[RPG] Does Detect Poison and Disease detect poisonous creatures or venomous creatures

dnd-5emonsterspoisonspells

Detect Poison and Disease says:

For the duration, you can sense the presence and location of poisons,
poisonous creatures, and diseases within 30 feet of you. You also
identify the kind of poison, poisonous creature, or disease in each
case.

When they say poisonous creatures, do they actually mean “creatures that, when eaten, will poison you”, or do they mean “creatures that have attacks which deal poison damage”?

Best Answer

Unless defined in the rules, words in D&D 5e take on their normal English meaning. The definition of poisonous is:

  1. (of a substance or plant) causing or capable of causing death or illness if taken into the body. "poisonous chemicals"

  2. (of an animal) producing poison as a means of attacking enemies or prey; venomous. "a poisonous snake"

  3. extremely unpleasant or malicious. "there was a poisonous atmosphere at the office"

The spell allows you to detect "poisons, poisonous creatures" - "poisons" corresponds to the first definition, "poisonous creatures" to the second; it won't help you identify a toxic social environment (or maybe it will).

A venomous snake that is safe to eat will be detected while alive but not once it is dead. A cane toad (which is not venomous but is toxic to eat) would be detected both while alive and dead.

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