Alchemy and the players . . .

Discussion on game mastering Earthdawn. May contain spoilers; caution is recommended!
Bonhumm
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Re: Alchemy and the players . . .

Post by Bonhumm » Wed Sep 18, 2019 2:13 am

Michael wrote:
Tue Sep 17, 2019 9:20 pm
were do we stand on PCs using poison? I saw something about windling tribes using it so I guess it's not such a big deal?


Windlings uses poisons to help them bring down beast and bad guys much larger than them but they rarely use deadly poisons. They mostly use Keesra (sleep) and Whadhyra (paralyzing).

They speak about that more in the Denizens, including description of the poisons.

I can see the use of poisons as useful in some situation, especially to be used on original ways. But I'm not much in favor as a 'permanent' tool on PC's weapons (i.e. a pc constantly keeping their swords coated in poison) it just add a layer of complexity with no real advantages (i.e. if you 'force' the GM intro keeping track of poison for the PC, then you can be sure the bad guys will also have poisons too and nullify the 'advantage').

ChrisDDickey
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Re: Alchemy and the players . . .

Post by ChrisDDickey » Wed Sep 18, 2019 10:28 am

Re: Poison.
Yes, it kind of depends upon the table, but it also probably varies by society within the game and circumstances of the act.
Windlings are generally small and week, and poison use seems to be more generally accepted.
But Trolls are big and strong, and I think that most highland trolls would consider anybody using poison for any reason to be by dishonorable by first principles.
Other societies might fall somewhere between those two. But I think in most societies, use of deadly poisons would be a strike against you.

Sharkforce
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Re: Alchemy and the players . . .

Post by Sharkforce » Thu Sep 19, 2019 6:35 pm

i would suspect a major element would also be what you're using it on.

there's a big difference where i live at least between poisoning rats or insects and poisoning humans or dogs (especially dogs that are pets, but i think people would react much more strongly to poisoning wild dogs around here than they do to wild rats. other places where wild dogs are a serious problem, on the other hand, may not particularly care for all i know).

so in the event that you have a poison that works on horrors, i doubt most people are going to complain *too* much about it, even if they might not particularly approve of it. they might think less of you, but i doubt they're going to make you an outcast or anything, especially if the horror in question is like some sort of pest (numerous, not individually strong, rapidly reproduces in a way that makes combat an ineffective solution). they likely wouldn't be too upset about its use on pest animals as well.

using it on namegivers, on the other hand, is unlikely to go over nearly as well.

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