Poisoned: which rolls are affected?
The Poisoned condition imposes two categories of roll penalty. A poison may also cause damage, saves or a specific duration, but those instructions come from the poison or other effect itself.
Use it at the table
- Apply Disadvantage to attack rolls.
- Apply Disadvantage to ability checks.
- Check the originating effect for damage, saves, duration and removal; do not invent those details from the condition name.
Make the call
A Poisoned character makes a Dexterity saving throw against a trap. Does Poisoned alone give that saving throw Disadvantage?
The ruling
No; the condition names attack rolls and ability checks, not saving throws.
A saving throw is not an ability check. Poisoned therefore does not, by itself, impose Disadvantage on this Dexterity save. A separate effect might modify that save, so check the full situation. The character’s next attack roll or ability check is affected by Poisoned, subject to the normal interaction of Advantage and Disadvantage.
Watch for this mistake
Poison damage and the Poisoned condition are separate game effects. An effect can deal Poison damage without imposing this condition, or impose the condition under its own specified terms. Never infer one solely from the other’s name.
Ask the table
Is this roll an attack, an ability check or a saving throw, and what does the source effect separately require?
The source rule
SRD 5.2.1, page 186. Read the official PDF.
While you have the Poisoned condition, you experience the following effect. Ability Checks and Attacks Affected. You have Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
Source and reuse
This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 (“SRD 5.2.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
The explanation, example and table prompt are Table Ready adaptations; source text has been reflowed and tables reformatted. This guide and its printable card are available under the same CC BY 4.0 license. Independent reference; no official affiliation. These rules are optional for our system-neutral adventures.