modifies poisons using wisdom in place of intelligence. I imagine he’s meant to gain an additional such talent at each level his style improves, but this is not stated in the archetype’s stats, so beware. At 4th level, the darter gains sneak attack as the rogue but only with a blowgun. It increases by 1d6 at 6th level and every 2 ranger levels thereafter. Overall, a fine choice, and one of the few PFS-legal ways to gain access to both the desirable rogue talents and alchemist discoveries without multiclassing, albeit infrequently.

Rogue (Poisoner) – Gives up Trapfinding and Danger Sense to get Poison Use and Master Poisoner, which allows the rogue to use Craft Alchemy to change the type of poison (contact to inhaled, etc.). This is the only PFS-legal way to do this. The rogue also gains a bonus to Craft (Alchemy) checks equal to ½ her rogue level. I strongly recommend using this archetype in conjunction with the Underground Chemist archetype. The combination grants access to nearly everything you’d be looking at Alchemist for in the first place (with the notable exceptions of Celestial Poisons and Elemental Destabilizers).

Rogue (Spy) – The spy gives up Trapfinding and Danger Sense to gain a bonus to bluff to deceive people and Poison Use. It is only on this list because it’s one of the very few archetypes permitted to craft poisons in PFS.

Rogue (Underground Chemist) – While not one of the archetypes that gives you access to poison crafting in PFS, it is a fantastic supplemental archetype for the Poisoner or Spy Rogue, as it will either enhance your alchemist multi-class by letting you deal Sneak Attack with your bombs or give you access to alchemist discoveries in place of advanced rogue talents. At 2nd level, you can retrieve alchemical items as if drawing a weapon and add your Int mod to damage dealt with them. At 4th level, you can deal sneak attack damage with splash weapons. At 10th level, you can take a variety of alchemist discoveries as a rogue talent, including Sticky Poison, *Poison Conversion, and Concentrate Poison. Sadly, though as a GM I would absolutely allow it, Celestial Poisons is not on the list.

Witch (Veneficus) – The witch can choose Concentrate Poison, *Poison Conversion, and Sticky Poison alchemist discoveries in place of hexes. Malignant Poison and Nauseating Flesh can be chosen in place of Major Hexes and Poison Touch can replace your Grand Hex. At 2nd level she gains Poison Use and she can imbue a hex with a dose of injury or contact poison she is holding. The DC of the hex and the poison are each reduced by 2. If the creature fails its save against the hex, the poison is expended and it must make its save against the poison. At 10th level, the DCs are only reduced by 1 and the witch can imbue hexes with inhaled and ingested poisons as well. This is pretty great. Since a lot of hexes inherently harm saving throws, you have a built-in way of making your targets more vulnerable to your poisons. Witches are great debuffers, and poison will let you debuff even more.

*Investigator (Toxin Codexer) - The main appeal of the toxin codexer is the capacity to create poisons in place of extracts, making it the only class I’m aware of that can make craftable poisons for free, albeit temporarily. Considering the main downfall of most poison builds is how much money is sunk into disposable weapons, the value of this can’t be overstated. The fortitude save of these poisons is furthermore based on 10+int mod+extract level, so while it doesn’t scale as well as some of the other archetypes’ abilities, it does scale. The Investigator’s a bit lacking in other combat options, so you will be hard-pressed to deal with enemies immune to poison, and though you have access to some valuable alchemist discoveries (Concentrate Poison and *Poison Conversion) you do not have access to those which overcome poison immunity. That said, the Investigator does gain access to the *Anathema talent, which remedies this problem immensely by letting you create poisons specifically effective against undead, elementals, and any other normally poison-immune creatures you’re likely to encounter. Definitely worth checking out.

PFS-Illegal

*Alchemist (Toxicant) – You give up your mutagen to gain the ability to secrete poison. The main appeal of this is the option of delivering your secretion as a touch attack or applying it to a weapon. The DC scales with level and the poison generally improves. At various levels your poison can inflict a combination of bleed, dazed, shaken, blinded, staggered, paralyzed, and more. It’s also worth noting that unlike other abilities that allow you to secrete poison, the Toxicant has no language detailing how long its poison remains potent, which suggests it remains so indefinitely as is the case with normal poisons. You can thus collect several days’ worth of poison through your secretions. It’s a fine way to gain access to a free, powerful poison that scales with level. Also note that at 14th level, you can imbibe a potion and, if you’re hit by an unarmed attack, expose the attacker to that poison instead of your own. Unfortunately I do not think this allows you to secrete that poison and thus turn yourself into a Frightshade factory.

*Alchemist (Vivisectionist) – Provides sneak attack in place of bombs and a variety of relatively unrelated abilities. Given the synergy that exists between poisoning and sneak attack, it’s a very good route to consider, and it can be used in conjunction with Toxicant.

*Brawler (Venomfist) - The venomfist replaces Knockout and Close Weapon Mastery with the ability to secrete a toxin that’s delivered whenever the Brawler attacks. The DC is based on Con mod and level and the damage is based on Con mod, so it scales well. As it levels up the poison starts inflicting conditions and doing ability damage. It’s a bit of a one-trick pony and doesn’t inherently have access to the massive number of poison options available, but it’s a poison-themed class, and it’s not bad. Note that it does not get Poison Use and it cannot craft poisons in PFS.

*Daggermark Poisoner – There’s a lot to love about this prestige class. It combines many of the best poison-related abilities possessed by any class into a single chassis. Master Poisoner will let you change the delivery method of your poisons, expanding your arsenal. Quick Poisoning will let you apply poison as a move action, and swift poisoning will make it as swift. At 2nd level you get Detect Poison at will. Every second level you get a Toxic Trick, which includes the ninja bomb abilities (which are great), Concentrate Poison as the alchemist discovery, Combine Poison (which lets you put different poisons on your weapons at the same time), Poison Trap (as Ranger Trap), Tailored Toxin (which increases the DC by 2 against a specific creature type), and Toxic Magic (which gives you Accelerate Poison, Delay Poison, Pernicious Poison, Transmute Potion to Poison, or Venomous Bolt as SLAs). Toxic Manufactory will let you craft more quickly. Treacherous Toxin works like the feat of the same name and you get a slow progression of sneak attack (every 5 levels).

Why only green? Because you need five ranks in various skills to get into Daggermark Poisoner, and unless you’re doing some strange build, whatever class you invest in will involve some pretty heavy redundancy with Daggermark Poisoner’s abilities. What’s more, you will be significantly delaying your access to some very good abilities. A vivisectionist will get swift action poisoning by level 6, but a character pursuing it through Daggermark Poisoner will need to wait until level 11. The only thing unique to the prestige class that can’t be earned sooner and better some other way is the list of trap options and some of the tricks (namely the ninja-imitating ones), but they’re not that exciting. If this were a rogue archetype, it would be the best poisoning class in the game. Hell, if the pre-reqs were more reasonable, it would be so, but given how long it takes to even enter the class, most of the benefits are ones you’d have already pursued through other means, and you’d probably be better off sticking in your previous class.

*Druid (Mantella) - Must be Grippli. Whenever you use Wild Shape you always gain the poison abilities of your new form. At 6th level you can absorb a poison and then secrete it, applying it to all of your natural attacks several times per day. This archetype thus offers an extremely efficient way to use a dose of poison, and since shapeshifting is itself a fantastic means of acquiring poison, anyone should be eyeing the druid as a potential poison build. It is green only because the Grippli aren’t the best, the archetype lacks Poison Use, and it never gains access to the exceptional abilities available to the rogue and alchemist.

*Fighter (Venomblade) - Must be Nagaji and must take the Spit Venom feat as your first level fighter bonus feat. You gain various improvements to Spit Venom as you level up, decreasing its action economy and making it no longer provoke. At 6th level and every 4 levels thereafter you gain 1d6 in sneak attack. At 12th level, you replace your bonus feat with the option to spit your venom into a wound you just created with a successful attack as a swift action inflicting a -4 penalty on the target’s save against it. You also deal an additional 1d6 of damage to all successful attacks for 1 round. This is a neat archetype. It’s a bit of a one-trick pony and is closed off to most of what poison use can offer, but its one trick is a decent trick.

*Rogue (Needler) - In place of evasion you get bonuses to your Sleight of Hand checks. At 4th level you can apply contact and ingested poisons to your weapons as if they were injury poisons, but you must deliver the poison within 1 minute and the DC is reduced by 1. You can apply poison to your weapon as a swift action at level 6, and at 8th level, you can deliver inhaled or ingested poison using a sleight of hand check. Since giving up evasion precludes using this archetype in conjunction with Underground Chemist I count it inferior to the Poisoner/Chemist combo. It also never gains Poison Use. Don’t know what they were thinking on that one. It’s not great, but it could be worse.

*Rogue (Rotdrinker) - Give up evasion to gain some poison resistance. Give yourself temporary hit points and alchemical bonuses to your stats by drinking poisons. It’s a poison-themed class, and it’s a neat quirk, but it’s not that helpful for what we’re trying to do.

*Rogue (Swamp Poisoner) - You must be a Grippli with the Poison Skin racial trait. You give up your second level rogue talent to treat all targets affected by your racial poison as flat-footed and your Danger Sense to be able to put a poison trap in a 5’ foot square. This is amazing. It’s a shame it doesn’t stack with any of the other rogue archetypes listed here, which is why it’s only green, but having such a unique additional way to give yourself sneak attack is great.

*Slayer (Toxic Sniper) - work in progress

*Witch (Venom Siphoner) - Your familiar gains a poison to either its bite or claw attacks that deals dex damage and has a DC based on your level and Int. At 2nd level you can’t be poisoned while milking your familiar, and at 6th level you can deliver poison through any spell you cast that demands a fortitude save. It’s a shame you can’t use this in conjunction with Vinificus. You’re basically choosing whether you’d rather deliver your poison through your spells or your hexes. I think hexes are better, but there’s merit to this archetype too.

Crafting Options

The first and simplest way to reduce the cost of your poisons is investing in the Craft: Alchemy skill. Crafting lets you cut the cost of alchemical items down by ⅓, which is radical enough to make some of these appealing. In my recommendations I will be listing the full price but rating assuming you are crafting. For you Society folks, note that crafting is illegal except for certain classes: Poisoner Rogue, Spy Rogue, all versions of the Alchemist, the Poison Darter Ranger, and the Veneficus Witch. Also note that in Society you can only buy poisons at all if you have the Poison Use ability.

For an intrigue role-playing situation, nearly any poison is conceivably useful, but for our purposes we’ll be analyzing poisons for their potential in combat. As such, any poison with a substantial onset time, and all poisons that must be ingested, are impractical and should be considered red. When included here with a rating other than red, I am assuming you have altered the delivery method with the Poisoner Rogue’s Master Poisoner ability, the *Poison Conversion discovery, or something similar, and have altered the onset time with Improved Toxicological Timing, or something similar. If such means are not at your disposal, do not use such poisons.

I have created a spreadsheet listing and rating all poisons presently available in the Archives of Nethys here. Copying such a spreadsheet into a word document has proven impractical, and besides, you probably want to sort the spreadsheet by price, save DC, PFS legality, and so on. I recommend perusing the spreadsheet to make your choices, but for your convenience I have noted some of the most intriguing options here:

In case you missed it: full list of available poisons with ratings.

• Confabulation Powder (80 gp) – DC 18 staggered for 1 minute
• Baneberry (90 gp) – DC 15 1d3 str damage, 1 con dmg, paralyzed for 1d3 rounds
• Oil of Taggit (90 gp) – DC 15 unconscious 1d3 hours
• Bloodwine (100 gp) – DC 25 sickened for 1d4 hours, 1d3 wis damage
• Frightshade (100 gp) – DC 14 shaken until beginning of next turn, shaken for additional 1d4 rounds regardless of save.
• Marvelous Fear Gas (150 gp) – DC 17 Shaken for 10 minutes, 1d2 wis damage
• Chelish Deathapple (200 gp) – DC 23 or go unconscious. Just need to deal with onset and delivery method.
• Purple Pesh (200 gp) – DC 18 1d2 con and str damage, unconscious for 1 hour
• Sloth’s Bite (300 gp) – DC 18 1d2 dex damage and flat-footed until beginning of next turn
• Count Ambras’s Punishment (350 gp) – DC 16 1 dex drain and nauseated for 1 min, 1d2 dex drain and sickened for 1 minute

Milking Options

Probably the least expensive way to acquire poison is to milk it from a willing animal. A creature can produce a number of doses of venom equal to its Con modifier each day, minimum 1. The fortitude save for these poisons are based on the creature’s Con modifier, so keep in mind that by improving your companion’s constitution score (such as with a belt, or with your animal companion’s ability score increase every 4 levels), you can increase your number of milked poisons and their save DCs. The following companions can be milked for poison:

Familiars:

• Centipede, House - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 2 rds - daze 1 rd.
• Dinosaur, Compsognathus – Injury – DC 12 (cure 1 save) – 1/rd for 4 rds – 1d2 str dmg.
• Lich Newt - Injury or Contact - DC 11 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 2 rds - 1d2 str dmg.
• Octopus, Blue-Ringed - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1 str dmg
• Petrifern? It secretes poison but lacks the details of usually poisonous animals.
• Pufferfish - Injury - DC 12 (cure 2 consecutive saves) - 1/rd for 2 rds - initial effect staggered for 1 rd, secondary effect paralyzed for 1d4 rds. **UPDATE** This appears to have been nerfed with the release of Ultimate Wilderness such that the secondary effect is only str damage. Will update soon.
• Scorpion, Greensting - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - sickened for 1 rd.
• Sea Krait - Injury - DC 9 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 con dmg.
• Spider, Scarlet - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 4 rds - 1 str dmg.
• Viper - Injury - DC 9 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 con dmg

Among the basic familiars the Viper, Greensting Scorpion, and Pufferfish stand out. The viper provides access to free con damage poison, though the DC is awful. The Greensting Scorpion’s poison sickens targets and can thus be a useful as an introductory poison to weaken your target’s saving throws for subsequent poisons. Ultimately though, the Pufferfish is king of this section. Two consecutive saves with the highest available DC that inflicts staggered and paralysis. That’s devastating and well worth the trouble of carrying around an aquarium ball.

Improved Familiars:

• *Ceru (7th) - Injury - DC 13 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 con dmg.
• *Doru Div (7th) - Injury - DC 11 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 wis dmg.
• Fiendish Viper (3rd) - Injury - DC 9 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 con dmg.
• Homunculus (7th) - Injury - DC 13 (cure 1 save) - 1/min for 6 min - sleep for 1 min.
• Imp (Devil) (7th) - Injury - DC 13 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 dex dmg.
• Nycar (7th) - Injury - DC 12 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d4 acid and 1 con dmg.
• Pooka (7th) - Inhaled - DC 13 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 wis and 1d2 cha dmg (or intoxication)
• Pseudodragon (7th) - Injury - DC 14 (cure 1 save) - 1/min for 10 mins - Sleep for 1 min.
• Pseudowyvern (7th) - Injury - DC 12 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 2 rds - 1 con dmg.
• *Psyche Serpent (7th) - Injury - DC 14 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d3 wis dmg and becomes a willing creature for the purpose of the Psyche Serpent’s hypnotism.
• Quasit (Demon) (7th) - Injury - DC 13 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 dex dmg.
• *Rakshasa, Raktavarna (7th) - Injury - DC 13 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 wis dmg plus modify memory.
• *Seru (7th) - Injury - DC 15 (cure 1 save) - 1/min for 6 min - 1 con dmg plus blindness for 1 min.
• *Spirit Oni (7th) - Injury - DC 12 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 cha dmg
• *Tripurasura Asura (7th) - Injury - DC 12 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 wis dmg.
• Typhilipede (7th) - Injury - DC 12 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d4 con dmg.

There are enough good options here to justify burning the feat to access them. The Ceru’s two consecutive saves, slightly higher DC, and con damage is pretty appealing, and competes with the Typhilipede’s lower DC but greater damage. The Pseudodragon’s unconsciousness poison is a powerful boon to be milking for free, and it has other benefits as a familiar as well (namely spellcasting). The Homunculus can learn a SLA in addition to its use as a poison cow, so if you can teach it Pernicious Poison or something similar, it could be useful in that regard as well.

Animal Companions:

• Ant, Giant - Injury - DC 14 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 4 rds, 1d2 str dmg
• Centipede, Giant - Injury - DC 13 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds, 1d3 dex dmg
• Dinosaur (Dimorphodon) - Injury - DC 12 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 4 rds - 1d2 str dmg
• Lizard (Monitor) - Injury - DC 14 (cure 1 save) - onset 1 min - 1/hr for 6 hrs - 1d2 dex dmg
• *Marax - Injury - DC 23 - DC 23 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d4 dex dmg
• *Megafauna (Megalania) - Injury - DC 19 (cure 2 consec. saves) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d4 dex dmg
• Octopus - Injury - DC 13 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1 str dmg
• *Pilo - Injury - DC 13 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 4 rds - 1d2 dex dmg
• Scorpion, Giant - Injury - DC 17 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 str dmg
• Snake, Viper - Injury - DC 9 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 con dmg
• Spider - Injury - DC 14 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 4 rds - 1d2 str dmg
• Stingray, Giant - Injury - DC 13 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 4 rds - 1d2 dex and 1 con dmg
• Wasp, Giant - Injury - DC 18 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 dex dmg

The main advantage of animal companions is the potential for increasing Con with level, thus allowing for some DC scaling. Unfortunately, the options suck. None of these animals inflict status effects and only the viper deals con damage, and its DC is low. Seeing as how the Darter Ranger gives up his animal companion anyway, we’d all be looking at sinking two feats to get an animal companion, and frankly, it’s not worth it.

Purchasable Animals:

• Centipede, House (1 cp) - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 2 rds - daze 1 rd.
• Dinosaur, Compsognathus (9,000 gp) – Injury – DC 12 (cure 1 save) – 1/rd for 4 rds – 1d2 str dmg.
• Frog, Poison (60 gp) – Injury – DC 10 (cure 1 save) – 1/rd for 6 rds – 1d2 con dmg
• Lizard (Monitor) – (150 gp) Injury - DC 14 (cure 1 save) - onset 1 min - 1/hr for 6 hrs - 1d2 dex dmg
• Megafauna, Megalania (3,500 gp) – Injury – DC 19 (cure 2 consec. saves) – 1/rd for 6 rds – 1d4 dex dmg.
• Octopus, Blue-Ringed (25 gp) - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1 str dmg
• Octopus, Giant (1,800 gp) – Injury – DC 19 (cure 2 saves) – 1/rd for 6 rds – 1d3 str dmg
• Pseudodragon (200 gp) - Injury - DC 14 (cure 1 save) - 1/min for 10 mins - Sleep for 1 min.
• Scorpion, Greensting (15 gp) - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - sickened for 1 rd.
• Snake, Viper (5 gp) - Injury - DC 9 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 6 rds - 1d2 con dmg
• Snake, Cobra (Emperor) (1,600 gp) – Injury – DC 17 (cure 2 consec. saves) – 1/rd for 6 rds – 1d3 con
• Spider, Scarlet (25 gp) - Injury - DC 10 (cure 1 save) - 1/rd for 4 rds - 1 str dmg.
• Stingray (18 gp) – Injury – DC 13 (cure 1 save) – 1/rd for 4 rds – 1d2 dex and 1 con dmg.
• Toad, Giant (150 gp) – Contact – DC 14 (cure 1 save) – 1/rd for 4 rds – 1d2 wis dmg

One thing PFS folks will want to note is that you can start a scenario with up to three animals: a primary companion, a mount who can only take move actions, and an out-of-combat companion. Unfortunately there aren’t many mounts that make for good poison milking (perhaps the Megalania), but this leaves you two animals you can bring to each adventure to milk for poison outside of combat. If you manage to acquire any more animals during the adventure, for example, purchasing 10 house centipedes for a silver piece, you can have as many non-combat animals as you like. I encourage you to not overdo this (ie. try to streamline your milking process so it doesn’t bog down gameplay), lest you ruin it for the rest of us, but be aware that so long as you’re not looking to order your zoo into battle, you can use them “off-screen” for all your milking needs.

Shapeshifting

Shapeshifting presents perhaps the single best source of poison milking in Pathfinder. Each polymorphing spell achieves, at a certain level, the capacity to exploit the poison of whatever form you assume. As an example, Beast Shape III reads as follows:

“This spell functions as beast shape II, except that it also allows you to assume the form of a Diminutive or Huge creature of the animal type. This spell also allows you to take on the form of a Small or Medium creature of the magical beast type. If the form you assume has any of the following abilities, you gain the listed ability: ...poison….”

So you get poison. Cool. So why is this so incredible? Read this section of the polymorph rules:

“...each polymorph spell can grant you a number of other benefits, including movement types, resistances, and senses. If the form you choose grants these benefits, or a greater ability of the same type, you gain the listed benefit. If the form grants a lesser ability of the same type, you gain the lesser ability instead. Your base speed changes to match that of the form you assume. If the form grants a swim or burrow speed, you maintain the ability to breathe if you are swimming or burrowing. The DC for any of these abilities equals your DC for the polymorph spell used to change you into that form.”

So let’s say you’re a level 13 Alchemist who just got access to Beast Shape III and you have a 22 Int thanks to your +4 headband. This puts your base DC at 22. You can pump it higher with Spell Focus Transmutation or by focusing more on increasing your Int, but let’s just leave it there.

You now polymorph into a regular ol’ viper with a con damage poison that usually has a DC of 9. When you milk yourself, that’s a DC 22 con damage poison, and you can milk a number of doses up to your Con modifier. Pretty neat, huh? When using Beast Shape we need not concern ourselves with choosing forms based on DC; we’re concerned exclusively with effect, frequency, and number of saves.

Unless otherwise stated the poisons below are all injury poisons.

Beast Shape III

There are 24 qualifying creatures in the d20pfsrd Paizo content. I think that only goes up to Bestiary III so there are probably more options. If you know of any good ones, please feel free to share. Here are my recommendations on what’s presently available and easily catalogued:

• Aranea - 1d3 str dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save
• Asp - 1d2 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Blue-Ringed Octopus - 1 str dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save
• Burrowing Lamprey - rules preclude milking this poison
• Cobalt Viper - 1d3 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Compsognathus - 1d2 str dmg - 1/rd for 4 rds - cure 1 save
• Dimorphodon - 1d2 str dmg - 1/rd for 4 rds - cure 1 save
• Emperor Cobra - 1d3 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Ethereal Rat - 1d4 str dmg - 1/rd for 4 rds - cure 1 save
• Giant Blowfish - 1d6 dex dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save
• Giant Forest Lizard - 1d4 dex dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 saves
• Giant Octopus - 1d3 str dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 saves
• Giant Sea Snake - 1d2 dex and 1d2 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Juvenile Seps - 1d4 acid and 1d2 con dmg - 1/rd for 10 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Monitor Lizard - 1d2 dex dmg - 1/hr for 6 hrs - onset 1 min - cure 1 save
• Octopus - 1 str dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save
• Platypus - 1 nonlethal dmg - 1/rd for 4 rds - cure 1 save
• Poisonous Frog - 1d2 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save
• Riptide Horror - 1d4 dex dmg plus paralysis - 1/rd for 1d4 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Sea Snake - 1d3 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save
• Stingray - 1d2 dex and 1 con dmg - 1/rd for 4 rds - cure 1 save
• Uraeus - Initial effect blinded and paralyzed 1 rd, secondary effect blinded 2d4 rds - 1/rd for 2 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Venomous Snake - 1d2 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save
• Viper - 1d2 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 1 save

Monstrous Physique III

• Adaro - paralyzed for 1 min - 1/min for 4 min - cure 2 consec. saves
• Deathsnatcher - 1d4 con drain - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Euryale - 1d4 dex, 1d4 con, and vulnerable to sonic for 1 min - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 3 consec. saves
• Girtablilu - 1d4 dex dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Jorogumo - 1d6 wis dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 3 saves
• Maenad - 1d3 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Medusa - 1d3 str dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Pukwudgie - 1d3 con dmg - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Thriae Queen - 1d6 con dmg or drain (unclear) plus staggered for 1 rd - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves

Plant Shape I

• Weedwhip - nauseated for 1 rd - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves

Fey Form II

• Nereid - 1d2 con dmg plus blindness - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves
• Pooka - inhaled - 1d2 wis and 1d2 cha damage (or intoxication) - 1/rd for 6 rds - cure 2 consec. saves

Dead Creatures and Hazards

In addition to the methods discussed above, it’s worth noting that, should the opportunity arise, you can retrieve poison from the circumstances encountered while adventuring.

Harvesting from Dead Creatures

Provided a venomous creature has been dead for less than 24 hours, you can harvest its venom sacks for your own use. It takes 10 minutes of work, requires access to surgical tools, and a container to store the venom in. A dagger or light slashing weapon can substitute with a -2 penalty to your check. The check is a Survival check DC 15 + dead creature’s CR. On success, you harvest one dose of poison plus one additional dose for every 5 by which you exceed the DC (max creature’s Con modifier). For this reason, you may want to invest some skill ranks into Survival.

Harvesting from Hazards

Sometimes you will encounter poisonous hazards during your adventure. When you do, you can extract this poison with one hour of work and the use of an Alchemist’s Lab or an Alchemy Crafting Kit. The check is a Survival check DC 15 + hazard’s CR and success yields one dose of the hazard’s poison. For this reason you may wish to invest ranks in Survival as well as Knowledge (Dungeoneering) in order to identify hazards.

Alchemist Discoveries

• Celestial Poisons – Affect undead and evil outsiders with poison. Alchemist must be level 8.
• Concentrate Poison – Combine two doses of poison to extend frequency by 50% and increase save DC by +2. The poison must be used within 1 hour or it’s ruined.
• *Designer Poison - Select a type (and subtype if appropriate) from the Ranger’s favored enemy list. When you craft a poison, you can make its DC have a +4 vs. this type and -2 vs. all other types. Pretty cool.
• *Enduring Toxin - For the cost of one hour of work, ½ the market price of the poison your crafting’s in additional raw materials, and guaranteed exposure to the poison you’re working on, you can double your poison’s duration. You must be a level 8 alchemist to take this discovery.I don’t think this is worth it, as often your poison won’t even last its entire duration, and if it does, the target’s probably dead, and poisoning yourself plus more than doubling your price of crafting is a bit much for such a benefit.
• Elemental Destabilizers – Create poisons that affect elementals. Alchemist must be level 8.
• Malignant Poison – As a full round action, increase the save DC of a poison by 4 and its duration by 2 frequency increments. Also removes onset time. Alchemist must be level 10. The upgraded poison must be used semi-immediately so this isn’t ideal, but it can be a good pre-combat buff.
• *Poison Conversion – Convert poison to another type, for example, Injury to Inhaled. Alchemist must be level 6.
• Precise Poison – When you deal a critical hit with a weapon using poison, increase the save DC of the poison by the weapon’s critical multiplier.
• Sticky Poison – Weapon remains poisoned for a number of strikes equal to the alchemist’s Int modifier. Alchemist must be level 6.

Rogue Talents

• Lasting Poison – Your poison lasts a number of successful attacks equal to your Dex mod, but your target gets a +2 circumstance bonus to their fortitude save. Strictly inferior to Sticky Poison, but if you don’t have access to discoveries, this is the next best thing.
• Swift Poison – Apply poison to your weapon as a move action. I feel the value of applying poison to weapons quickly is a bit overstated, as we can do so outside of battle and should only need to replenish the poison if our Sticky/Lasting Poison doses run out, but it’s certainly worth considering.
• Deadly Cocktail – Advanced Rogue Talent that lets you apply two doses of poison to a weapon, inflicting either two poisons with each attack or improving the DC and frequency of the poison. Fantastic.
• Stalker Talent - Advanced Rogue Talent that gives you access to a vigilante talent as if you were a Stalker Vigilante at 10th level. Check out the *Poisoner talent.

Slayer Talents

• *Focused Poison - When the Slayer studies a target, he can reduce the number of additional studied targets he can maintain. For each target reduced in this way, the DC of poisons used against his studied targets increases by 1. Must be 6th level. A cheap way to increase poison DC!

Investigator Talents

• *Anathema - When you create a poison, either through crafting or through a racial or class ability, you can use a point of inspiration to create an anathema which is effective even against enemies normally immune to poison. Choose a creature type (and subtype if applicable) from the Ranger favored enemy list; your anathema functions only against this type. The anathema is only effective against that group. Furthermore, choose one of the following: damage reduction (except DR/-), one type of energy resistance, fast healing, movement speed, or SR. If your anathema is successful, that choice is reduced by 5 for 1 round per Investigator level. Marvelous, and worth considering a dip into Investigator for.
• *Anathema, Greater - The ability reduction of your anathema increases to 10, and you add DR/- and regeneration to the list of abilities you can reduce. In addition, you can designate a specific kind of creature in addition to the creature type. When used against this specific foe, the DC to save against the anathema is 2 higher than the component poison.
• Lingering Venom - Poisons you apply to weapons and traps require an additional save to cure. Investigator must be at least 5th level to acquire this talent. Very nice.

Vigilante Talents

• *Poisoner - You gain Poison use. At 6th level, when you have 5 doses of the same kind of poison, you can synthesize a dose of that poison once per day at no cost. This takes 1 minute and doesn’t expend any doses. It becomes inert if it leaves your possession. You can maintain one dose of such poison for every 5 doses of that poison in your possession. This is an excellent way to mitigate cost.

Feats

• Ability Focus - +2 to the DC of poisons you milk from yourself via your own abilities, like that from the Toxicant archetype.
• Adder Strike – Swift action apply poison to unarmed strike body parts. You must still protect yourself from your own poison. If you’re going for unarmed strikes to deliver your poisons you’re going to have a lot more trouble applying poison outside of battle, so being able to do it as a swift action is much more useful than usual.
• Brewmaster - +2 craft alchemy and Profession Brewer checks and +1 to the DC of any ingested poison you create. Does the increase in DC still apply when you convert your normally ingested poison to another form? I’m not sure. Green if it does, since there are some fantastic ingested poisons, red if it doesn’t. You need to be a dwarf.
• Daggermark Lore – Choose a poison. When you deliver that poison, the number of saves needed to cure it increases by 1 and the DC to cure it with Neutralize Poison increases by 5. If you have the Poison Lore class feature, you’re considered to have the Poison Use class feature for the purpose of meeting pre-reqs. I’d consider this for either my most frequently-employed poison or my most devastating one.
• Deadly Kiss – must have the toxic racial trait and be a Vishkanya. As a swift action when applying your venom to a weapon or object, you can alter it to become a contact poison for 1d4 rounds, and you can use your toxic racial trait one additional time per day.
• Deific Obedience (Norgorber) - +2 to the DCs of any poison you use when it’s applied to a weapon. This is great, but you need to wait until 16th level for this benefit.
• Vital Strike -> Deep Toxin – When you use a poisoned weapon to make a vital strike, you increase the poison’s duration by one frequency increment. The poison does not have an onset time. The ability to eliminate the onset time is the reason this feat is blue. Vital strike is less than ideal as it limits you to a single attack, and to maximize our poison effectiveness, we generally want to be making full attacks as often as possible.
• Skill Focus (Diplomacy) -> Eldritch Heritage (Serpentine) – Allows you to grow fangs that secrete poison with Fort DC 10+1/2 level + Con dealing 1 Con damage 1/rd for 6 rds. At 5th level, they increase to 1d2 con. At 7th, it takes 2 successful saves to cure, and at 11th, they reach 1d4 con. You can use your fangs a number of times per day equal to 3+Cha, though unfortunately they will not last long enough for you to milk.
• *Infuse Poison – You can infuse an ingested poison you create with a spell of third level or lower such that when you deliver the poison you deliver the spell as well. While your GM might not allow it, there’s nothing RAW that says you can’t convert the poison into another delivery method after you’ve infused it. Aggravate Infliction or Pernicious Poison within an injury poison could be devastating. You can also hypothetically infuse a very weak poison with beneficial spells and deliver buffs to your allies by poisoning them. This seems potentially cheesy as hell, but I know of no RAW that prevents this.
• Insightful Delivery – When you use a poisoned weapon to attempt an attack in conjunction with a studied strike, the DC to resist the poison increases by half the number of your studied strike dice.
• Natural Poison Harvester - You get a +2 to the save DC of your poison created from harvesting poisonous monsters. Useful for all the animal harvesting and self-harvesting recommended elsewhere in this guide.
• Pernicious Stab – When you hit an opponent with a poisoned sneak attack, you can sacrifice sneak attack dice in groups of 2d6 to increase the DC of your poison by 1 for each 2d6. For most of the game this is flat out worse than Treacherous Toxin, however it has one benefit - no cap. Treacherous Toxin maxes out at DC25, so once you’re higher level and are able to pump your poison DCs up to legitimately high numbers, Treacherous Toxin’s returns start to stagnate while Pernicious Stab’s will not. Consider this a great feat for retraining as you develop into it.
• Pinpoint Poisoner – When you use Adder Strike, you can instead poison up to two blowgun darts that you can then use to strike your opponents in melee. While holding these darts, you can spend a standard action to attack with one or a full attack to attack with both. Such attacks are melee touch attacks that deal 1d2 damage plus any bonuses you gain on your normal unarmed strike damage, and they deliver the poison. You can also throw the darts as if they were shuriken, making your ranged attack rolls against the target’s AC. This is one of very few ways to target touch AC with a poisoned attack, and I think it’s a better way to do it than firearms. I’m not a big fan of using unarmed strikes with poison, but I admit it has, at least, this merit.
• Poison Focus – The DC of any poison you craft and any spells you cast with the Poison descriptor increases by 1.
• *Poison Shot Deed (Grit) – You can spend 1 grit point to load firearm with one dose of ingested or inhaled poison as a move action. This action has no chance of poisoning you as if you had the Poison Use class feature. Shooting the loaded firearm is a standard action that provokes an AoO and sprays the poison in a 15’ cone. All in the cone are exposed to the poison and must immediately make a save as if the onset time had elapsed. If you’re a gunslinger looking to deliver poisons and you’re trying to deal with onset time, this does so.
• Poisoner’s Channel – If you have 3d6 of channel and you’re a worshiper of Norgorber you can make anyone who failed their save against your negative energy channel to damage a living creature suffer a -4 penalty on saving throws against poison for 1 minute. It’s neat, but you’re probably not a channeler.
• Powerful Poisoning – When you damage an opponent with a power attack while using a poisoned weapon, you can forego power attack bonus to damage to increase the DC of your poison by 1. When your BAB hits +4, and every +4 thereafter, the bonus to the poison’s save DC increases by an additional 1. This cannot cause the DC to exceed 15 + ½ character level.
• *Spider Summoner - If you’re a Drow with access to summoning spells you can add spiders to your summoning list. More importantly, the DC of the summoned monster’s poison increases by 2, and you can milk your summoned monsters for their venom. This is awesome, but you probably can’t summon, and you’re probably not Drow.
• Spirit Oni Master – Wear a mask to gain a gore attack to which you can apply poison as a move action. More attacks means more doses of poison.
• Spit Venom – Nagaji only, as a full round action, spit poison up to 10’ as a ranged touch attack. If you hit, target makes a fort save or is blinded for 1d6 rounds. DC = 10+1/2 hit dice + con mod. Use ability 1/day + once for every 3 HD you have. Blinded is pretty powerful and ranged touch attacks will usually hit.
• Subtle Poisoner – When you have poison in hand, you can make a DC 20 sleight of hand check to poison a weapon as you draw it. Failure means that nearby creatures can attempt an opposed Perception check to notice the poison, and failure by 5 or more means you risk poisoning yourself unless you have something preventing it (like Poison Use). The poison while drawing the weapon is the main appeal of this feat, though I don’t know how often you’ll just happen to have poison in-hand.
• Toxic Spell (Metamagic) – Use a poison as a material component and increase your spell by 1 level to force anyone who fails their save against your spell to also make a save against your poison. Failure results in immediate effect, no onset time, even if there usually is one. If you’re a Veneficus Witch, you should absolutely be looking into this, if not as a feat, then as a rod.
• Toxicological Timing – You can increase or decrease the unit of time used to measure the frequency of a poison you craft by 1 step. For example, you could increase a 1/min for 4 min poison to 1/rd for 4 rd or decrease it to 1/hour for 4 hours. This is borderline mandatory to make effective use of some of the best poisons.
• Toxicological Timing, Improved – Whenever you craft a poison with the Craft (Alchemy) skill, you can add or subtract up to 1 day from its onset time (to a minimum                    onset period of 1 round). This too is mandatory for some of the best poisons, like Chelish Deathapple and Oil of Taggit.
• Treacherous Toxin – When you make a sneak attack, you can increase the DC of your poison by 1 for every 1d6 of sneak attack you forgo. This can’t cause the DC to exceed 15 + ½ your character level. For most of your development this will be preferable to Pernicious Stab.
• Unseen Poison – You must be able to cast nondetection. This forces anyone who attempts to magically detect your poison to make a caster level check, and if they fail, they can’t detect it.
• Vishkanya Perfume – Swift action expend a use of your toxic racial trait to alter your venom into an inhaled poison for 1d4 rounds. DC is 2 lower. At one point during the duration you can choose an adjacent foe to be the target of your inhaled venom. You also gain one additional use of your toxic racial trait per day.

Traits

• Alchemical Adept - +2 to Craft (Alchemy) checks to create alchemical items and you don’t lose any materials if you fail the check by 5 or more so long as you don’t roll a one. Not bad!
• Augmented Spell Poisons (Race, Vishkanya) - +1 to your poison spell save DCs.
• *Black Sheep (Campaign) – Choosing Apothecary lets you start the adventure with 400 gp in poisons and you have a contact who will continue to sell poisons to you.
• *Boarded in Mediogalty (Campaign, Serpent’s Skull) - +2 trait bonus on saves vs. poison and you can choose one type of poison from the list against which you are immune.
• Harvester (Social) – You do not risk poisoning yourself when applying a poison from a venomous creature. You also gain a bonus to professions you probably don’t care about. 
• House of Green Mother’s Pupil (Magic) – +1 to Handle Animal and can replace Iron Will when qualifying for the Familiar Bond feat. Great if you’re looking for a familiar to milk.
• Opportunistic (Religion, Calistria) - +1 on AoOs made with daggers, swords, and whips. We’re not all that oriented around AoOs, but we are likely to use daggers.
• Poisonous Slayer (Religion, Norgorber) - +1 trait bonus to attack rolls made with a poisoned weapon.
• Potent Concoctions (Religion, Ghlaunder) – Choose two poisons from page 559 of the core rulebook; the DC to resist these poisons when you inflict them on enemies is increased by 1. This would be blue were it not for the fact that CRB poisons mostly suck.
• Venom-Drenched (Religion, Norgorber, Halfling) – Immunity to one type of non-magical poison. You can imbibe it and anything that bites you in the next 24 hours is subject to that poison’s effects.

Weapons

When selecting a weapon keep in mind that you generally want to be inflicting as many doses of poison per attack as possible. Multiple doses of the same poison increase the save DC and multiple doses of separate poisons act in parallel. More attacks thus improves your general poison effectiveness, and thus, maximizing your number of attacks is generally preferable to alternatives.

Ranged weapons have the advantage of usually not requiring movement to fire them, thus you will have more full attacks more often. You can also achieve a large number of attacks relatively inexpensively via Rapid Shot. On the downside, once ammunition hits, it’s destroyed, so you will never benefit from the Lasting Poison rogue talent or Sticky Poison discovery. One hit, one dose. That’s pretty inefficient. Moreover, any ammunition that misses the target has only a 50% chance of being recovered, so you could be firing off your expensive poison for nothing pretty often.

With melee weapons, you will make full use of your repeated-hit poison abilities and you can benefit from flanking and sneak attack if you have it. The two-weapon fighting chain is probably the best way to get multiple attacks, but it’s feat intensive. Melee combat will also require you to move into position, which will reduce your frequency of full attacks, and it will put you at greater risk of being attacked by enemies.

For these reasons, in my opinion, the best option for a poison build is thrown weapons. You get all the benefits of your multiple-dose abilities, the capacity to use Rapid Shot, and the option to switch into melee if you like. It’s a bit feat intensive, as you’ll need to take Point Blank Shot, Rapid Shot, and Quick Draw at a minimum, and you’ll likely want Precise Shot as well, but it’s worth it. If you’re worried about losing access to your knives after you’ve thrown them, look up the Blinkback Belt. You can have four light weapons hanging off this belt, each treated with a different poison, and the instant you throw it, it teleports back into your belt. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Without further ado, here are several weapons worth considering:

• Blowgun – 20’ ranged weapon with darts you can load with poison. It’s the required weapon of the Darter Ranger. It could be worse, but it isn’t ideal.
• Courtesan’s Ire (10,305 gp) - +1 fighting fan that can shoot barbs out in a 15’ cone deal 3d4 damage DC 14 reflex save for half. The fan can be treated with poison, and if it is, the poison affects all targets that take damage from the fan’s shooting barbs, though the DC of the poison is reduced by 2. This is a great way to get more bang for your buck with your poisons.
• Dagger – Your entry-level weapon for poison use and the ultimate switch-hitter. it can be used as either a thrown or melee weapon depending on your needs, and all classes are proficient in it. As a ranged weapon it’s a bit of a liability with its 10’ increment, so if you mean be primarily a weapon-thrower you may want to invest in something else.
• Dart – If you mean to do most of your damage by throwing weapons at range, darts are a strong alternative to daggers. They enjoy a 20’ range increment while dealing identical damage (albeit only piercing). You would likely be best served carrying a combination of daggers, darts, and a primary melee weapon, like a Sanpkhang or one of the magical weapons listed in blue in this section.
• Halfling Spongestones – Ammunition can be used to deliver poison. Neat I guess, but slings are pretty poor weapons in Pathfinder.
• *Kasatha Spinal Sword – Light one-handed sword that gives a +2 to the DC of poisons used with it. Fantastic.
• Pitted bullet – Allows the use of poisons in bullets with -2 DC plus some extra cost. It’s your only option if you mean to use firearms, and targeting touch AC may be worth it, but there are a lot of good reasons to avoid this route, not least being the lack of ability to make use of Sticky Poison. If you thought being a gunslinger was expensive, meet the Poison Ammo Gunslinger.
• Poisoned Sand Tube – Filled with fine sand soaked or coated in 3 doses of inhaled or contact poison. Blown out in a 15’ cone causing all in AoE to be afflicted with 1 dose of the poison. Kinda neat, though using up three doses of poison could get expensive depending on how you’re getting it.
• Sanpkhang – A vishkanyan Knife that increases DC of injury poison used on it by 1, or by 2 on a critical hit or sneak attack. This is, in my opinion, the best poison weapon in the game, but it will require Exotic Weapon proficiency unless you’re Vishkanyan, and even then, you’ll need some means of becoming proficient in martial weapons. Tengu sword trained might be a solid alternative.
• Serpent’s Fang (10,302 gp) - A +1 dagger that can store 5 doses of poison each of which can be released onto the dagger as a swift action by uttering its name. This is a great way to add some versatility to your primary melee weapon if that’s the way you’re fighting.
• Snakebite Dagger (9,760 gp) - The cheapest weapon we have of getting a +2 to our poison DCs without having to invest in exotic weapon proficiency.
• *Spider-leg Sickle – Sickle that deals piercing damage and can hold a dose of poison for up to 2 hours. I’m not sure what the appeal of this is seeing as how you can apply poison to any weapon and have it last indefinitely.
• Syringe Spear – Spear that allows you to inject the liquid contents of a syringe into your successfully-hit target. Why would you ever do this? Because you can coat the spear with one poison and inject them with another inflicting two doses of the same poison or two poisons at once. I don’t this is the most cost effective approach to poisoning, but it has merit.
• Calistrian Kiss - +1 heartseeker elven curve blade can store multiple doses of poison and inflicts a -4 penalty on saves to poison for anyone hit by the blade. Very nice.

Enchantments

• *Virulent (+1 bonus) - The DC of any poison applied to a virulent weapon increases by the enhancement bonus of the weapon. Fantastic. In PFS, this is ratfolk-only.
• Toxic (+2 bonus) - +2 to the DC of any poison applied to the weapon and there is a 25% chance the poison is not expended in the attack. The latter quality can be used only once per dose. +2 is a bit pricey, but considering how scarce reliable means of increasing poison DC are, this is great.

Equipment

• *Amazing Tools of Manufacture (12,000 gp) - Provide a +4 circumstance bonus to craft checks with a specific craft skill, and when you have 6 or more ranks, you can finish in 1 hour if the item costs less than 1,000 gp. I think this is less useful for alchemy crafters than other sorts, but if you have wealth to burn, go for it.
• Blinkback Belt (5,000 gp) – A belt that lets you hang up to four light weapons. After throwing them, the weapon teleports back to the belt once the attack is resolved. Ideal for a throwing dagger build for use with Sticky Poison or Lasting Poison.
• Chalice of Poison Weeping (8,000 gp) - Once per day you can remove the poison from a subjects body as Neutralize Poison and collect the poison as a single dose (though it’s at -4 DC). If a comrade is unfortunate enough to get poisoned and you want to see it as an opportunity to increase your arsenal, this is a way to do it. It also works well in conjunction with the Absorb Toxicity spell.
• *Death’s Will (3,600 gp) - As a swift action you can fire poison from a needle in the glove delivering a stream of poison to a target within 30’ as a ranged touch attack. The needle can hold a single dose at a time. It also gives a +4 competence bonus to Sleight of Hand checks to conceal poisons. Very cool.
• Doctor’s Mask (50 gp) - +1 circumstance bonus vs. airborne toxins and scent-based effects.
• *Filter Mask (Technology Guide) (4,500 gp) - While charged with power and worn, you are immune to inhaled poisons and diseases. When out of power, it provides a +3 resistance bonus against airborne toxins and diseases. Can be helpful if you’re frequently dealing with your own inhaled poisons.
• *Filter Mask (Heroes of the Darklands) (5 gp) - +2 bonus on fortitude saves against inhaled poisons or diseases and other inhaled particles such as smoke or spores.
• Poison Belcher (50 gp) - 10’ ranged increment touch attack that lets you effectively treat an ingested poison as a contact poison for an additional 10 gp in gold dust.
• Poisoner’s Jacket (12,000 gp) – Three times per day you can create any poison in the CRB worth less than 300 gp. The poison lasts for 1 hour. It’ll take 40 uses for you to break even, but you’re pretty likely to make 40 uses. Unless you have some means of converting poison types and removing onset times, the options aren’t great, but if you can do so, Sassone leaf residue isn’t bad and might be worth investing in the jacket to get consistently for free.
• Poison Pill Ring (20 gp) – Hide a dose of poison in your ring.
• Poison Sealant (20 gp) - Prevents poison from being washed off your weapon by water. Necessary for underwater adventures.
• Poison Tattoo (50 gp) - If you’re Vishkanya, temporarily boosts the DC of your poison by +2. After using, the tattoo becomes an ordinary tattoo.
• Poison Vial of Distance (3,000 gp) - Load this sucker up with an ingested or contact poison, give it a shake, and make a ranged touch attack with a +4 bonus against a target within 30’. If successful, the poison is inflicted on the target. Amazing. And you saw that lack of asterisk right! PFS-legal.
• Poisoner’s Gloves (5,000 gp) - Deliver a dose of poison as part of a melee touch attack, unarmed strike, or natural attack using hands (claw or slam). I don’t think it’s the best way to deliver poisons, but it’s a reliable one.
• Stat Belt/Headband (4,000, 16,000, 36,000) - Enhancement bonus to your most important stat. Consider buying a Con belt for the companions you’re milking too.
• *Toxic Censer (115 gp) - Deposit a poison in this censer and light it. It forms a 20’ radius cloud of the poison within which anyone is exposed to a dose. This will convert any poison into an inhaled poison. Make sure to take measures to protect yourself and the party from this weapon (a Delay Poison, Communal ought to do it), but if used properly, this can be pretty impressive.
• Training Harness (10 gp) - +2 circumstance bonus to handle animal checks with the animal wearing the harness. I find the idea of a dozen house centipedes wearing little harnesses to assist in milking kind of adorable.

Useful Spells

Absorb Toxicity - You absorb the toxicity of your surroundings until you choose to absorb a poison to which you are exposed, at which point you become immune to only that poison. While you have it absorbed you can use a melee touch attack to transfer the affliction to another creature. Success inflicts the poison on the target and they must make a saving throw vs. the affliction with a DC equal to the affliction or your spell, whichever is higher, or suffer its effect immediately. When combined with a Chalice of Poison Weeping, this can be used to collect otherwise difficult-to-acquire poisons, such as those in a trap, hazard, or, say, from a Prismatic Spray. It’s a circumstantial spell to be sure, but a neat one.

Accelerate Poison - If a poison normally has an onset time, its effects begin immediately. If it normally has no onset time, its frequency doubles, requiring two saving throws and inflicting damage twice per round or minute, though the duration is halved. Nice.

Aggravate Affliction - All recurring effects (including curses, diseases, and poisons) possessed by the targeted creature immediately trigger. A successful saving throw does not count toward ending the affliction and this extra save does not change the timing of the next save against the affliction. Nice, especially when the target is suffering from multiple poisons and an excellent candidate for Infuse Poison.

Beguiling Gift - If an adjacent target fails their will save they immediately take a given object. On their next turn, they consume or don the object. This is a potential magical means of delivering poisons, and as a level 1 spell, a pretty cheap one, though it depends on the target having both a poor will save and a poor fort save.

Contingent Venom - Allows you to make the actual onset of a venom occur at a specific moment, such as when you yell a certain word. Main application of this would be to apply multiple doses of venom and then make them all trigger at once, raising the save DC significantly. Costs money, fourth-level spells, and a lot of action economy, but maybe useful in the right circumstances.

Daggermark’s Exchange - You can ingest a poison to convert it into another poison of equal or lesser value with a successful Craft: Alchemy check. I don’t know why you’d want to do this. Perhaps you got a bunch of crappy poisons during the course of your adventure?

Drain Poison - Allows you to drain one dose of a creature’s venom to your weapon for 24 hours. It’s an essential spell if you’re not training Handle Animal, but why are you not training Handle Animal?

Invigorating Poison - When the subject would take ability damage from a poison, they instead gain a +4 alchemical bonus to the ability that would have been damaged. It won’t last for a long duration, but this could give you a quick buff if you need it.

Overwhelming Poison - Cast this on a poisoned creature or on a dose of your poison to render your poison immune to Delay Poison and increase the neutralize DC by 5. The poison uses its own save DC or the DC of Overwhelming Poison, whichever is higher. It’s a pretty high level spell for such a buff to your poison, but it’s 10 min/level and it’s good for what it does.

Pernicious Poison - Target gains a -4 penalty against poisons and poisons affecting the target continue for an additional 2 frequency increments. Attempts to cure the poison with skill or magic take a -4 penalty. Beautiful, and another fine candidate for Infuse Poison.

Sickening Strikes - Inflict 1 minute of sickened with all your attacks for 1 minute per level. Sickened enemies have a -2 to their fort saves vs. your poisons.

Sweat Poison - Lets you sweat poison from your skin which you can apply to your weapons as a move action. It’s not a very efficient way to be poisoning your weapons, and the poison isn’t very good, but it’s free.

Touch Injection - 2nd level alchemist spell, 3rd level wizard, lets you imbibe something and later deliver it as a melee touch attack for a 1 hour/level. The imbibed material immediately takes effect with no onset time (they still get a save though). Looking for a way to inflict that Chelish Deathapple and other poisons that are great but are ingested or have onset times? Here’s a solid way to do it at low levels.

Toxic Gift - A somewhat questionable tactic unless you have some means of protecting yourself from your poison, essentially you inflict a poison on yourself, cast this spell, and inflict the poison on your target with a touch attack, except instead of using the poison’s DC, you use your spell’s DC. This is one potential means of raising your otherwise crappy poisons’ DCs, or rendering moot the DC penalty caused by the chalice of poison weeping.

*Drugs

A potential alternative to poisons is to use drugs. Most drugs have a mixture of positive and negative effects, generally the former out-weighing the latter, but there are a few, or perhaps just one, where using it as a poison makes a lot of sense.

*Opium (25 gp) - Injury, Inhaled, or Ingested - Fort DC 20 - 1 hour - +1d8 temporary hit points for 1 hour, +2 alchemical bonus on fort saves, 1d4 con damage, 1d4 wis damage, fatigued.

Dealing With Problems

Removing Onset Time

• Deep Toxin feat – Any poison you use on a weapon while using Vital Strike has no onset time.
• Malignant Poison Discovery – Removes onset time among other fine benefits. Requires alchemist level 10.
• Poison Shot Deed – Any poison fired from a weapon using this deed is inflicted as if the onset time has already elapsed.
• Toxic Spell Metamagic feat – If you use your poison as a material component in your spell, the poison affects the target with no onset time.
• Improved Toxicological Timing feat – Allows you to modify an onset time by up to 1 day to a minimum of 1 round.
• Accelerate Poison Spell - 2nd level spell for several classes, it explicitly removes any onset time associated with the relevant poison.

Converting Delivery Method

• *Poison Conversion Discovery – Convert poison to another type. Alchemist level 6.
• Master Poisoner (Poisoner Rogue Archetype) – 3rd level Poisoner Rogue ability allows you to convert poisons from one type to another with one hour of work and a craft DC equal to the poison’s DC.
• Master Poisoner (Daggermark Poisoner Prestige Class) – 1st level of the prestige class gives you the same ability as the Poisoner Rogue.
• Poison Belcher (50 gp) - 10’ ranged increment touch attack that lets you effectively treat an ingested poison as a contact poison.

Make Poison Last For Multiple Hits

• Lasting Poison Rogue Talent – Applying poison in this way allows the poison to last for two successful attacks instead of just one. If you’re an Unchained Rogue, it lasts for a number of attacks equal to your Dex mod. The target gets a +2 circumstance bonus to their saving throw vs. the poison when it’s used in this way.
• Sticky Poison Alchemist Discovery – When you apply poison, the weapon remains poisoned for a number of strikes equal to your Int modifier. Alchemist level 6.
• Toxic Enchantment - A weapon with the toxic enchantment has a 25% chance of the applied poison dose not being expended upon a successful hit. This can only be used once per dose.

Changing Frequency of Poison

• Toxicological Timing Feat – Increase or decrease the unit of time to measure the frequency of the poison by one step.

Increasing DC

• Concentrate Poison Discovery - Allows you to combine two doses of the same poison into one container, increasing the DC by 2 and the frequency by 50%. This combination becomes inert after 1 hour.
• Malignant Poison Discovery - As a full-round action, an alchemist can increase a poisons DC by 4 and its duration by 2, and remove its onset time. The change lasts until the extended duration time expires or until the Alchemist’s level in minutes has elapsed, whichever comes first.
• Deadly Cocktail Advanced Rogue Talent - Combine two doses of the same toxin to increase the DC by 2 and the duration by 50%. You can also do this with separate poisons meaning they will act in parallel.
• Multiple Doses - Inflicting multiple doses of a poison on your target will inherently increase the DC. This is most easily achieved via multiple hits from your poisoned weapon or multiple applications of your inhaled poison into the same cloud.
• Nagaji Alchemist Favored Class Bonus - The Nagaji Alchemist favored class bonus increases the save DC of your crafted poisons by 1 every 3 levels.
• Increase Milked Creature’s Constitution - As most poison save DCs are based on the constitution score of the creature from which it was milked, increasing your pet’s Con modifier via a Belt of Might Constitution or a Bear’s Endurance spell that lasts longer than 10 minutes will increase the DC of the milked poison.
• Beast Shape III - The poison milked from yourself while under the effect of Beast Shape III has a DC equal to the DC of the spell used to perform the polymorph. As such, it will be based on your casting stat and the level of the spell, which is likely to be much higher than the normal DC of the animal into which you transformed.
• Poison Focus Feat - +1 to the DC of your crafted potions.
• Insightful Delivery Feat - When you use a studied strike with a poisoned weapon, the DC of your studied strike increases by the number of D6s used with your Studied Strike.
• Pernicious Stab Feat (Inferior to Treacherous Toxin) - You can forego 2d6 of sneak attack to increase your poison’s DC by 1. This provides the same benefit, but is completely inferior, to the Treacherous Toxin feat.
• Powerful Poisoning Feat - You can forego the extra damage from your Power Attack to increase your poison DC with that attack by 1. The increase is greater in conjunction with the increases in damage from power attack (+2 at BAB 4, +1 more at each additional 4 after that)
• Treacherous Toxin Feat - Forego sneak attack to increase your poison’s DC by 1 for every d6 you give up.
• Brewmaster Feat - +1 to the DC of any ingested poison you create.
• Potent Concoctions Trait - Choose two toxins from the core rulebook. When you craft these poisons, their save DC increases by 1.
• Kasatha Spinal Sword Weapon - The save DC against any poisons applied to this weapon are increased by 2.
• Sanpkhang - The save DC against any poisons applied to this weapon are increased by 1. If your attack is a critical hit or a sneak attack, it increases by 2.
• Calistrian Kiss Weapon - Targets hit by this weapon suffer a -4 penalty to saves vs. poison, which is a functional +4 to your poison’s DC.
• Virulent Weapon Enchantment - +1 weapon bonus that causes the DC of any poison applied to the weapon to increase an amount equal to the enhancement bonus of the weapon. Ratfolk only in PFS.
• Toxic Weapon Enchantment - +2 weapon bonus that increases the DC of any poison applied to the weapon by 2 and there’s a 25% chance it isn’t expended on a successful hit.
• Pernicious Poison Spell - Target of this spell suffers a -4 penalty on saves vs. poison, the poison lasts for an additional 2 frequency increments, and attempts to cure the poison suffer a -4 penalty.

Poisoning Immune Enemies

• Elemental Destabilizers Discovery – Create poisons that affect elementals. Alchemist Level 8.
• Celestial Poisons Discovery – Create poisons that affect undead and evil outsiders. Alchemist Level 8.
• Anathema Investigator Talent - You can create a poison that affects only a specific creature type even if that creature type is ordinarily immune to poison.

Sample Builds

*Nawtsnake –Alchemist (Vivisectionist/Toxicant) (PFS Illegal)

Human

Alternate Racial Trait: Practiced Hunter

Stats: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 7, Cha 7

Traits: Clever Wordplay (Handle Animal), Poisonous Slayer

1. Alchemist 1 – Alchemy, Sneak Attack 1d6, Brew Potion, Toxic Secretion, 1 Extract/Day, Feat (Racial Heritage Nagaji), Human Feat (Point Blank Shot)
2. Alchemist 2 – Discovery (Tumor Familiar, Pufferfish), Torturer’s Eye, Poison Resistance +2, Poison Use
3. Alchemist 3 - Sneak Attack 2d6, Cruel Anatomist, Swift Alchemy, Toxic Secretion (sickened), Feat (Precise Shot), FCB +1 crafted poison DC
4. Alchemist 4 – Discovery (Concentrate Poison), Toxic Secretion Improvement
5. Alchemist 5 – Sneak Attack 3d6, Poison Resistance +4, Feat (Quick Draw)
6. Alchemist 6 – Discovery (Sticky Poison), Swift Poisoning, FCB +2 crafted poison DC, Toxic Secretion (shaken)
7. Alchemist 7 – Sneak Attack 4d6, Feat (Rapid Shot)
8. Alchemist 8 – Discovery (Poison Conversion), Toxic Secretion Improvement
9. Alchemist 9 – Sneak Attack 5d6, Feat (Toxicological Timing), FCB +3 crafted poison DCs, Toxic Secretion (blinded)
10. Alchemist 10 – Discovery (Celestial Poisons), Poison Immunity
11. Alchemist 11 – Sneak Attack 6d6, Feat (Improved Toxicological Timing)
12. Alchemist 12 – Toxic Secretion (exhausted), FCB +4 crafted poison DCs

Primary Poisons: Toxicant, Pufferfish, Pseudodragon, Vampire’s Kiss, Baneberry, Frightshade, Bloodwine, Oil of Taggit, Chelish Deathapple, Purple Pesh, Sloth’s Bite

Key Equipment:

Equipment: Daggers, Darts, Blinkback Belt, Headband of Vast Intelligence, Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Belt of Mighty Constitution (on pufferfish), Pseudodragon, Training Harness, Alchemist’s Lab, Masterwork Poison Extraction Tool (surgical equipment, absorbent sponges, syringes, and an air pump with a filter for gaseous hazards), Smokesticks, Goz Mask, Leather Armor (Darkleaf when possible)

Spells:

1: Ant Haul, Bomber’s Eye, Crafter’s Fortune, Cure Light Wounds, Longshot, Shield

2: Barkskin, Bear’s Endurance, Darkvision, Delay Poison, False Life, Full Pouch, Invisibility, Resist Energy, Lesser Restoration, Sickening Strikes, Sweat Poison, Touch Injection

3: Absorb Toxicity, Delay Poison Communal, Drain Poison, Fly, Haste, Heroism, Resist Energy Communal

4: Absorbing Inhalation, Air Walk, Invisibility (Greater), Neutralize Poison

This is, in my opinion, the most efficient build possible in terms of poison production. We could, perhaps, produce a bit more by being a Vishkanya rather than a human, but I feel the benefits of the Nagaji favored class bonus outweigh the benefits of the Vishyanka natural poison, especially since we will be producing large amounts of such a potent poison in the form of our Toxicant excretions already. Between the toxicant archetype, crafting poisons, and milking our companions, we should be able to produce more than a dozen doses of poisons per day by early to mid levels. At level 6, each of these doses will contribute 4-6 hits each. Crafting poisons will cease to be a matter of overcoming scarcity and become a matter of maximizing variety.

At low levels, this build relies on smokesticks and stealth to achieve sneak attack. At higher levels, extracts of invisibility and, eventually, greater invisibility, replace that tactic. Lacking weapon finesse, this build relies heavily on doing ranged attacks and performs very poorly when forced to engage in melee. It should probably prioritize using darts rather than daggers for the increased range, but a few poisoned daggers should be kept in reserve should melee combat or slashing damage prove necessary.

Patricia – Unchained Rogue (Poisoner, Underground Chemist, Scout)

Human

Alternate Racial Trait: Practiced Hunter

Stats: Str 10, Dex 18, Con 14, Int 17, Wis 7, Cha 7

Traits: Pragmatic Activator, Poisonous Slayer

1. Rogue 1 - Finesse Training, Sneak Attack +1d6, Poison Use, Feat (Point Blank Shot), Human Feat (Precise Shot)
2. Rogue 2 – Chemical Weapons, Rogue Talent (Lasting Poison)
3. Rogue 3 – Master Poisoner, Finesse Training (Dagger), Sneak Attack +2d6, Feat (Quick Draw)
4. Rogue 4 – Debilitating Injury, Precise Splash Weapons, Scout’s Charge
5. Rogue 5 – Rogue’s Edge (Sense Motive), Sneak Attack +3d6, Feat (Rapid Shot)
6. Rogue 6 – Rogue Talent (Combat Trick: Exotic Weapon Proficiency Sanpkhang), FCB Rogue Talent (Ninja Trick: Pressure Points), Retrain Finesse Training to Sanpkhang.
7. Rogue 7 – Sneak Attack +4d6, Feat (Treacherous Toxin)
8. Rogue 8 – Skirmisher, Rogue Talent (Shadow Duplicate)
9. Rogue 9 – Sneak Attack +5d6, Feat (Toxicological Timing)
10. Rogue 10 – Retrain Lasting Poison into Sticky Poison, Advanced Rogue Talent (Deadly Cocktail), Rogue’s Edge (Escape Artist)
11. Rogue 11 – Finesse Training, Sneak Attack +6d6, Feat (Improved Toxicological Timing)
12. Rogue 12 – Advanced Rogue Talent (Stalker Talent – Hide in Plain Sight)

Primary Poisons:

Pufferfish, Pseudodragon, Confabulation Powder, Vampire’s Kiss, Chelish Deathapple, Marvelous Fear Gas, Count Ambras’ Punishment, Brinestump Special, anything that can be found during the adventure, including poisons from companions’ familiars.

Key Equipment:

Smokestick, Goz Mask, Daggers, Sanpkhang, Darts, Blinkback Belt, Headband of Vast Intelligence, Belt of Incredible Dexterity, Pufferfish, Pseudodragon, Training Harness, Alchemist’s Lab, Masterwork Poison Extraction Tool (surgical equipment, absorbent sponges, syringes, and an air pump with a filter for gaseous hazards), Wand of Mage Armor, Wand of Obscuring Mist,

Since we are not playing an alchemist, we cannot gain access to the Nagaji favored class bonus benefiting our crafted poison DCs. This is unfortunate, but it frees us to gain proficiency in the Sanpkhang and to use Treacherous Toxin. The unchained rogue’s natural access to Weapon Finesse makes us equally adept at melee and ranged combat, thus our primary weapons will be the Sanpkhang for the former and darts for the latter. Since Poison Conversion isn’t legal, the Poisoner Rogue’s Master Poisoner ability is the only way to change a poison’s delivery method, so even if we were to pursue an alchemist-focused build, we would need to dip 3 levels of rogue. 10 levels is a long time to wait for Sticky Poison, but Lasting Poison can suffice until we get there. Debilitating Injury and Pressure Points mesh nicely with our poison effects. We have the option of taking Swift Poison if we like, but I tend to think we are better served poisoning our weapons outside of battle.

This build’s greatest challenge is finding a way to achieve sneak attack with her ranged attacks. I figure using smokesticks to provide concealment while wearing a Goz Mask to see through it is the best bet. When we finally start getting advanced rogue talents we can use Stalker’s Feint, Stalker’s Hide in Plain Sight, or whatever else we like. The 8th level Scout Skirmisher ability will let us move and throw with sneak attack.

This build has no built-in way of overcoming poison immunities. A 3-level dip into Investigator is probably the most rational course, however any such dip before 10th level will delay access to Sticky Poisons. We’re between a rock and a hard place on this issue, especially if we’re playing in PFS.

Range increments could be a problem. The distance thrower feat is an option but requires a strength of 13. The Far Shot feat will reduce the penalty by 1 per range increment, but that’s a feat. The Longshot spell is available as a 1st-level wand but will only last for 1 minute (perhaps worth considering for Major Magic instead of some of the other choices made above). Bomber’s Eye will give you +10 on your range increment and +1 insight to your attack with thrown weapons, but it only lasts for 1/rd per level and isn’t a wizard spell, so it can only be acquired via a dip into alchemist or something similar. The Distance weapon enchantment is a +1 bonus that will double your darts’ range increments, but spending 8,000 on all of your darts is going to be pretty pricey.

Acknowledgments

I would like to acknowledge the only guide to poisoning I’m aware of that was written before this one:

Going in Against a Sicilian When Death is on the Line: A Guide to Poisons - A FrodoOf9Fingers Production.

It’s very good and was helpful in developing my own guide. I highly recommend pursuing its contents as well.

Also thank you to everyone in this Reddit thread for your helpful suggestions.