“Poisons”
Who Can Make Poisons?
Alchemists, herbalists and trained assassins can extract and use natural poisons (animal venoms) and herbal poisons. They can create mixtures, complex combinations of plant and animal toxins; but only alchemists can create poison gasses.
“Definitions”
Mixture: A substance used as a poison, but must be made and produced by alchemy or magic.
Onset Time: This is the amount of time that will elapse between initial contact with the poison (ingestion, wounding, etc.) and the first symptoms.
Result: This is the general effect of the poison. Examples are; damage, death, debilitation, sleep, etc.
Run Time: The amount of time the poison takes to run its course. Some venom will not have a run time, or will have a run time of instantaneous. Poisons with symptoms or effects like vertigo or hallucinations have a run time, a set amount of time in which the victim suffers the effects.
Type: The poison method of administration. For the purposes of this guide all poisons have been classified as Inhalant, Ingestive, Insinuative or Contact.
“The Types of Poisons”
Ingestive poisons: These are poisonous substances in a liquid or powder form that are only dangerous when swallowed. Normally they are added to food or drink. Occasionally characters use them as missiles and attempt to throw the poison containers into the mouths of monsters (as detailed below). Ingestive poison comes in one-dose containers - about 4 o-z. apiece. -This type of poison, in comparison to the others, is relatively inexpensive. Generally, they have a long onset time. Most ingestive powders placed in food or drink leave telltale signs. These signs, no matter how slight, give the targeted creature a chance to detect the poison before he is affected (as detailed below). Ingestive poisons have different characteristics, making some fairly easy to detect, while others are nearly colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Generally, ingestive poisons of relatively weaker potency are easier to detect. The chance to detect poisoned food, if actively searching for the poison, is usually twice as great as the chance to accidentally discover poisoned food or drink. The intelligence of the person or creature being poisoned is also a factor in being able to detect the poison. The more intelligent the creature, the more likely it is to notice and wonder about a slight change in the taste of food.
Insinuative poisons: Also known as blade venom, these poisons are also used to coat weapons such as darts, arrowheads and javelins. Envenomed blunt weapons are not very effective. Insinuative poison is bought in 4-oz. doses, and comes in three forms; liquid, oil, or as a thick resin- like paste. Insinuative poisons are usually water-based, and can be washed off. However, prolonged use of this poison can be dangerous. Each time an envenomed weapon is sheathed or unsheathed and during every round the weapon is used in combat, there is a chance, depending on the wielder's dexterity, that the wielder could be nicked by his own weapon and affected by his own poison. Each Vial of Insinuative poison is assumed to be about 6-oz., and each vial holds 6 doses and can coat a number of different types of weapons; in some cases, multiple doses are required to completely cover a blade.
Contact: This form of poison will affect a creature just by coming in contact with the poison. This is one of the most expensive and dangerous forms. NOTE: This form of poison is easily bypassed by thick gloves. Contact poisons are prepared in one-dose applications (a six oz. vial is considered a single dose).
Gas: This form of poison is very dangerous. It will affect EVERYTHING within range. You will have to pay a pretty gold piece for any alchemist to add an oxidizing agent to a poison and it's EXPENSIVE to ask someone to risk their life for that. The normal effect is a sealed vial which when broken will produce a 20' x 20' x 20' cloud of gas. Poison gases are packaged in single dose vials.
Inhalant: These poisons are similar to poison gases. Inhalants are usually powders and can be hurled in vials, expelled in capsule form from a blow tube (range: twenty feet), or dispersed into the air by hand (range: 5 feet. This is a risky proposition). Inhalants are commonly packaged in waxed paper packets, one application per packet, although other arrangements can be made.
Antidote: Antidotes are available if a sample of the poison is made available. The antidote usually cost 120% of the purchase price of the poison. Antidotes take approximately one week to create, and must be administered within a few hours of the poison’s onset to be effective. If no sample of the toxin is available, one can be distilled from a blood sample, but that will take approximately a month (by then it's too late anyway).
Errata Holy and unholy water: Holy water and unholy water are known for their special corrosive effect upon the enforcers of evil (such as undead, demons and devils) and the minions of good respectively; almost as an afterthought, “that these waters are useful... to slow the effects of poison." Holy and unholy waters have separate, but not opposite, effects on poisoned creatures who drink them.
Effects of multiple applications of holy water are cumulative with respect to duration; a double dose will make a creature poison-resistant for 2 consecutive hours, as long as the second dose is administered before the first wears off. This beneficial effect works on evil creatures as well as non-evil ones; however, the holy water will also have its usual harmful effects on an evil creature who touches it or consumes it; thus, evil characters and creatures will not voluntarily use it and will avoid it if possible.
Unholy water acts as a poison enhancer. If one vial of unholy water is ingested by a poisoned creature before the poison has taken effect, it will cause the remaining amount of the onset time of the poison (any type) to be halved. Characters of good alignment will not use unholy water and will avoid it if possible. Even though their effects are not opposites, holy and unholy waters will neutralize each other on a vial-for-vial basis when being used to affect a poisoned creature in the above-described manner.
“Poison Tactics”
Now having the battery of toxins, how to administer the fatal dose to one's victim?
The methods of poison delivery are limited only by the poisoner’s imagination and skills.
What follows are a list of possibilities, drawn from various sources;
Placing the poison, in gel or oil form, directly on the victim’s fork/spoon. Victim and food taster aren’t likely to use the same eating utensils. This option allows for the use of quick acting poisons.
A two or three part poison, one component placed in the wine, another on the eating utensils, and the third introduced later.
Apply contact poison to the victim’s clothing. This tactic isn’t limited to clothing and can be used with pillows and other personal effects.
A needle, dipped in poison and concealed in the victim’s quarters, where they are certain to encounter it. (This requires a certain degree of familiarity with the target’s habits, and there is a certain amount of chance involved.)
Ingestive is to conceal the poison in either food or wine. Although this method is exceedingly simple, it works very well. Often a bribe to the proper servant means the demise of the victim.
Another, more personal method it the poison-ring. While most of the so-called "poison rings" were used to hold memento mori, such as a lock of hair from a deceased loved one, the practice of concealing poison in rings goes back to ancient times.
The devout (and highly placed) worshipper might be given poison concealed in the sacramental wine. One might present one's host with a goblet impregnated with poison, especially arsenic, which would gradually do him in.
Or one might use the more ingenious and cunning method of the poison knife. Such an implement used a blade connected to a pivot in the handle. When the slightest pressure was placed on the cutting edge of the blade, three small, envenomed, needle-sharp spikes were driven into the hand. The poison would ideally act immediately, and the tiny punctures would not even be noticed, leaving coroners to postulate heart attack or stroke as the cause of death.
Inhalants: Flowers can be poisoned in the fields and added to incense, which make ideal receptacles for finely powdered poisons.
Contact: An alternate method of using contact poison is through the victim's clothing. Gloves, boots, shirts and other garments can be impregnated with poisons such as arsenic or cantharides. If the absorption of the poison through the skin isn’t enough to kill the victim outright, it would produce syphilis-like symptoms. This doesn't seem so bad until one realizes that the standard treatment for syphilis was draughts of mercury... another poison.
Countermeasures:
Nothing produces paranoia in a society like the threat of poison. To a powerful or unpopular ruler it becomes a matter of great concern to protect oneself from such a fate.
Persons of note usually employ food tasters, who eat and drink their master’s food and wine. If the taster is still alive after a suitable amount of time, the food is deemed safe. This is a far from fool-proof system, obviously.
Other methods of prevention include dinnerware guaranteed to tarnish in the presence of poison:
goblets that are enchanted to shatter when poisoned liquid is poured into them, and,
amulets and magical cups designed to neutralize poisons.
Creating New Poisons:
First of all, a good poison starts with a name- in the real world, poisons often have complex chemical. Determine the method of administration, or type; insinuative, ingestive, contact, inhalant. Choose primary and secondary effects; does your new poison kill, or is it designed to weaken the victim?
“Suggested Effects by Poison Type:”
Ingestive: stomach cramps, diarrhea, vomiting, chills, sweating, fatigue, restlessness, hallucinations, dizziness, giddiness, vertigo, blurred vision, blindness Insinuative: numbness, pain, lightheadedness, tunnel vision, chills, sweating, coma, headache, loud heartbeat, slow pulse, convulsions or seizures, drowsiness, difficulty in speaking, dizziness, giddiness, vertigo, blurred or double vision, blindness
Inhalant: nausea, vomiting, disorientation, delirium, lethargy, dizziness, giddiness, vertigo,
Contact: numbness or tingling in the area of contact, skin irritation, headache, sweating, blurred or double vision, blisters at area of contact, pain, cramps, muscle spasms, necrosis (dead tissue), paralysis, itching, swelling,
Determine the onset and run times. Few poisons should kill instantaneously or even within a few minutes. Insinuative and inhalant poisons generally have shorter onset times than ingestive. Contact poisons have varied onset times.
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