RangerWickett
Legend
I did a cursory search on other threads that involve poison, and I didn't find any that fix it.
I mean, in real life, poison always does something nasty if the dose is big enough. I might never actually use the type of rules I want, but I want someone to write rules for poison that are appropriate to a grim and gritty game.
Here are my basic thoughts.
Each dose of a poison has a resist DC, a damage cap, and an intensity. What constitutes a dose varies, but it's basically the amount of poison you would put on a weapon if you wanted it to affect someone.
The resist DC is the Fort save DC you have to roll to stave off the effects of the poison temporarily.
The intensity tells you how often the poison deals damage, and what type of damage it is. Every time one of these intervals comes up, you have to make a save with the resist DC, or take the appropriate damage. If there are multiple doses at work, make a save for each dose when its interval comes up.
The damage cap is the maximum amount of damage the poison can deal. Poison will keep trying to deal damage until it deals up to its damage cap, or until a day passes (or until it's neutralized). For fast acting poisons, basically you'll be able to resist for a minute or two, but eventually it will wear you down. For slower poisons, you might be able to just tough it out and resist the toxin until your system clears it out. If you are affected by multiple doses, add together the damage caps; an ounce of one poison might just weaken you, but a pint will kill you.
Some poisons might have other effects, such as different rates of healing. I want to suggest three different rates of healing -- 1/day, 1/ten minutes, and 1/round. I mean, chloroform probably deals Wisdom damage and lasts maybe an hour or so. Or perhaps we could make it so that Con damage always heals at a rate of 1/day. Other damage normally heals at a rate of 1/round, unless the character's score is reduced to 3 or less, in which case it heals 1/hour.
Some sample poisons, with bland names:
Scorned Woman: Ingested poison. Resist DC 10, intensity 2 Con/hour, damage cap 2 Con. This poison is typically used by women who want to kill their lovers slowly, to make it look like an illness took them. One dose per day in a drink will weaken the man in the first week, and then you give him a large dose to kill him before a doctor might come to try and treat him.
Sleeping Gas: Inhaled poison. Resist DC 18, intensity 1d6 Wis/round, damage cap 10 Wis. One dose of this poison fills a 5-ft. square. Usually it's used in double or triple doses, and pumped into a sealed room, but in a pinch it can be blown into a target's face with a blowgun. This poison heals at a rate of 1 point of Wis per round once the target is out of the gas.
Paralysis Poison: Injury poison. Resist DC 14, intensity 1d6 Dex/round, damage cap 10 Dex.
I mean, in real life, poison always does something nasty if the dose is big enough. I might never actually use the type of rules I want, but I want someone to write rules for poison that are appropriate to a grim and gritty game.
Here are my basic thoughts.
Each dose of a poison has a resist DC, a damage cap, and an intensity. What constitutes a dose varies, but it's basically the amount of poison you would put on a weapon if you wanted it to affect someone.
The resist DC is the Fort save DC you have to roll to stave off the effects of the poison temporarily.
The intensity tells you how often the poison deals damage, and what type of damage it is. Every time one of these intervals comes up, you have to make a save with the resist DC, or take the appropriate damage. If there are multiple doses at work, make a save for each dose when its interval comes up.
The damage cap is the maximum amount of damage the poison can deal. Poison will keep trying to deal damage until it deals up to its damage cap, or until a day passes (or until it's neutralized). For fast acting poisons, basically you'll be able to resist for a minute or two, but eventually it will wear you down. For slower poisons, you might be able to just tough it out and resist the toxin until your system clears it out. If you are affected by multiple doses, add together the damage caps; an ounce of one poison might just weaken you, but a pint will kill you.
Some poisons might have other effects, such as different rates of healing. I want to suggest three different rates of healing -- 1/day, 1/ten minutes, and 1/round. I mean, chloroform probably deals Wisdom damage and lasts maybe an hour or so. Or perhaps we could make it so that Con damage always heals at a rate of 1/day. Other damage normally heals at a rate of 1/round, unless the character's score is reduced to 3 or less, in which case it heals 1/hour.
Some sample poisons, with bland names:
Scorned Woman: Ingested poison. Resist DC 10, intensity 2 Con/hour, damage cap 2 Con. This poison is typically used by women who want to kill their lovers slowly, to make it look like an illness took them. One dose per day in a drink will weaken the man in the first week, and then you give him a large dose to kill him before a doctor might come to try and treat him.
Sleeping Gas: Inhaled poison. Resist DC 18, intensity 1d6 Wis/round, damage cap 10 Wis. One dose of this poison fills a 5-ft. square. Usually it's used in double or triple doses, and pumped into a sealed room, but in a pinch it can be blown into a target's face with a blowgun. This poison heals at a rate of 1 point of Wis per round once the target is out of the gas.
Paralysis Poison: Injury poison. Resist DC 14, intensity 1d6 Dex/round, damage cap 10 Dex.
