Poisons, Potions and Diseases

One day, a man was struck by a poisoned arrow. His friends and relatives, anxious, called a doctor. When they approached to take the arrow, the man said to them: “Before doing so, I would like to know who pierced me with this arrow… Was he a slave, a king, or a brahmin? Was he tall? Small? What color was his skin? Where did he live? And how was the arrow built? What poison was used? …”

While he was asking all these questions… the poison took effect and the wounded man died. (Buddha)

Type of Poison and Potion

Poisons and potions can be distinguished based on the effect they trigger. Not all poisons are toxic if ingested or inhaled.

To identify a natural potion, a Herbalism check is required with a DC equal to the rarity of the plant, or in the case of Poisons, the difficulty is equal to the Saving Throw of the poison. It costs 1 Action per 10 DC, with Herbalism at 6 or more it costs 1 Action per 15 DC, with 12 points it costs 1 Action per 20 DC. Potions, unless described otherwise, must be drunk (ingestion).

Contact: they are contracted when someone touches the poison with bare skin. Contact poisons usually have an onset time of 1 round. A contact poison can be an ointment, balm, liquid of any density, or even powder if specifically for contact and not inhalation.

Ingestion: they activate when a creature eats or drinks them. Ingestion poisons usually have an onset time of 10 minutes.

Injury: they are transferred primarily through the attacks of some creatures and through weapons coated with poison. Injury poisons usually have an instantaneous onset time.

Inhalation (R): they activate when a creature enters an area containing such poisons. Many inhalation poisons fill a volume equal to a 3x3x3 meter cube per dose. Creatures can attempt to hold their breath while in the area to avoid inhaling the toxin. See rules for holding breath and suffocating in Environment (page ).

Onset and Effect

Onset refers to how long it takes for the poison or potion to take effect. If the onset time is 1 Turn, it means that for the effects of the poison/potion and the Saving Throw, you wait 10 minutes. If onset is not specified in the poison/potion table, it means the effect is immediate after contact with the poison.

The effect of a poison/potion is immediate after onset. Check the poison’ **s description to understand its effect. If the Fortitude Saving Throw succeeds, the poison has not taken effect and can be considered neutralized.

There are some cases where the Frequency entry is present; in these instances, the Saving Throw must be repeated each time the indicated Frequency passes, and if the Saving Throw fails, the indicated effects are applied again.

Drinking a potion held in hand costs 1 Immediate Action; making an unconscious companion drink it costs 2 Actions.

If the character spends 1 minute drinking a Healing or Natural Potion, it will have maximized effect.

Poison: The poisons presented here are just some of the many that exist and are possible. Use them as guidelines. If due to your ethics and style you don’ **t like poisons, especially the nastier ones, I suggest using the Generic Potions you’ **ll find at the end of the chapter. They are milder poisons and less personal, probably more easily usable by players as well.

Poisoned

First dose: When exposed to a poison for the first time (during your action or someone else’ **s), you must make a Saving Throw at onset to avoid being poisoned.

Success: You resist the poison. You suffer no negative effects and no further Saving Throws are needed.

Failure: You have been poisoned and immediately suffer the indicated effect.

Multiple doses: If you are exposed to multiple doses of the same poison before onset, the difficulty of the Saving Throw increases by 1 per additional dose.

At different times: if you are exposed to the poison at different times after the first onset, each time there will be a new Saving Throw and you will suffer any effects provided, but if the exposure occurs before onset, then the Saving Throw is unique and counts as Multiple Doses.

If you are exposed to different poisons, you must make a Saving Throw for each type of poison taken.

Poison?: {Poison is a double-edged sword. As long as you’ **re using it, it’ **s fine, but if someone uses it against you, maybe the same one, it becomes a problem. There are also ethical aspects to using poisons; consider whether your Traits allow you to use poisons and what types.

Applying Poison

Applying poison to a weapon or ammunition requires 1 Action.

Every time a character applies or prepares a poison for use, they must make a Herbalism check (DC 11), and if they fail, they have come into contact with the poison and suffer its effects. If the check critically fails, they have also consumed an entire dose of the poison.

Every time a character attacks with a poisoned weapon, if they make a Critical Failure with the Attack Roll, they make a new Attack Roll and if they hit, they expose themselves to the effects of the poison. This consumes the poison on the weapon.

A poison potion is sufficient to cover a medium weapon with poison or 3 arrows. The poison is thus consumed and remains active on the weapon until it hits.

A creature under the effects of a poison, even if not manifested, has the Poisoned condition.

Removing poison

The spell Remove Poison (page ) performs a counteract check against the poison, and thus the poisoned condition.

If the DC of the poison is not expressed, then it is considered sufficient to simply cast the spell to nullify its effects.

A First Aid check, 3 Actions, that is at least half the DC of the poison within the onset time, allows for an immediate Saving Throw with a +2 bonus.

If this Saving Throw succeeds, it cancels the effects of the poison; if it fails, the creature remains poisoned; if it critically fails, the ST will have a -2 penalty. Once the First Aid check has been made, it is no longer possible to repeat it until after the onset.

Continuous First Aid treatment for 8 hours allows for a new Saving Throw with a +1d6 bonus after the poison’ **s activation if it is still active.

I believe a leaf of grass is no less than a day’ **s work of the stars. (Walt Whitman)

Creating Natural Poisons and Potions

Natural potions and poisons can be created using Herbalism. The DC to prepare the potion equals the rarity for potions, and for poisons it equals the Saving Throw -2.

An Herbalist can prepare simultaneously up to their (Herbalism/2)+1 value in doses of natural potions or poisons in eight hours of work.

A Critical Failure on the Herbalism check will render the materials used worthless.

If the ingredients are purchased, the cost to prepare the poison is half the indicated selling price; if sought in nature, the production cost drops to a quarter. The time to prepare these potions/poisons is equal to DC/3 in hours.

A Potion that Removes a condition is effective if its DC is higher than that of the Condition itself.

The following examples represent only some of the possible poisons. All costs are expressed in Gold Coins. Poisons are presented, especially in the Monster Compendium, with this notation: Poison Name, Use (I/R/F/C), Onset time, Saving Throw DC, Effect.

Not only venom: Poisons are part of the long tradition of problems and adversities in role-playing games. When you want to use a poison, first think about why it’ **s there, who it was to be used for, for what purpose. Not all poisons need to kill; a skilled thief might even use stunning poisons or ones that weaken the will of his target just enough to get them to open the safe.

How to find the little plants…

To find the ingredients to prepare poisons, it is necessary to pass the Herbalism check against the DC indicated by the ST.

To find the ingredients to prepare natural potions, it is necessary to pass the Herbalism check against the Rarity indicated in the Rar. column.

Table: Poisons. (cost in Gold Coins)

Poison Name Use Ons. ST Effect (damage) Cost
Red Mixture F - 13 -1d6 AR/ST for 10 minutes 10
Purple Shrew Fat C 1 r 13 2d12 Hit Points 15
Dennar Kernel I 1 r 13 -1d2 Strength, for 3 days 15
Ythis Juice I 1 T 14 -1d2 Intelligence, for 1 day 20
Purple Concentrate F I 15 2d6 Hit Points 15
Fermented Lucos Slime F I 15 1d8 Hit Points 25
Yellow Bark Ash F 6 r 15 Unconscious for 1d3 hours 25
Omro Rose Pollen I I 15 -1d3 Constitution and Dexterity, for 1 hour 25
Ragmor Perfume R I 16 -1d3 Charisma, for 1 day 30
Daraka’ **s Fingers F I 17 -1d6 Strength, for 1 hour 35
Blue Frost F I 18 3d6 Hit Points from cold 25
Barsar’ **s Purple Berry I 1 r 18 Unable to commit violence for 3d8 hours 40
Curna Fumes R I 18 -1d3 Wisdom 40
Mucot White Flake C I 20 Sleeps for 2d12 hours 20
Kreex’ **s Tongue F I 20 The wound bleeds. +1 bleeding damage. 1 use in 24 hours. 50
Yellow Moss I 1 r 20 the creature gains one size. -2 Int and Wis. Duration 10 minutes 50
Nabar Oil R-F I 20 Confused for 2d6 rounds 50
Ottalm Poison F I 20 Death or -1d2 permanent Constitution 50
Blue Ditch Berries I 1 T 21 -1d3 Intelligence and Wisdom for 6 hours 55
Pink Pointed Grass I 1 r 22 -1d6 Dexterity, for 1 hour 60
Blue Toad Skin C 10 r 22 Paralyzed for 1d6 turns 60
Purple Shrew Liver I 1 h 25 2d6 damage to Wisdom and Intelligence. Permanent 75
Blood Serpent Venom F I 25 Paralysis for 1d6 hours -1d4 Strength points for 7 days 75
Thrun’ **s Blood C I 26 -1d3 Constitution 80

Application: I(ngestion), F(injury), C(ontact), R(espiration).

The Saving Throw is always on Fortitude unless otherwise specified

Lost ability score points are recovered at a rate of 1 per day if not permanent or otherwise indicated.

Table: Natural Potions (cost in gold coins)

p >{\raggedright}X

Name Use Ons. DC Effect Rar. Cost
Wickalim I 1 h 15 Heals 2 Hit Points 9 5
Darsirion C 1 r 25 Heals 1d4 Hit Points 9 5
Harfy C I 12 -1 to bleeding 10 3
Barannie I 10 r 15 Removes nausea 11 3
Gisenosa Root Extract I 3 T 15 Cures cough and cold 11 3
Klagul C 1 T 20 Cleans teeth 11 2
Nelthalion I I 15 Causes vomiting 11 1
Delrean C 1 r 15 Repels insects for 1 day 12 2
Urk Egg I 1 T 12 1 day of food 12 1
Delrean Plus I 1 r 18 Repels insects for 3 days 13 5
Aklent Bark I 1 T 10 The bark chewed for at least 10 rounds grants for the next 24 hours a +1 Saving Throw vs Poison 13 1
White Moss Yeast I 10 r 12 Baked goods using this yeast cause uncontrollable and incredibly smelly meteorism for 12 hours 14 1
Harfindar I 1 T 15 Causes abortion 14 3
Gusperboon C 1 r 20 The skin becomes chameleon-like, granting a +1d6 to Stealth checks 15 8
Ljust Berries I 1 r 16 Taken in the evening recovers double the HP, minimum 4 15 10
Mirenna I 1 r 20 Heals 5 Hit Points 16 30
Klynkyx C 1 h 15 Makes all hair fall out for 1d6+4 days 16 4
Mixture 31 I 1 T 20 The mount is extremely resilient. +4 hours of galloping per day 17 15
Culcoa C 1 r 16 Recover 2d6 from fire damage 18 8
Jojopo C 1 r 15 Cold Resistance for 1 hour 18 45
Silea C 5 r 15 Heals 1d6+3 Hit Points 18 50
Draaf C 1 r 20 Heals 1d8 Hit Points 19 50
Illa Berry Extract I 1 r 15 +2 Initiative, +2 Dexterity, -1d6 Will Saving Throw, for 1 minute 19 15
Lisbeth’ **s Petals I 1 T 15 +2 Intelligence, -2 Dexterity for 10 minutes 19 20
Kelventare I 2 r 28 Recover 2d6 Hit Points 20 100
Garioe I 1 r 25 Heals 2d6 Hit Points 20 95
Yajeth I 1 T 20 Heals 2d8 Hit Points 20 100
Dagmather Bark R 1 r 25 Removes one level of Fatigue 21 15
Kathaus Root R 1 r 20 +2 Strength and Dexterity for 1 hour 21 100
Klandor I I 15 Removes paralysis. Increases fatigue level by 1 22 18
Eldrin’ **tail I 1 r 15 Grants a new Saving Throw on Poisons 22 18
Attarna I 1 T 20 Grants a new Saving Throw for Diseases with a +1d6 22 50
Xabax Red Tongue C 1 T 20 Heals 2d6 Hit Points but if there is disease or poison it attempts removal causing 2d6 HP of damage 23 13
Arduur I 1 r 25 Removes Poisons 24 75
Arksun C 1 T 25 Heals 1d6 HP per Turn for 3 turns 24 75
Uscaboo R 1 T 25 Removes blindness 25 125
Melandrir I 1 r 15 Grants a new Saving Throw for Diseases with +4 26 100
Gylvert I 10 r 25 Grants water breathing for 4 hours 27 3
Callynthine C 1 h 24 Reinforces fractures, heals 2d8+8 HP 28 200
Gelfnus I 5 r 28 Heals 3d8+3 Hit Points, gain Fatigued 28 150
Green Rose Pollen R 3 T 25 Recover 2d4 Intelligence and Wisdom damage 29 350
Silver Moss I I 25 Removes magical Diseases 30 250
Nazamuse I I 30 Removes natural Poisons and Diseases 32 175
Ljust’ **s Kiss C 1 r 35 Heals 100 Hit Points 34 500
100 Herbs Extract I I 24 Removes Blindness, Deafness, Paralysis, Poison 35 150

Notes on Poisons and Potions

Arduur: A sacred herb, primarily harvested in the forests of Sangzhar. It is macerated and reduced to a decoction, drunk to remove the most persistent poisons.

Arksun: Potion with golden reflections, distilled from the tears of sun flowers. Every druid jealously guards the recipe.

Attarna: Extracted from the bark of Tarna trees. Taking it guarantees a chance against debilitating diseases.

Barsar Purple Berry: curiosity, the Purple Shrew is disgusted by these berries.

Kiss of Ljust: Legendary remedy. It is said that each plant, from which this elixir is obtained, grows in the center of a circle of magical mushrooms.

Barannie: A simple but effective herb, often used by nomadic shepherds to alleviate nausea.

Fermented Lucos Slime: Lucos is a herbivorous and peaceful lizard. The collected drool must be fermented in the dark for 1 week before it can be used.

Callynthine: Created from the roots of the Callyntha vine, its dark blue color reflects the nobility of its healing effect.

Yellow Bark Ash: the bark must first be macerated and beaten in water and salt. The resulting pulp should be dried and then heated without burning it directly.

Dagmather Bark: Small evergreen shrub.

Aklent Bark: also called Skunk Bush for its pungent and characteristic odor.

Culcoa: A bright red ointment mainly used to treat fire burns.

Darsirion: A light potion, made with silver flowers shining in the moonlight. Used by healers to treat minor wounds.

Delrean Plus: An advanced formula that mixes Delrean leaf extract with beeswax. It’ **s an infallible repellent.

Delrean: Extracted from Delrean leaves it is used as a repellent for annoying insects during harvest.

Daraka’ **s Fingers: Daraka’ **s Fingers are the fruit of the Daraka tree. The elongated black pod resembles the fingers of the ancient goddess of darkness.

Draaf: A preparation based on ancient alchemical recipes. The potion is known for its rapid regeneration ability.

Eldrin’ **tail: The tea prepared with this silver herb has a bitter taste, but effective against stronger poisons.

100 Herbs Extract: A complex and little-known mixture

Illa Berry Extract: The berries used in this preparation must be gently burned to preserve the nutrients.

Gisenosa Root Extract: artichoke-like plant, extremely thorny. It tends to grow surrounded by Tribulus terrestris or foot-kissers.

Purple Shrew Liver: poisoning recognizable by the typical bloodshot eyes

Curna Fumes: Curna is the inflorescence of the common thistle.

Garioe: A rare fruit from the south-eastern hills. It is macerated in water and alcohol to create this powerful healing potion.

Gelfnus: created from flowers that bloom only on the night of the full moon.

Gusperboon: a small daisy, in appearance.

Gylvert: A compound derived from deep-sea algae

Harfy: A cream composed of mosses, roots, and snails.

Jojopo: A warm, sweet, slightly alcoholic elixir.

Kelventare: A pure syrup extracted from the sap of the Tree of Life.

Klagul: An abrasive paste from an ancient goblin recipe. Used as toothpaste in many wild tribes.

Klandor: Spicy and salty powder.

Klynkyx: a concoction of honey and purple shrew dung.

Xabax Red Tongue: it is the long petal of the Xabax. Of the 7 petals only the long one has the substances necessary to prepare the ointment.

Melandrir: Produced with a rare orchid

Mirenna: Extracted from medicinal plants.

Mixture 31: a studied set of drugs for Saurovalls. When the effect ends, the creature must make a Fortitude Saving Throw DC 23 or fall unconscious for 12 hours.

Silver Moss: very similar, to an inexperienced eye, to White Moss. The berries are collected.

Nazamuse: Created with advanced techniques by the Devotees of Atherim.

Nelthalion: The reddish-brown extract induces vomiting.

Nabar Oil: the small Nabar berries are exclusively eaten by Shrews, immune to their evil effects. Boiled for a long time it becomes an excellent skin ointment.

Lisbeth Petals: Beautiful and very black.

Green Rose Pollen: Only from the rarest green Roses.

Dried Kathaus Root: small black tuber extremely hard and woody. It is usually dried in the sun before grinding it.

Silea: A pasty green balm.

Purple Shrew: according to many, the Shrew is Cattalm’ **s favorite little animal. Aggressive, violent, dangerous in every fiber.

Urk Egg: Urk is a large beetle, the egg is slightly larger than a hazelnut. It is usually first smoked with beech wood; eaten raw, the taste is of mold and earth.

Uscaboo: Distilled from the leaves of a pink tuber

Ottalm Poison: the Ottalm is a variant of the Purple Shrew with a venomous sting.

Wickalim: Often used for small wounds, they leave a salty taste in the mouth.

Yajeth: Ground extract of the flower.

Generic Potions

The Narrator is free to use all the potions and poisons already listed or use ready-to-use generic potions. The table shows the costs and effects of these generic potions.

The onset is always immediate, the duration for healing is immediate, for others it is 10 minutes (so the Remove Poison potion protects you for 1 Turn against a poison).

Table: of generic potions. Cost in Gold Coins.

Potion Name Effect Cost Appl.
Cure heals 1d8+1 Hit Points 50 I
Enhanced Cure heals 3d8+3 Hit Points 125 I
Greater Cure heals 3d10+15 Hit Points 300 I
Weakening -2 AR. DC 15 Fortitude saving throw to negate effects 35 F
Enhanced Weakening -1d6 AR. DC 18 Fortitude saving throw to negate effects 50 F/I
Poison 2d6+2 damage. DC 15 Fortitude ST to halve 30 I/F
Enhanced Poison 2d8+4 damage. DC 18 Fortitude ST to halve 50 F
Greater Poison 4d10+8 damage. DC 24 Fortitude ST to halve 125 F
Remove Poison grants a new ST with +1d6 75 I
Generic Potion* see Creating Potions (page ) LvLv50 I

Optional - Drugs

Name Use Ons. DC Effect Rar. Cost
Fermented Luside Leaves I 1 T 17 +4 Charisma and Intelligence for 1d4 hours 17 5 gc
Ferpillon I 1 r 20 Makes you sleep for 24 hours 15 50 gc
Grey Ointment I 1 r 24 Contrast with DC 25 effect from Enchantment Magic List 5 19 80 gc
Arpasur Ash R 1 r 20 Removes 2 levels of fatigue 16 10 gc
Melzaa Alcoholic Extract I 1 r 20 +2 Str, +2 Dex, -2 Wis. For 1d4 hours 16 25 gc
Inut Scented Essence R I 15 +4 Dexterity for 1d8 hours 16 15 gc
Julnnaus Pollen R I 20 +3 Constitution for 2 hours 16 25 gc
Erain Flower Pollen R 1 r 20 +2 Str Int Dex, +3d6 temporary HP for 1 hour 17 75 gc

The use of drugs is completely optional. It is the Narrator who decides their presence and availability based on the sensitivity of the players.

Drugs are addictive. When the effect ends, a Will Saving Throw at difficulty 15 is required or another dose must be taken within 24 hours, the subsequent Saving Throw will have difficulty +1 and so on.

If the Saving Throw succeeds, one still needs to make another one the next day with the same consequences.

Not taking a dose increases the level of Fatigue by one. 7 consecutive successful Saving Throws are needed to end the addiction effect.

The indicated DC is to resist the effects.

Optional - Drinking too much

A creature can drink a number of tankards of beer or shots of liquor equal to its Constitution score +1, with a minimum of 1. Additional tankards force the creature to make a Fortitude Saving Throw at DC 11, each subsequent tankard increases the Saving Throw by +2. When the Saving Throw fails, the creature is drunk and is considered under the effect of the Confusion spell for a number of Turns equal to the additional difficulty modifier.

Higher proof beers or liquors impose a higher modifier on the Saving Throw.

The Narrator can decide to manage a tipsy creature only through roleplaying.

Diseases

Diseases are in principle managed by performing a Saving Throw to check if one has been infected and other Saving Throws to recover. Usually, the onset time of a disease is not as immediate as a poison yet magical ones can be disruptive and act in just a few minutes.

Each disease indicates the onset time, the initial Saving Throw, how often the Saving Throw must be redone, how many successes on Saving Throws are needed to recover, the effects suffered. Unless otherwise specified, diseases are transferred by wounding an infected person.

E.g. Minor Demonic Fever: 1 minute, Fortitude ST DC 18, 6 hours, 3 successes, -1 Constitution and Wisdom

Minor Demonic Fever forces a Fortitude Saving Throw at DC 18 after just one minute of contracting it. Subsequently, every 6 hours the Saving Throw must be redone and the disease persists until at least 3 consecutive successes are made on the ST. Every 6 hours the sick person loses 1 point of Constitution and Wisdom.

To recover from a non-natural disease, such as those afflicted by monsters, it is necessary to pass the required Saving Throws or use the Remove Disease spell (page ).

A counteracting check (page ) is made between the Remove Disease spell and the DC of the disease.

If the DC of the disease is not expressed, then it is considered sufficient to simply cast the spell to cancel its effects.

A First Aid check, 10 minutes, with DC at least half the DC of the disease (or 15 if not indicated), performed between one Saving Throw and the next, allows a +2 to the Saving Throw to resist the effects of the disease. A treatment for an entire night grants +1d6 to the next Saving Throw.

Being hit multiple times by the same disease does not increase the difficulty of healing nor does it change the times and effects of the disease.

Examples of Diseases:

Demonic Influenza: 1 minute, Fortitude ST DC 16, 12 hours, 2 successes, -1 Constitution

Rezh’ **s Corruption: 1 day, Will ST DC 18, 1 hour, 2 successes, -1d6 Maximum Hit Points

Efrem’ **s Curse: 8 hours, Fortitude ST DC 24, 12 hours, 2 successes, -1 point to Dexterity and +1 Defense

Violent Torpor: 24 hours, Will ST DC 12, 12 hours, 1 success, +1 to Damage with Melee Weapons and -1 Wisdom

Minor Demonic Fever: 1 minute, Fortitude ST DC 18, 6 hours, 3 successes, -1 Constitution and Wisdom

Black Blood: 10 minutes, Fortitude ST 28, 12 hours, 1 success, loss of half remaining Hit Points

T Plague: 1 minute, Fortitude ST 30, 2 hours, 3 successes, perform 3 consecutive successes otherwise you are transformed into a zombie of equal CR. It is transmitted through contact.