POISONS

Both natives and ninjas make extensive use of poisons in their weapons and attacks. Very few poisons are of the "instant-death" variety; those that exist are very expensive and difficult to acquire. Any character with the Craft (poison) skill can attempt to make the following poisons if they succeed at the necessary Wealth and Craft (poison) checks.

Effects of Poison

When a target is affected by a poison, that target makes an immediate Fortitude save against the listed Difficulty for the poison. If that save is failed, then the target takes the listed damage at the end of the current scene. At the start of the next scene the target makes a second Fortitude save at the same Difficulty, and again, if this save is failed, the target will take the same damage again at the end of that scene.

Damage dealt by poisons is recovered as normal.

Making Poisons

Poisons are created using the Craft (poison) skill.

ComplexityCraft (poison) DifficultySave DifficultyDamageCost
Simple101115
Moderate1513210
Complex2015315
Advanced3018420

Poison Delivery Types

Poisons can be delivered to the target in one of four ways: ingested, inhaled, injury or contact.

An ingested poison must be introduced to the target's food or drink. Poisons have strong flavours and odours, so a target will ordinarily notice the poison's presence (Notice DC 5). Creating a poison that is difficult to detect increases the Craft (poison) DC and the cost by 3 (and requires a Notice DC 15 check to detect).

An inhaled poison must be added to a source of flame, or otherwise pumped into a space (via a blowtube, perhaps) in order to affect its target. Creating an inhaled poison adds 3 to the Craft (poison) DC and the cost.

An injury poison is applied to a weapon which, when it strikes a target who then fails their Toughness save, delivers a dose of poison to the target. See below for applying poison to weapons. Creating an injury poison adds 3 to the Craft (poison) DC and the cost.

A contact poison is applied to a weapon which, when it strikes a target, regardless of the result of their Toughness save, delivers a dose of poison to the target. See below for applying poison to weapons. Creating an contact poison adds 5 to the Craft (poison) DC and the cost.

Ability Affected

Ordinary poisons affect either Strength or Dexterity. Creating a poison that affects Constitution increases the Craft (poison) DC and cost by 5.

Speeding Up Onset

Creating a poison that takes effect immediately increases the Craft (poison) DC and the cost by 3. Such a poison deals the listed damage to the target immediately, and then again at the end of the current scene.

Using Poisons

Anytime a character fails a Craft (poison) check by 10 or more, they have inadverdently poisoned themselves with a full dose of whatever poison they are working with.

Weapons can only be envenomed with either a Contact or an Injury poison. The only weapons that can be envenomed are masterwork arrows, masterwork crossbow bolts, masterwork javelins, shuriken, mouth darts, blowgun darts, kakute, nekote and masterwork knives.

It is not straightforward to properly and safely envenom a weapon. A character without ranks in Craft (poison) will unknowningly fail to properly dose their weapon half the time, resulting in the poison having no effect on the target. In such a case, when an envenomed weapon is used in a successful attack, roll a d20 and if the result is 10 or less, the poison has no effect. In addition, all characters must make a Dex check against a Difficulty 15 to safely apply the poison. It is possible to take 10 on this check, but not 20. Failing this check means the character has poisoned themselves with a full dose of the poison while handling the weapon.

A character with ranks in Craft (poison) can make a Difficulty 5 Craft (poison) check in order to envenom a weapon. A successful check means the weapon holds a full dose of poison. Characters with ranks in Craft (poison) never unknowingly fail to properly dose their weapon. A character with ranks in Craft (poison) can add their ranks to their Dex check to avoid poisoning themselves.

Envenoming a weapon takes one minute for an untrained person, and 30 seconds for someone with ranks in Craft (poison). A character can use the the "Fast Craft" challenge on this check if they wish, reducing the time to either three rounds (with a +5 on the Difficulty) or one round (with a +10 on the Difficulty). The Difficulty for accidental poisoning rises at the same rate as the Craft (poison) check.