Druid's Venom Immunity

[Greenfield]

Cutting through the Bio-101, consider it this way:

The Druid isn't prevented from drinking poison any more than he's prevented from drinking water. He's simply immune to any toxic effects it might have on him.

Medicine might be mildly poisonous to him, hopefully more toxic to whatever disease or parasite it's intended to treat. But he can't be harmed by that toxic effect. The microbe or parasite, however, is certainly susceptible (Unless, of course, it happens to have 9 or more Druid levels. )

Simpler?

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Guess I might as well add a bit more discussion on this.

A Druid's Venom Immunity is Extraordinary, so it's not a continuous magical effect. Whether a magical effect caused the extraordinary condition of being immune to poisons, the rules don't say.

Compare to a Contemplative's Divine Body, which is a Supernatural effect. It's pretty well implied that this ability is the result of the character's spiritual connection to a deity or some such.

 

[TanithT]

A Druid's Venom Immunity is Extraordinary, so it's not a continuous magical effect. Whether a magical effect caused the extraordinary condition of being immune to poisons, the rules don't say.

Compare to a Contemplative's Divine Body, which is a Supernatural effect. It's pretty well implied that this ability is the result of the character's spiritual connection to a deity or some such.

I think it actually makes a lot of in-game sense to decide that druid immunity to poison is at least partly the physical result of their working directly with the natural world. Working with venomous and poisonous plants and animals to do interesting things with their toxins sounds about right for how a Druid order might keep itself busy, and it makes for nice juicy world background material. It also makes self-immunization practices quite sensible if you're a Druid. Now it becomes quite believable that such immunization would be a mandatory requirement of the class.

It's not always necessary for everything in your campaign to make real world logical sense - it's a fantasy world after all, and "it's MAAAGIC" grants a fair bit of creative license. But it can help the player's suspension of disbelief and their ability to immerse themselves in the storyline if there is logical consistency in the plot, and the rules make realistic sense instead of being an artificial construct that mainly exists to support game play mechanics.

But still, all of this stuff is far from mandatory. Optional background material is optional. I like it, but it won't suit everyone's play style.