Can a Pact of the Chain warlock's sprite familiar create poisons?

Question

The Monster Manual says this of Sprites:

Poison Brewers. In their forest domains, sprites brew toxins, unguents, antidotes, and poisons, including the sleep poison with which they coat their arrows. They venture far into the woods to harvest rare flowers, mosses, and fungi, sometimes crossing dangerous territory to do so. If desperate, sprites even steal their ingredients from the gardens of hags.

However, the sprite statblock doesn't list proficiency in herbalism or alchemy.

Is the above quote just flavor text to explain the arrows? Or could the Sprite familiar make other poisons (and possibly potions) as well, based on the text above?

If so, I'd imagine it to work the same way as a character making poison and potion (1/2 the cost plus a certain amount of time, so that the Sprite doesn't just become a poison factory).

Answer 1

Two points suggesting that the Sprite isn't a poison factory

1. The language you cited is general enough to suggest that this ingredient collection, and subsequent poison fabrication, is a collective activity undertaken by Sprite communities in the areas where they live. "In their forest domains" or "they venture" .. is the third person plural which can be read as it being done in groups.

2. The spell that summons a Familiar summons a spirit that takes on the form of a ____________. (Usually an animal, ref is PHB p. 240). This is not modified by any language in the Pact of Chain class skills description (PHB p. 107). This means that your familiar Sprite is a spirit in the form of a Sprite.

• However, even if the DM rules that a Warlock's Sprite familiar is a true Sprite (not just a spirit in Sprite form), its not being immersed in the daily life of a Sprite community(see above) would either limit or preclude the ability to brew/craft a sleeping poison: at any minute, the Warlock's summons may come and there's another batch ruined.

Ask Your DM

Your DM might be open to a limited capacity for such production, per cost and time guidelines you mentioned, if for example you agreed to go without the familiar for X period of time so that it could get the job done. That's a "DM ruling" point and not a "what's written in the book" point.