Poison is used by many things on the Thurian continent. Venoms harvested from the cobras of Stygia by priests of Set, scorpion venom harvested from Eastern Desert Scorpions, or a myriad of plant based poisons from the Black Kingdoms of the south. Whatever their origin, the following rules apply
The core skill for working with poison. Thurian (the main continent in the Hyborian Age is awash with a wide range of venomous creatures, most of them quite lethal in the right circumstances. Tapping these deadly substances is difficult,however, since the toxic venoms of animals tend to degrade quickly, making them near useless without some scientific or magical method of stabilising them. Thus the majority of poisons available tend to be plant or mineral based.
This need not make them any less bizarre; a few possess weird effects as fatal or extraordinary as those produced by living creatures. Like narcotics, most poisons are potent enough that a single dose lacks an ENC value. Price is the rough equivalent it is worth in silver pieces, providing a character can find someone willing to trade it to them, or sell it to. This is not always the case and ownership of some poisons can bring serious trouble.
The skill of making poisons, can be learned in a number of places, but nearly all of them are secret, and nearly all of them start the practitioner off with some basic antidotes and antivenins. Practitioners of this art start with a number of poisons equal to one twentieth of their Lore (Poison) skill, rounded up, and can learn any that have a potency equal to or less than their Lore (Poison) skill.
Some cultures have perfected anti-venom remedies which have a Potency of 1D20+10. The anti-venom must be introduced with a successful First Aid or Healing roll and add their Potency as a bonus to the victim’s Resilience roll to fight the venom throughout its duration. Each anti-venom is fairly specific to the type of animal.
A combat style trait. It allows the practitioner with the right combat skill to utilize the Inject Venom Special Effect.
Whilst the stinger of a scorpion’s tail or a Terror Spine being blown from a headshrinker's blowgun, a strike from the weapons of a venomous creature or poisoner does not necessarily indicate that venom was injected. Fangs might not pass a blocking shield or stingers fail to penetrate armour. Using the Inject Venom special effect indicates a specific desire for the creature to poison its foe. In exchange for forfeiting any chance to inflict damage, the creature finds a weak point in the defence/armour, bypassing it only for the purposes of applying its venom – for example a large venomous snake might attack a warrior wearing chainmail armour, and instead of inflicting damage from the bite, ducks past the victim’s parry to merely scratch the back of the his sword hand, poisoning him. This combat manoeuvre can be used both offensively and defensively by venomous creatures and practitioners of Lore (Poison).