Poisons — Advanced Old School Revival

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Rolling a Poison Check

Roll + Attribute+ Skill(vs. TN)

Poisons are a special type of major peril that can inflict lethal harm and ongoing status effects.

When you poison someone, your victim makes a Mighty check vs. the TN of the poison and may add any skill that makes sense to resist the poison, such as Survival. Succeeding against the poison check means they're unaffected and the dose is wasted. Failure means they suffer the harm of the poison at its first onset, and again at each interval until the poison is neutralized. Any effect persists as a major peril from the poison's onset, throughout its duration.

In terms of game mechanics, a single dose of any poison inflicts its effect and harm upon a humanoid of average size and health. Larger creatures or animals may require multiple doses; similarly, a single dose may be effective against multiple small creatures.

Neutralizing Poison

Generally, you can neutralize a poison with a spell or by administering an antidote. Poisons are major perils, so they are not neutralized by healing or resting. In some cases, the GM may permit you to neutralize a poison with a relevant skill check: for example, you might have Domain Knowledge (Toxicology) and the supplies necessary to create an antidote, or you might have Survival and know how to suck out poison from a wound if it’s caught early enough. In either case, you need to beat the poison's TN to successfully neutralize it.

Creating Poisons

Roll + Smart+ Crafting: Poisons(vs. TN)

To create a single dose of poison, you must have a relevant Crafting skill and the necessary supplies. The cost of supplies is always 10 times the TN of the poison you're creating, divided by 2, round up. (If the poison causes death, the cost is 100 times the TN.) To determine the TN to create a poison, start by selecting its qualities:

Choose a harm and/or effect for the poison.
Decide how the poison is administered.
Determine its onset.
Determine its interval.
Determine its potency (the TN to resist).

The total score of the poison's qualities is its TN to create, which you must roll equal to or higher than in order to successfully create it. If you fail, the GM may weaken or nullify the poison's effects/harm. In either case, your supplies are consumed in the attempt.

Poison Effects

Poisons may have major and/or minor effects, depending on their quality when they are created. Major effects increase the TN by 5, whereas minor effects increase the TN by 3.

Paralytic poisons render a part of the body necrotic as chosen by the poisoner (minor) or inflict total paralysis (major).
Soporific poisons slow victims (minor) or render them unconscious (major).
Sanctified poisons cause fear in Undead and Astral monsters (minor) or deal an extra 1d6 lethal damage to such beings (major).
Sensory poisons disable one of the victim's senses (the poisoner chooses either sight, hearing, smell, taste, speech, or feeling—minor), or confers the fatigued status (major).
Hallucinogenic poisons induce confusion in the victim (minor), or madness (major).
Debilitating poisons stun the victim (minor) or feeblemind them such that they cannot cast spells (major).

See the list of status effects for the exact mechanical effects of each poison.

Poison Duration

Poisons remain in your system until they are neutralized, or until they run their course. A poison inflicts its harm once per interval and its effect immediately upon its onset. When creating a poison, roll a d6. The poison will run its course in a number of intervals equal to your roll. So if you chose "per round" as the interval, and rolled a 3, the poison will render its harm for 3 rounds and then be neutralized. In this case, the poison's effect will also last for 3 rounds.

Types of Harm

Poisons can cause one of three types of harm: lethal damage that affects hit points (HP), attribute damage, or death. Attribute damage can only be restored by spells like Restore or Potions of Restoration. Which attribute is affected is determined by the poisoner. Poisons that inflict death are considered fatal perils: they reduce a victim's HP to 0 and place them on death's door.

Administering Poisons

Poisons can be administered one of five ways:

Absorbed potions must be absorbed through skin contact (as in a lotion or liquid);
Inhaled potions must be breathed in by the victim;
Ingested potions must be consumed by the victim;
Injected potions must enter the victim's bloodstream or mucus membrane;
Contact potions must be exposed to the victim's exposed flesh (such as in gaseous form)

What’s the difference between a contact poison and an absorbed poison? Contact poisons are far easier to administer: the victim need only be exposed to such a poison as vapor, for example (without having to breathe it in, such as an inhaled poison). An absorbed poison must have enough prolonged contact with the victim to be absorbed by their flesh.

Cost of Poisons

The cost of a single dose of a poison is 10 times the TN to create it, or 100 times the TN if the poison causes death. This is the cost of such a poison on the black market; the cost of supplies to create a poison is the above, divided in half, rounded up.

Example Poisons

Using the Poison Quality table below, here are some average poisons you can create:

Sleep Poison. A soporific poison that induces unconsciousness (+5), administered by injection (+2), with an immediate onset and interval (+0), but causes no harm, with an enhanced potency of 11 (+1): TN (8) to create and TN (11) to resist, a single dose costs 80g on the black market or 40gp in supplies to create.
Bleeding Poison. A poison that causes 2 HP harm (+3) on a per round interval (+5), administered by injection (+2), with an immediate onset (+0). It has no other effect: TN (10) to create, and TN (9) to resist, a single dose costs 100gp on the black market or 50gp in supplies to create.
Death Poison. A poison that causes death (+11), administered by injection (+2), with an immediate onset (+0). TN (13) to create, TN (9) to resist, a single dose costs 1300gp on the black market or 650gp in supplies to create.

Poison Quality Table

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Harm	+TN	Effects	+TN	Administered	+TN	Onset	+TN	Interval	+TN	Potency	+TN
1d6 HP once	5	Paralytic	3/5	Absorbed	5	Immediate	0	Once	0	9	0
1 HP/Interval	1	Sopoforic	3/5	Inhaled	3	1d6 Rounds	1	Per Round	5	11	1
2 HP/Interval	3	Sanctified	3	Ingested	3	1d6 Hours	-1	Per Hour	3	13	3
1 Attribute Point	3	Debilitating	3/5	Injected	2	1d6 Days	-2	Per Day	1	15	5
2 Attribute Points	5	Hallucinogenic	5	Contact	7	1d6 Weeks	-3	Per Week	0	17	7
Lethal	11	Sensory	3	Random	0	Random	0	Random	0	21	9

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