Parameters to manage Poisonings

There are multiple types of Poisons, with multiple effects and multiple ways to « in-take » them: ingestion, inhalation, sting, bite, kiss, page corner, etc. That point is only of interest to the Players and the Game Master for deciding the way to try to heal the poisoning if it is not already too late: suck the blood before the poison spread, pomper le sang avant que le poison se soit répandu, let the victim bring up, say your prayers (to the Lwa), etc. The Game Master thus has to determine several parameters in advance, to characterise the action of the poison:

  • Time to Effect: available time for immediate help (for Poisons injected in the blood that time is function of the activity of the victim…);
  • Duration of Effects;
  • Virulence;
  • Damage Level.

First possible action, if there is still enough time (see the Time to Effect of the Poison and the activity of the Victim if necessary), the Victim herself or another Character can try a first help: first roll versus « Little Scratches + Cleverness » to eventually recognise the Poison and apply the right healing method. A Normal Failure does not allow to reduce the Poison Effects. A Critical Failure can possible worsen them… A Normal Success allows to reduce the Effects and a Critical Success can, according to the Game Master's decision, simply eliminate them. To simulate this, simply shift the Damage Level or modify some other parameters of the Poison in funtion of the result. If the Time to Effect is sufficiently long, one can even imagine to search for an antidote or to attempt a Voodoo ceremony…

The parameter Duration of Effects simply indicates the time during which the Poison is active, or sometimes even more simply the duration of agony.

The Virulence of the Poison is a number between 1 and 20 for most of the known Poisons (the taken dosis of the Poison has of course an influence). That number is the Difficulty to apply to the Roll in Opposition versus « Constitution × 2 + 10 » for the Victim. See below for details.

The inflicted Damage by the Poison is one of the four categories of Damage (from « Just fine! » to « … » [blamm !]). For each Poison, the ratio between the Duration of Effects and the Time to Effect gives the number of times the Poison will inflict Damage in absence of treatment. Some Poisons effect very slowly and in a cumulative way over time.

For instance, a poison effecting in two hours with a Duration of six hours and inflicting a Damage Level of « See the Stars?! » will inflict it three times. The first Roll of d20 versus « Constitution × 2 » will occur after the first two hours, then another two times each after two more hours. If an appropriate treatment is applied, the effects can be minimised, either by reducing the Damage Level or the number of Rolls or both.

Some substances are allergen. Those are particularly annoying in that their Effects increase over successive expositions, even after long periods. By chance – or not? – there exist also substances to which one can get accustomed: for those who would not know King Mythridates, go and check in the next library, it could be useful!

Parameter of Poisonings

Managing Poisonings

Now that the parameters of Poisons have been plainly described, here is the procedure to follow: first of all, in function of the result of the first help – if anybody could do; the number of tentatives depends on the Time to Effect and any Critical Failure makes it impossible to further try – the Game Master adapts the other parameters of the Poison (Duration of Effects and / or Virulence and / or Damage).

Then, when the Time to Effect is elapsed, the Poison starts to cause Damage. The victim must attempt a Roll versus « Constitution × 2 + 10 » (it is like an Action in Opposition) with a Difficulty equal to the Virulence of the Poison. If the result is a Normal Success, the Level of Damage is reduced by one category and on a Critical Success by two. If the Roll results in a Normal Failure, the Damage of the Poison is applied as is and on a Critical Failure, it is increased by one category.

Apart the description of the victim's suffering, which we leave as your part, dear friend Game Master, the d20 must be rolled in Opposition versus « Constitution × 2 » as many times as given by the ratio of the Duration and the Time to Effect of the Poison. After that, if the victim is still alive, according to the Poison and her stamina, the convalescence will be longer or shorter… One follows for that the system of Recovery described below for Alcohol in replacing the hours by the Time to Effect of the Poison…

Example: Berthomeu accidentally just got bitten by a viper which was laying there under humid grass, aggressive and particularly venimous. How unlucky! Time to Effect: barely ten minutes. He fails at the only possible Roll of « Small Scratches + Cleverness », thus he'll take the full Effect of the Poison: Duration of Effect one hour, Virulence 14, Damage « See the Stars?! », thus to be applied six times…
Even with his Constitution of 7, the poor Berthomeu has more than a chance to die! He must succeed the best he can at six Rolls of d20 with a Mastery Level of 7 × 2 + 10 – 14 = 10… First Roll… 1 ! Critical Success, the Damage for the first ten minutes of Effect are reduced to « Just Fine! ». He gets then a 5, still quite lucky enough but he takes anyway « Ouch, as if… ». The next Roll gives a 12 and the viper's venom starts to bring its full effect after half an hour: he takes « See the Stars?! »… One of the last Rolls could well be the last ever because he's only got one other « See the Stars?! » Level… He gets 9, then 15: if the Game Master does not quickly find a miracle in his pocket, we are maybe witnessing the last moments of Berthomeu, the Pirate. Pray Baron Saturday that the Voodoo Power Drink just brought back by Rosso will take effect immediately, and the expected one…

Another example, certainly a bit extreme, to illustrate the possibility of substances with cumulative effects: the lead of our dear Glabboobish waterworks is a typical case! With a Time to Effect of one year (!) and a Virulence of 1, it is almost not perceivable. The only enormous problem is its Duration of Effect of twenty years and the Damage Level, « Ouch, as if… », recoverable only after several tens of years… The other enormous issue is that the doses cumulate in the body over time, adding up to the Virulence. It is quite usual to receive one dosis per year when drinking the water of Point-o-Spit on a daily basis and thus to see one's life expectancy seriously diminished… (Oh, the benefits of civilisation !)
If one tries to compute a bit further, it is clear that after twenty years passed drinking Point-o-Spit's public water, one is permanently exposed to a Poison of Virulence 20 and that even after having stopped drinking that water, the Virulence of the Poison remains significant during ten and disappears eventually only after twenty years!

Back