Poison and Disease share a lot in common with regard to game effects. Both are debilitating in that they make the body weaker. There are four standards pieces of information for every poison or disease:
- Damage
- Duration
- Onset Time
- Saving Throw
The game effects of both are that they drain hit points and/or a characteristic, usually physical (e.g., STR, DEX or CON). Mystical and exotic poisons and diseases might drain other characteristics. Most poisons should be assumed to cause damage (i.e., drain hit points).
A standard Poison/Disease saving throw is equal to CON x 2 or less. Thus, someone with a CON of 15 will make their Poison/Disease saving throw if they roll a 30 or less on percentile dice.
The description of any given poison or disease will indicate what characteristic is drained, how much, how often, and a maximum effect, if any. Some poisons may modify the standard poison save. They might give a modifier to CON for the purpose of making the save, or might use a characteristic other than CON, in which case the save is equal to that characteristic x 2 unless otherwise specified.
Note that damage caused by poison cannot be healed by normal healing until the poison has been neutralized. Thus, if a target has suffered 50 points of poison damage, this damage cannot be healed until a Neutralize Poison spell or similar effect is used.
Adder Poison
- Damage: 10 hit points of damage every round
- Duration: 2d6 rounds
- Onset Time: Next round
- Saving Throw: Normal Save to reduce duration by half
Phase Spider Poison
- Damage: 1 point of CON and 5 hit points of damage every round
- Duration: 4d6 rounds
- Onset Time: Next round
- Saving Throw: Normal Save to reduce duration by half
Tree Vine Sap
- Damage: 6d6 NL damage initially, plus 2d6 per round.
- Duration: 2d6 rounds
- Onset Time: Immediate
- Saving Throw: Normal Save to avoid (poison did not get into system)
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