Topic: Poison on weapons

[DavidKlecker]

I'm a fountain of questions it seems.

If I have poison applied to a weapon, what do people rule as the number of times that weapon can be used with the poison? Once? Twice? N times?

Thanks!

[Right Wing Wacko]

Once a crit is delivered is usually how I rule. Once a crit is delivered and the poison issue resolved, there is assumed to be no more poison left on the weapon...
hope that helps!

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Same here.... the poison usually lasts until it strikes (i.e. you put on enough for one dose, because more than that is likely to be waste-ful....


Hey! Idea for a new magic item. A sheath that coats a weapon in poison each time it is sheathed. Enough for a single dose/crit strike.  The image in my mind is hilarious... (strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, etc...)   

[twh]

Hey! Idea for a new magic item. A sheath that coats a weapon in poison each time it is sheathed. Enough for a single dose/crit strike.  The image in my mind is hilarious... (strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, etc...)  

That actually is a good idea, and doesn't even have to be magic.  That would make for some interesting roleplaying in the middle of combat (and a flurry of tallying activity points).

[Uriel]

Same here.... the poison usually lasts until it strikes (i.e. you put on enough for one dose, because more than that is likely to be waste-ful....


Hey! Idea for a new magic item. A sheath that coats a weapon in poison each time it is sheathed. Enough for a single dose/crit strike.  The image in my mind is hilarious... (strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, etc...)   

Laugh Point given.
I pictured a very Princess Bride sort of melee...or maybe it's the MPHG Black Knight scene...

'Aha, take that envenomed strike!'
'Oh, you seem to have made your RR...well (Sheathes weapon again, draws and strikes)
'Aha, Again you bleed, feeling woozy...no!?!, well...'
(Sheathes weapon again, draws, strikes)
'Aha! That shall spell your...er...just how many Ranks in RR Stamina do you have anyways ? Sheesh...'

-Uriel

[GMLovlie]

Could be a combat style, a sort of two weapon combo, of course you would want ambidex for it, but still.

This of course opens the question about quick draw, and if that skill should exist in harp, as it does in rmss/frp. or if it should just be an option with a weapon (perhaps an advanced combat action?), albeit with the style mentioned above, with scabbards/sheaths as Rasyr suggests, it could be done before reaching 20 ranks, and when 20 ranks is reached, the penalty is halved or so.
I have created a sword-catching maine gauche for my game, which enables the user to use a fencing bind before having enough ranks, and when necessary ranks is reached, the penalty is halved. It?s not magic, its mechanical/clock-work style.

or one could have a poison-vial in the hilt, which whenever the sword is pointing down, send out poison into special grooves. again it would take at least a round for these grooves to be filled enough to amount for one dose, but again,  wielding two weapons can make it useful.

[munchy]

Well, if the poison is tough enough, you could work with a short short and maybe a parrying dagger. The sword would only strike every other round as you have to sheath it the other rounds. The parrying dagger would help you staying relatively safe or at least alive!
Nice one.

[DavidKlecker]

Hey! Idea for a new magic item. A sheath that coats a weapon in poison each time it is sheathed. Enough for a single dose/crit strike.  The image in my mind is hilarious... (strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, sheath weapon, draw weapon, strike, etc...)   

That actually is a good idea, and doesn't even have to be magic.  That would make for some interesting roleplaying in the middle of combat (and a flurry of tallying activity points).

I like that idea. How much would one argue something like that would cost? What about a non-magical type?

[Dax]

...
or one could have a poison-vial in the hilt, which whenever the sword is pointing down, send out poison into special grooves. again it would take at least a round for these grooves to be filled enough to amount for one dose, but again,  wielding two weapons can make it useful.

I thought of such a sheath:
In the hilt is a poison bladder hidden, when the figther wants to poison the blade, he has to push against a trigger while he unsheaths the weapon. The trigger pushs the bursting bladder against the blade which is poisoned.
It is possible to unsheath the weapon without poisoning.

But it is a little bit tricky to get the new bladder in place.

Cost ? Don't know (perhaps 3-5x normal sheath price)
Remember it is the sheath in which the thing is build in.
And there is a craftsman who knows about it ...

[Pat]

I remember a game ages ago (old Rolemaster) where a player created a sheath that poisoned his weapon. If I remember correctly it was a basically a slightly bigger sheath than normal that was water proof. The player filled the sheath with a liquid poison and whenever the weapon was drawn from the sheath it would be immediately covered in poison. It wasn't expensive but the GM ruled that the poison in the sheath would only last a couple of weeks and would only coat a weapon 3 times before refilling. Also, the fluid would spill if you climbed, swam, fell or ran.

Ohh BTW the player, on his second use of this sheath of poison, drew his weapon, fumbled his attack and struck himself. He died after failing his resistance roll. I guess that's one of the perils of poison. 

[MidKnight]

I too like this idea.  Some of my thoughts...

Special scabard / sheath should be roughly 3x or 5x for the ability to apply poisons.  Then you should charge per 'vial' of poison.  A 3x scabard can hold 1 vial, where a 5x scabard can hold 2 vials (same or different poison).

Vials should be priced per dose of poison it can dispense based on the value, rarity of the poison.  Have the vials run with either 5 doses or 10 doses.

It's a great consumable if 'dark' players are looking to spend some money on mundane upgrades.

I believe that there was also a special non-magic sword with a poison vial in the hilt that could dispense up to 3 doses of poison 'on demand' (still requiring a hit & critical).  That was a nice option as well.

[DavidKlecker]

The price of the poison itself will make up for the cost of the scabbard easily. To make the scabbard, yeah, I would agree with the following convention

x3 scabbard can hold a vial which contains 3 doses
x5 holds a vial with 5 doses.

Other issues could be any change in cost for the vial to hold a liquid vs a paste or powder? Protection against breakage? Size of the vial based on the weapon used?

[GMLovlie]

These ideas I intend to put into use for one of the nations in my campaign setting, Pentarus, some of it has been presented somewhere else on the forum. We have this new nation for which this would fit the bill perfectly. indeed.

As for pricing, yes I do agree that it should be priced for the sheath itself, and the poison should come in addition, also these vials need to be more sturdy than normal vials, which could then increase the price, although they could of course be re-used when emptied.

The poison-in-the-hilt-sword is going to be even more expensive, and harder to make. At least in my opinion.

[MidKnight]

Another option would be a permanent or persistent magic item that could apply poison to a blade.  This could take several forms...

1) A poisoning stone - much like a sharpening stone, if it's rubbed down the length of a blade for roughly a minute it will secrete enough poison for a single strike.  Repeat as necessary, but it takes x time out of combat to reapply.  A high level poisoning stone could have 2, 3 or 4 sides capable of applying different poisons...better wear gloves during the application, or the stone should be set into a handle of some form.   

2) As above, but set the stone on both sides of the sheath and poison is transfered onto the blade during the act of sheathing or un-sheathing...perhaps with a command word for activation.

3) Set the poisoning stone into the hilt of the sword.  An activation word or phrase dispenses poison on the next strike resulting in a critical, up to a set number of times per day or some-such.  Multiple gems could each allow a different poison once or twice a day.

This is the higher end magic spectrum of the same idea.

[GMLovlie]

For some reason I prefer non-magic options, but of course, poison stones is another nifty idea that should be put into use.

[twh]

I think the poisoning stone idea does not have to be magic; a mineral that's heavy in toxic compounds could do the trick.  Of course, considering the high toxicity of such a mineral, given the minute amounts deposited in the surface irregularities of a metal blade, again makes such an instrument about as dangerous to the user as to any intended victim.

[Rasyr-Mjolnir]

Poisoning Stone -- variant could be a block of poisonous substance in a resinous form (perhaps mixed with a resin to allow for application (don't forget gloves... hehe)