Dosage

The statistics given in a poison’s
description always assume one “dose”:
enough poison to produce the
described effects in one victim. Some
additional notes:
Contact Agents: One dose of a con-
tact agent coats or affects a single hit
location.
Gases and Sprays: One dose of a
respiratory agent, or a blood or con-
tact agent in gas or spray form, affects
one hit location on one victim. For a
respiratory agent, this must be the
face. Ten doses are enough to affect
everyone in a room (say, a 2-yard
radius).
Arsenic (TL1): A digestive agent with a one-hour
delay and a HT-2 roll to resist. Inflicts 1d toxic damage,
repeating at hourly intervals for eight cycles. $1/dose.
LC1.
Cobra Venom (TL0): A follow-up poison with a one-
minute delay and a HT-3 roll to resist. Inflicts 2d toxic
damage, repeating at hourly intervals for six cycles. A
victim who loses 1/3, 1/2, or 2/3 HP has -2, -4, or -6 DX,
respectively. $10/dose. LC1.
Cyanide (TL4): This fast-acting poison is deadly in
any form. As a follow-up poison or respiratory agent, it
has no delay. As a contact or digestive agent, it has a 15-
minute delay. In all cases, there is no HT roll to resist!
Inflicts 4d toxic damage. $2/dose. LC1.
Mustard Gas (TL6): An area-effect respiratory and
contact agent. As a contact agent, it has no delay and a
HT-4 roll to resist, and inflicts 1 point of toxic damage,
repeating at 8-hour intervals for 24 cycles. As a respira-
tory agent, it has a two-hour delay and a HT-1 roll to
resist, and inflicts 1d toxic damage, repeating at one-
hour intervals for six cycles. $10/dose. LC0.
Poisoned Weapons: One dose of a
follow-up poison envenoms the tip of
a piercing or impaling weapon, or fills
a hypo. Poisoning the edge of a
weapon, so that a cutting attack can
deliver it, requires three doses per
yard of reach. Most poisons on blades
only last for one successful strike or
three blocked or parried ones. Misses
and dodged attacks do not rub off the
poison.
Varying the Dosage: It is possible to
vary the dosage of a digestive agent or
a follow-up poison delivered by hypo-
dermic. Each doubling of dosage (and
cost!) halves the delay and interval,
doubles damage, gives -2 to HT rolls to
resist, and gives +2 to all rolls to detect
the poison (including the victim’s
Sense rolls, and any Diagnosis or
Forensics roll made to investigate the
victim’s symptoms or death). Using
less than one full dose may reverse
these modifiers or simply make the
poison ineffective, at the GM’s option.