Does it last until they take no damage or pass the test? Or just the next round?

I'd say that any triggers for Toxic last until a test is made (at the end of the target's next turn), so by the new rules anyone could only suffer Toxic damage once per round. (Thanks for pointing this out, I'd not realized that the Toxic rules changed.)

Interesting question. If you take damage from the toxic effect, does that count as damage from the weapon, thereby potentially triggering the toxic effect again next round?

Fight start-

Round 1, takes turn, subsequently hit by toxic weapon

Round 2, at end of turn, fail toxic test, take no other damage this round

Round 3, end of turn, take test due to damage taken last round?

****, plague bearers even scarier than I thought.

The damage from Toxic is not stated to be, in and of itself, a Toxic effect, so it wouldn't trigger extra damage off itself. But additionally, upon rereading things it looks like Toxic is still supposed to be checked for each damaging hit, rather than for each of the defender's turns. What seems to be going on is that the extra damage itself isn't instantaneous, but is instead delayed until the end of the target's next turn.

Presuming that's what's going on (grumble technical writing grumble editing), this is actually a relatively minor rules change.

Ultimately, if it was intended to feed off of itself, there would be a multitude of simpler ways to state that. It's more likely that it's simply time delayed now. Creates good gameplay for Narthecium-wielding medicae.

Maybe the damage can trigger up to a number of rounds equal to the X in the Toxic (X) rating?

From the wording, it seems clear to me that the Toxic damage effect of a weapon only triggers once on a single hit. The rules state that when "if a character has suffered damage ... in the last round from a weapon with this quality " (emphasis mine) meaning that the damage done by the Toxic quality doesn't trigger the Toxic effect, since the Toxic quality isn't a weapon that has the Toxic quality. (Got lots of practice with this semantic math playing D&D 4e :-D)

As far as the intention, I think it was to do 2 things:

Encourage multiple targets if a group has the Toxic effect, which would more effectively apply the Toxic effect.

and give enemies with the effect a bit more a punch, but to avoid a massive doubling of damage.

My only question is: Does Toxic ignore Toughness Bonus or Armor? It doesn't say it does, but I really feel like it should avoid armor, since the original hit has to pierce armor. Unfortunately, this is not answered in the FAQ/Errata.

My only question is: Does Toxic ignore Toughness Bonus or Armor? It doesn't say it does, but I really feel like it should avoid armor, since the original hit has to pierce armor. Unfortunately, this is not answered in the FAQ/Errata.

The wording could stand to be better, but it does in fact ignore damage reduction as a side effect of how the new version is worded. The trigger to inflict the effect in the first place is that a hit does enough damage to overcome damage reduction, and then from there it does "additional damage (of the same type as the first weapon with this quality to damage him that round)".

Note that this means that I'm revising my opinion again on how the new Toxic works; given the above explanation on the damage, it sounds like Toxic can only trigger once per turn rather than once per damaging hit.

My only question is: Does Toxic ignore Toughness Bonus or Armor? It doesn't say it does, but I really feel like it should avoid armor, since the original hit has to pierce armor. Unfortunately, this is not answered in the FAQ/Errata.

The wording could stand to be better, but it does in fact ignore damage reduction as a side effect of how the new version is worded. The trigger to inflict the effect in the first place is that a hit does enough damage to overcome damage reduction, and then from there it does "additional damage (of the same type as the first weapon with this quality to damage him that round)".

Note that this means that I'm revising my opinion again on how the new Toxic works; given the above explanation on the damage, it sounds like Toxic can only trigger once per turn rather than once per damaging hit.

Hmm... compelling semantic argument. Would be nice to see it in the FAQ, since other "independent" sources of damage tend to specify that they ignore X or Y.

Hey all, this is indeed one we'll hit in the update to the FAQ. Right now though, I'm thinking it is just once, and ignores armour and Toughness. Though we're discussing it here, so wait for the FAQ update for a final answer.

–Tim

Alright thanks, was waiting for you to weigh in.