Poisons are made by venomologists using animal and insect venoms and plant extracts. Poisons may or may not be magic based, but usually are not. The commonness of poisonous plants alone makes magic somewhat redundant to poison. Why hire a mage, when a common mushroom or berry gets the job done just as well? Dead is dead, after all. However, sometimes a very particular effect or symptom is desired, leaving some demand for magic. Even when magic is used to create potions, the magic builds upon existing properties of the venoms.

In the following tables, the *starred columns would typically be known only to Venomologists.

Due to the discreet nature of poison use, vials of poison are not typically labelled by their creators. This has been known to lead to some confusion and more than a few unintentional poisonings. For this reason, NPCs may have taken it upon themselves to label their vials with their own methods, but there are no standard methods of doing so, and even the names of poisons are not standardized. When finding poisons among loot, the GM may choose to use the d20 column to randomly determine poison type. He should tell the players that they have found an unlabeled vial. A perception roll at Difficulty 10, allows the character to differentiate between a poison or a potion. Potions typically have a slightly sweet or floral aroma, whereas poisons are typically pungent or bitter smelling.

Poisons are usually “delivered” by adding them to food or drink, with various probability of detection. Some poisons have an odd smell or taste. The person consuming the poison should roll Perception vs the poison's Difficulty to Detect (DTD). If a target NPC detects the poison, they will not consume it. Additionally, they will be alerted to a threat.

If consumed, the poison deals Dmg listed, with symptoms as per Description. Magical poisons take effect instantly, with symptoms appearing in a matter of seconds. Basic poisons usually take several minutes (or longer) for the symptoms to appear. Symptoms last d8 hrs. Sometimes, the symptoms will alert the NPC to the fact that he was poisoned. Sometimes, it may just seem like natural sickness. This is entirely at the discretion of the GM.

Poisons can be applied to a weapon to increase weapon damage and add damaging effects. In this case DTD is irrelevant.

To calculate total damage for Basic Potions, add 1/2 the Dmg listed in the table below + the weapon's regular damage, for the first strike only. (This only works if you succeed your regular attack roll)

To calculate total damage for Magic Potions, add the full Dmg listed in the table below + the weapon's regular damage, for the first strike only. (This only works if you succeed your regular attack roll). On subsequent turns the victim will be affected by the poison's indicated symptoms (not including Dmg).

see also Potions

These poisons are derived from natural plant based toxins or animal venoms. They take a few minutes to “kick in”, so they are not particularly effective as weapons poisons.

Magically enhanced poisons take effect instantaneously, so they are effective as weapons poisons.