Lethal poisons will cause the target's body to die without causing any location hits. A person who is affected by a lethal poison of any type will remain conscious, unless rendered otherwise due to wounds. They will feel ill, and be aware that something is wrong after half of their grace period(either 5 minutes of 30 seconds depending on the type of poison) has passed. The poison can be treated at any time prior to the end of the grace period with a purge poison, a purge all poisons or an alchemical antidote (the type of poison used determines the cure required). Poisons are inherently dangerous and any character attempting to use poisons without the required basic skills risks poisoning themselves.
All poisons, whether alchemical or magical, fall into three categories; contact, ingested and vapour. The characteristics of each category are explained below.
Contact poisons
These poisons are only effective when they come into contact with the skin of a target.
Contact poisons that are administered on a weapon will affect any character, even if that character is immune to the damage type and damage effect used to administer the poison.
A character must be specifically immune to poisons, or be wearing armour (with the appropriate armour use skill) to be protected against a contact poison administered on a weapon.
In addition, poisons administered on a weapon that is inflicting through damage will affect even armoured characters.
Contact poisons can be administered in two ways. The first method involves applying the poison directly to the target's skin. The second involves smearing the poisons onto an object such as a weapon. This weapon has one poisoned strike, and no more. The poisoned object must actually touch the target's flesh if the poison is to be effective. If the object strikes any armour, the poison is deposited harmlessly onto the armour and is wasted. Poison applied to a weapon delivering through damage will affect any character not specifically immune to the poison being used. No more than one person will be affected by each dose of contact poisons, unless specifically stated otherwise on a valid special item powers card.
Ingested poisons
These poison are only effective when swallowed.
Ingested poisons can be administered either by pouring the poison directly down the target's throat or by mixing the poison with food or drink.
Targets that consume approximately a third of a portion of poisoned food or drink will be affected by the poison unless specifically immune to the poison being used.
Each portion of poisoned food or drink will affect no more than one person, unless specifically stated otherwise on a valid special item powers card.
Vapour poisons
These poisons are only effective when directly inhaled. Vapour poisons are usually produced as candles or sticks of incense which release the poison when burnt.
Any being inhaling the vapour will be affected by the poison for as long as the vapour is being produced, unless specifically immune to the poison being used.
One dose of vapour poison will affect beings in an area of up to 10' cubed for one minute.