There are 2 broad categories of poison, manufactured poisons and creature poisons. Manufactured poisons are made, often from materials coming from plants or creatures. The effect will be different or diluted as the substances are combined with others to increase shelf life and effectiveness out of it's natural state. Creature poisons come directly from a creature as an innate ability and often produce effects different than listed below. See the monster description for effects of specific creature poisons. A basic creature poison is listed below as "Insinuative Poison, Type E."

INSINUATIVE POISON

The poisons must be introduced into a creature's blood stream, usually by way of a sharp weapon, typically through a successful attack that causes damage or trap. Such poisons must be manufactured to remain effective in air and possess the right viscosity to adhere to an otherwise slick weapon.

Unless a creature has the poison-use ability, all creatures using a manufactured poison on a weapon will grant a target a +2 bonus to their saving throw in addition to any adjustment based on poison type. In addition, any attack roll of a natural 1 means the wielder of a poisoned weapon will have cut themselves and they must save versus the poison's effect.

• Poisoned Weapons. Poison will lose effectiveness after the first successful strike. A second strike will do half damage (or grant a +4 bonus to the save if damage is not done). After the second strike, the poison is gone/ineffective. Similarly, poison will be at full effectiveness up to 24 hours after a weapon is poisoned, at half effectiveness (50% damage or +4 to saves) for the next 24 hours, after which the poison is rendered ineffective/inert.

• Dosage. One dose of poison will cover 1 sword, 2 daggers or spears, or 5 pieces of ammunition.

• Poison-use. Creatures with the poison-use ability grant the victim only a +1 bonus on a Poison save. Additionally, those with this ability ignore the chance to accidentally cut one's self.

• Using Poisons in Urban Settings. Any creature using an exposed poisoned weapon will draw attention to it from any opponent within 10 ft. (10% cumulative chance of noticing per round, checking for each creature within range). Typically, this will cause those identifying a poisoned weapon to alert others and become hostile if they were not already.

The common types of insinuative poison are:

• Onset. The poison does not take effect until this many rounds or segments after a successful attack and missed save. For most insinuative poisons, the victim will know they are poisoned (feeling it course through their body) during the onset period. An onset measured in rounds means the effect takes place at the end of the last round (end of segment 10). An onset period of 1 round means the effect occurs at the end of the round after the round the attack took place.

• Save. In addition to any other adjustments, this represents a bonus on the victim's saving throw.

• Damage. This is damage caused by the poison to the body (internal organs, soft tissue, etc.). If death, typical causes are paralyzation of the respiratory system, heart failure, or for longer onset times, massive internal hemorrhaging. Any creature that "dies" due to poison will have the poisoned condition. This means the creature has fallen into a coma and will die after 1 round. This includes creatures that die from (because of) poison-related damage. Any neutralization/slowing/etc. of the poison before the end of the 1 round will save the poisoned creature.

• GP. This is simply a reference point figure assuming an assassin of the local Guild in a large metropolitan area is purchasing the item. This amount is enough to purchase 1 dose. See Dosage above. If an Assassin's Guild is not present or the city is small (or not even rated a city), the expense goes up at least 10 times and likelihood of availability is small. If the character is not an assassin, even seeking purchase becomes a dangerous endeavor.

• Typical Materials. These are example materials used. Only trained poisoners will understand how to collect such materials (from fresh live or recently deceased specimens) and keep them fresh or protected, much less any understanding of how to transform these into usable poisons of the correct type.

• Type E. Poison "Type E" is simply included for exhaustive detail. It is meant to represent most typical venoms or toxins, used as innate abilities, by creatures encountered. When a creature's bite is said to be poisonous and no other description is present, the GM will treat the poison as Type E: The victim exposed must save vs. Poison or will be poisoned and may die (save negates).

INGESTED POISONS

As one might expect, ingested poisons are administered through consumption. Because the poison has been introduced deeply into the body and through soft tissue, these poisons cause internal damage even if the creature makes a saving throw.

Unless a creature has the poison-use ability, an untrained poisoner will grant a victim a +2 bonus to their saving throw in addition to any adjustment based on poison type. 

• Dosage. This is typically 1d4 swallows unless defined otherwise.

The common types of ingested poison are:

See above for additional definitions.

• Detection Chance (base). This is the chance for detection through careful examination (oil on the surface, off taste, etc.). The examiner will only note the wrongness, and will not have any chance to identify the reason unless they are a trained poisoner. One trained in ingested poisons can pair poisons with consumables most likely to mask the signs of a particular poison (half chance or less). Also, those trained in ingested poisons have a 50% plus 10% chance per level attained after training to identify ingested poisons by sight/smell/taste.

• Damage. As above, however, consuming a dose will normally cause some internal damage even if a save is made. For example, "10/20" means the victim will take 10 hit points of damage on a successful save and 20 hit points of damage on a failed save. While no other effect is listed, there is typically a period of physical distress associated with these effects (nausea or stunned, per the GM).

CONTACT POISONS

These substances are able to be absorbed by the skin, although they can also be used to envenom sharp weapons or even used as ingested poisons.

Unless a creature has the poison-use ability, an untrained poisoner will grant a victim a +2 bonus to their saving throw in addition to any adjustment based on poison type. In addition, if used on a weapon, any attack roll of a natural 1 means the wielder of a poisoned weapon will have cut themselves and they must save versus the poison's effect. In any case, any creature not trained in poison use attempting to employ a contact poison has a base 20% chance of exposing themselves to the poison (even if gloves are used) and will suffer the effects and must save versus the poison.

• Dosage. This is typically a single brief touch to exposed skin.

See above for additional definitions.

• Detection Chance (base). This is the chance for detection through careful examination (wet handle, sticky residue, unexpected color, powder on clothes, etc.). The examiner will only note the wrongness, and will not have any chance to identify the reason unless they are a trained poisoner.

INHALED POISONS

These poisons are meant to be breathed in, whether the breather uses lungs or some form of cutaneous respiration. Many of these poisons can also affect victims through the skin so holding one's breath does not make a creature immune to these poisons.

Unless a creature has the poison-use ability, an untrained poisoner will grant a victim a +2 bonus to their saving throw in addition to any adjustment based on poison type. Any creature not trained in poison use attempting to employ an inhaled poison has a base 20% chance of exposing themselves to the poison and will suffer the effects and must save versus the poison.

• Dosage. This is typically a single breath even if very small. A successful save means the victim was able to hold their breath and/or cover themselves and move away without being affected. One dose is typically inclusive of a 10-ft. by 10-ft. by 10-ft. area of effect. Larger areas will increase the price accordingly.

• Other Effects. Most inhaled poisons actually feature non-damaging effects as these poisons are much less expensive in terms of materials. Sleep, nausea, unconsciousness, or even temporary insanity are more common than damage causing inhalants.