Poisons and poison rules

This page is about one of the special rules.

Numerous animals in the wasteland have stingers or other methods of administering poison. Add to that deadly or at least debilitating poisons developed by scientists, both before the Great War as well as a few that were discovered or developed afterwards.

On the following pages the basic rules for poisons are described, what kind of effects they have and how poison resistance works.

First to the poison resistance: Each character has a poison resistance. The base value is Endurance * 4. Furthermore, there are differences between the races, bonuses that enhance poison resistance and traits that influence it. The poison resistance determines, whether a character is even affected by a dose of poison. If they receive a dose of poison with a resistance threshold of 20 points and they have a poison resistance of 20 or more, the poison is without effect, at least in that dosage. As one can see in the example below for the poison of the large radscorpion, up to four doses are counted before a character has received the highest dosage. If they are stung a fifth time, the character does take damage from the wound caused by the stinger, but is already so saturated by the poison, that they won’t take any further damage.

Now to the effects: The effects can be varied. The example below shows the poison of the large radscorpion and that has damage to hit points for a certain amount of combat rounds as it’s main effect. Furthermore the poison causes increasingly more difficult tests on skills and even character stats. Other poisons behave differently. Some paralyze, others render unconscious but make little to no damage to hit points. It always depends on the poison.

Poison of the large radscorpion
Dose:	Resistance threshold:	Effects (when poisoned):
First Dose:	10	1 D3 damage for 4 combat rounds. Pain: All skills handicapped by 2 points.
Second Dose:	20	2 D3 + 2 damage for 6 combat rounds. Strong pain: All skills handicapped by 5 points.
Third dose:	30	3 D3 + 2 damage for 8 combat rounds. Horrible pain: All skills handicapped by 12 points.
Fourth dose:	40	5 D3 damage for 10 combat rounds. Hellish pain: all skills handicapped by 25 points. All tests on character stats handicapped by 1.

Important here is also, that once a character gets a second dose of poison, the effect of the second dose apply and those of the first one do not apply any longer.

If antidote is immediately available and administered (or taken), first the damage of the received dosage is subtracted and only THEN the effects of the poison are removed. If one uses an antidote that only removes two doses, but has, for example received three doses, that character now only has to deal with the effects of the first dose.

Poisons:

Here is a list of several poisons that can be found in the post-apocalyptic wasteland and their effects. If combat ends while the character is still taking poison damage, one combat round can be equated to approximately one minute.

Poison of the small radscorpion:
Dose:	Resistance threshold:	Effects (when poisoned):
First dose:	5	1 D3 damage for 1 combat round. The poisoned area itches and burns.
Second dose:	10	2 D3 damage for 2 combat rounds. The poisoned area burns horribly. All skills handicapped by 2 points.
Third dose:	20	2 D3 damage for 4 combat rounds. The hurting area gets larger. All skills are handicapped by 8 points.
Fourth dose:	40	3 D3 + 3 damage for 6 combat rounds. Nearly the whole body feels as if it was on fire. All skills handicapped by 13 points.
Description:	The poison in the stinger of a small radscorpion. It gets injected via the stinger. Skin contact isn’t harmful and one could even take it orally without getting more than a slight stomach ache.

Poison of the large radscorpion
Dose:	Resistance threshold:	Effects (when poisoned):
First Dose:	10	1 D3 damage for 4 combat rounds. Pain: All skills handicapped by 2 points.
Second Dose:	20	2 D3 + 2 damage for 6 combat rounds. Strong pain: All skills handicapped by 5 points.
Third dose:	30	3 D3 + 2 damage for 8 combat rounds. Horrible pain: All skills handicapped by 12 points.
Fourth dose:	40	5 D3 damage for 10 combat rounds. Hellish pain: all skills handicapped by 25 points. All tests on character stats handicapped by 1.
Description:	The poison in the stinger of a large radscorpion. It gets injected via the stinger. Skin contact isn’t harmful and one could even take it orally without getting more than a slight stomach ache.

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Floater poison:
Dose:	Resistance threshold:	Effects (when poisoned):
First dose:	10	1 D6 damage for 2 combat rounds. The hit body part is nearly completely paralyzed. If it’s a leg, the character can move for 1 cm less per AP. For an arm, two handed weapons are now useless. A hit to the torso makes all changes of position impossible, and movement is reduced by 1 cm per AP. A hit to the head renders the character immediately unconscious for 1 D3 rounds.
Second dose:	20	1 D6 + 3 damage for 3 combat rounds. The hit body part is fully paralyzed. The effects are the same as for the first dose. If a different body part is hit, both effects are active at the same time. If both legs have been hit, the hit character will drop to the ground and all tests are handicapped by 25 points.
Third dose:	30	2 D6 damage for 4 combat rounds. The effects are the same as with the doses above. Are three different body parts hit, all tests are handicapped by 35 points.
Fourth dose:	40	2 D6 + 4 damage for 5 combat rounds. The effects stay the same. If four different body parts are hit, all tests are now handicapped by 50 points.
Description:	Floaters are not only really disgusting looking creatures, their poison is what makes them really fearsome. Horror stories of trapper groups, that have barely survived contact with just a single floater are numerous in the wasteland. Floater poison is strong and especially strongly paralyzing.

Thanatos toxin:
Dose:	Resistance threshold:	Effects (when poisoned):
First dose:	50	1 D100 damage + 30 It feels as if each arterie, each vein, each tiny blood vessel was filled with hot, burning oil.
Second dose:	65	2 D100 damage + 45 No one knows how it feels. No one ever survived this to tell anyone.
Third dose:	85	3 D100 damage + 65 No one knows how it feels. No one ever survived this to tell anyone.
Fourth dose:	100	5 D100 damage + 100 No one knows how it feels. No one ever survived this to tell anyone.
Description:	Thanatos toxin is an accidental development of the bio-chemical research division of West-Tek. As they were in the process of research the New Plaque and trying to develop a cure, the scientists there discovered the maybe deadliest poison that was ever developed. Even the first dose is usually deadly. West Tek has tried to make it a weapon, but luckily they never managed to make it an aerosol. It has to be injected.

FE-poison:
Dose:	Resistance threshold:	Effects (when poisoned):
First dose:	55	2 D100 damage +150 No one knows how this feels, since no one ever lived to tell.
Second dose:	70	3 D100 Schaden +200 No one knows how this feels, since no one ever lived to tell.
Third dose:	90	4 D100 Schaden +300 No one knows how this feels, since no one ever lived to tell.
Fourth dose:	100	5 D100 Schaden + 500 No one knows how this feels, since no one ever lived to tell.
Description:	FEV, the Forced Evolutionary Virus, that turned humans into super-mutants and other lifeforms into numerous other, horrendous lifeforms, was refined by scientists of the Enclave. Their goal, which they reached, was to make it into a poison that would kill any lifeform that was even slightly mutated. What they didn’t consider was, that with very few exceptions, like humans that were still living in unopened Vaults, basically all humans and all other, surviving lifeforms are at least slightly mutated.